Digital Is Dangerous

[Stealth3kpl]

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valerian

 

Pete

[adan]

Hmmm - Pete Turner, in his film days, had a table in his studio conference room. The base was a large wire trash basket, filled to the brim with discarded Kodachromes. There was a sign on it - "Love's Labors Lost."

 

I don't see a difference between Pete tossing out dud slides then, and his pressing the delete button on his Nikons today.

 

(Except it lowered his furniture expense )

 

As to the comment itself, it presents as a political attack ad. "Candidate B is DANGEROUS-s-s-s!"

 

There are much better arguments for film than such "oogie-boogie-the-bad-man-is-out-to-get-you" polemics.

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[jmr237]

There have been many meaningful, relevant, and thoughtful comments on the differences of film and digital. This article is not one of them.

[duckrider]

+1

[Stealth3kpl]

 

I don't see a difference between Pete tossing out dud slides then, and his pressing the delete button on his Nikons today.

 

.

I'm certainly guilty of this. I get my discs back from the scanners, make an initial selection then never revisit the disc. One day I might, and at least I have the disc and the negatives.

I've also taken plenty of shots that were misjudged, or simply by accident. These I'm less likely to discard; they're still a memory to me, and they often have an artistic merit that isn't forced by a concious decision, so his words resonate a little more with me. Maybe it's the Lomo effect. Everyone is different.

Pete

[jaapv]

Digital is always correct:confused:

[plasticman]

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There are many different intentionalities in photography, but I think the spirit of the statement was that users of film often (though not always) embrace the medium's imperfections: grain, the swirling textures of wet collodion, even light leaks or color shifts. Whereas digital strives to erase any 'imperfection' in the process - and digital errors (card errors, dead pixel lines, noise and so on) are generally ugly artifacts that almost never enhance the visual value of an image.

 

I thought it was an interesting perspective.

[jaapv]

Well, I am with Andy. I still remember the rigorous culling of my slides, mostly for Pilot Error . I don't think there is much difference between film and digital in this respect for me. Come to think of it, there is not much difference in most aspects... this debate is as dead as a doornail imo, has been for years.

And I don't agree that digital strives to erase imperfections, they can be used as much as film imperfections. The ugly artefacts are produced by the user, not by the medium, just as with film. Or are you saying that it is impossible to produce a crappy photograph on film??

 

You don't have to like it, but I think I used the limitations of digital here instead of fighting them:

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Edited November 21, 2014 by jaapv

[Stealth3kpl]

This is also digital, and I rather like it (Yosemite)

 

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but I think he was saying that if you see some flare or a poor composition, the tendency is to retake the digital image whereas, with film, it's like a box of chocolates, as Forest Gump would say.

Pete

[Doc Henry]

valerian

 

Pete

Pete despite my backups I just lost almost all my photos stored on an external hard drive, despite recovery software

All my negatives 1970s are still there, properly stored in folders

The second reason to say : "Back to film"

Best

Henry

[jaapv]

@Pete

 

Not me, when using film I actually used more shots, as I felt more need to exposure and/or focus bracket. Now I can check if I am unsure.

 

Composition - I don't think chimping is useful. It will look completely different on a large screen and a print.

I leave my digital shots in my box of chocolates in that respect. Only it is dark instead of milk .

 

High res digital has the advantage that one can shoot a bit more loosely as there is little to no quality loss in sensible cropping.

[jaapv]

Pete despite my backups I just lost almost all my photos stored on an external hard drive, despite recovery software

All my negatives 1970s are still there, properly stored in folders

The second reason to say : "Back to film"

Best

Henry

 

Errr.. Backup? My images are on four drives, two in RAID in the computer, one onsite external and one offsite NAS...

[Doc Henry]

Errr.. Backup? My images are on four drives, two in RAID in the computer, one onsite external and one offsite NAS...

You are a lucky man

Best

Henry

[plasticman]

Or are you saying that it is impossible to produce a crappy photograph on film??

 

My own first-hand experience would never allow me to hold that position, but it really wasn't what the discussion was about.

I think we interpret these statements the way we will, regardless of the original intent, so each of us can take away from it as much or as little as we want.

 

I like your image - its artistry is not digital or film, and could have been taken with either, incidentally.

[plasticman]

Errr.. Backup? My images are on four drives, two in RAID in the computer, one onsite external and one offsite NAS...

 

Just as a sidenote, and not really appropriate in this thread, a couple month's ago there were some new concerns about the security of NAS systems, and also how they can be used as back doors into a user's own firewalled systems. As images are a favorite target for criminals encrypting computers as hostage for bitcoins, none of us should feel totally complacent regardless of how many backups we have.

[jaapv]

its artistry is not digital or film, and could have been taken with either, incidentally

 

Exactly my point - and exactly why these discussions are so pointless.

[NB23]

Digital photography is every bit like Cyber sex: Easy, and so totally non gratifying and unsatisfying.