My name is Jeff but I go by Jay on e Bay community. I have a long history with photography some 30 years now. I actually surprise myself somewhat that I am here, if I may explain: I was actually working in television when the first CCD cameras came into use and soon replaced film for newsgathering. The CCD cameras had many advantages over film with instant confirmation that you were getting the images and no need to process the film being the most important just like the digital still cameras of today.
I have and still do love technology and the great new possibilities: no more blank film of a great story because the lens cap was on or the film could not be processed in time for the evening news etc. I am no longer in television but still in the fast changing world of IT with video, voice, data and the convergence thereof so no ludite here. But as I faced digital still cameras taking the place of film in most all genres I felt a reluctance to fully embrace this change over at first I could argue that film was superior in resolution and it is still a valid argument in most but not all cases however there was more. Today with enough money you can get enough mega pixels to match any film format and as others repeatedly said resolution is not all there is to it. So why was I so reluctant to embrace this not so new to me technology? I have come to realize some reasons that go beyond technology that I love film and film equipment: One is that digital removes me a step farther from the natural interface to the artificial interface: I no longer see a real image but one electronically recreated. The most natural would be using only our eyes and mind and drawing or painting the image.
Loss of control: while we saw this in later film cameras with lots of automation AE,AF,AS ..... most digitals assume this as the normal mode of operation some even make it difficult to make any adjustments. It's not all bad in that it allows people who have no ideal how to get proper exposure or how to focus or are perhaps sight impaired etc to get good images, I prefer to use the knowledge and skills I have gained with as simple a camera as possible these days, While I own a Canon T90 I prefer the R.F.s and simple cameras today right now I'm reworking a Koni Omega Rapid M, add a spot meter and it has all the automation I want with out so may buttons and the screens on top which I hate. The technology money pit: while my 1965 Topcon RE super, 1967 Koni Omega ...will make better images today then when new, the computerized digital camera of today will not only never make better images it will be obsolete in the relatively near future. Then there is that thing about archival storage of images???????
Lastly I'm getting old and some of these cameras have become family members having served so long and so well.
Hope I have not bored anyone too much
Jay
I have and still do love technology and the great new possibilities: no more blank film of a great story because the lens cap was on or the film could not be processed in time for the evening news etc. I am no longer in television but still in the fast changing world of IT with video, voice, data and the convergence thereof so no ludite here. But as I faced digital still cameras taking the place of film in most all genres I felt a reluctance to fully embrace this change over at first I could argue that film was superior in resolution and it is still a valid argument in most but not all cases however there was more. Today with enough money you can get enough mega pixels to match any film format and as others repeatedly said resolution is not all there is to it. So why was I so reluctant to embrace this not so new to me technology? I have come to realize some reasons that go beyond technology that I love film and film equipment: One is that digital removes me a step farther from the natural interface to the artificial interface: I no longer see a real image but one electronically recreated. The most natural would be using only our eyes and mind and drawing or painting the image.
Loss of control: while we saw this in later film cameras with lots of automation AE,AF,AS ..... most digitals assume this as the normal mode of operation some even make it difficult to make any adjustments. It's not all bad in that it allows people who have no ideal how to get proper exposure or how to focus or are perhaps sight impaired etc to get good images, I prefer to use the knowledge and skills I have gained with as simple a camera as possible these days, While I own a Canon T90 I prefer the R.F.s and simple cameras today right now I'm reworking a Koni Omega Rapid M, add a spot meter and it has all the automation I want with out so may buttons and the screens on top which I hate. The technology money pit: while my 1965 Topcon RE super, 1967 Koni Omega ...will make better images today then when new, the computerized digital camera of today will not only never make better images it will be obsolete in the relatively near future. Then there is that thing about archival storage of images???????
Lastly I'm getting old and some of these cameras have become family members having served so long and so well.
Hope I have not bored anyone too much
Jay
