Digital loses its shine

[ron110n]

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There you go Alan, I know you can do it.

I'm sure your sister and brother in-law do understand what I'm looking for in a picture.

 

Enjoy your 4th!

 

Best,

-Ron

[Guest stnami]

Alan how did you brush out the pollution and leave the plasic film over the image:D

[craigrmurray]

Thanks everyone for your replies concerning "punter". Sorta fits in between a "plugger" (average guy plugging away at surviving, keeping his nose to the grindstone) and "Joe Six-pack" (beer drinking everyman without lofty pretensions or champagne tastes).

 

Or perhaps it's what the kicker does on third down with ten yards to go.

[J_Brittenson]

Inevitable, really, like the recent resurgence of interest in vinyl records...

Not really IMO; records are used to consume music. Cameras are more comparable to instruments in that they're used to produce images (or music). A camera by itself, unlike a record player, does absolutely nothing at all, it's as useless as an instrument without a musician.

 

I remember in the 80s; I had friends who though synthesizers would take over the world. Why buy an expensive and huge piano when it not only can be perfectly replicated but also improved upon in ways not physically possible with the real item? Especially one friend of mine; he always poked about on his Amiga, playing the latest demos etc. But then when he felt like playing himself he'd go sit at the very real (and very expensive) concert piano in his living room... He played quite well, too.

[craigrmurray]

I remember in the 80s; I had friends who though synthesizers would take over the world. Why buy an expensive and huge piano when it not only can be perfectly replicated but also improved upon in ways not physically possible with the real item? Especially one friend of mine; he always poked about on his Amiga, playing the latest demos etc. But then when he felt like playing himself he'd go sit at the very real (and very expensive) concert piano in his living room... He played quite well, too.

Jan:

 

Quite true, especially your thoughts concerning the accoustic piano -- notice how guitar synthesizers never really took off? Plus, tube (valve) amplifiers are somewhat analogous to film cameras -- guitarists just wouldn't let the old technology go. Sure, the majority of guitar amps are transistor-based, but every large amp manufacturer has tube amps in their lineup, usally their most pricy ones. Like pianos, both technologies continue to exist side by side, but obviously, the photo business is a much larger consumer business than the high-end musical instrument business, which can be more a conoisseur business than a consumer one.

[AlanG]

I don't see the similarity. Whether you play music on a synthesizer or on a piano, it comes out of the instrument instantly. And it doesn't cost more to play a song on a piano than it does on a synthesizer.

 

The realities of the marketplace is one factor that has pushed most commercial, news, illustration and wedding photography to digital. Clients ususally don't want film and many photographers, once they get good with digital, don't want to use it either.

 

Consider how many images are used small on the web or small elsewhere. Do you think there the subtelties of film are very significant on a scanned image that is maybe only being reproduced at a size of a couple of hundred pixels? The biggest pictures on my web site are 800x500 pixels. Just go to MSN's web site. Most pictures are thumbnails and then are just a little bigger when you open the story.

 

As for all those "youngsters" giving up on their digital cameras because their pictures stink and going to film, is there any sign that it is having any effect on the market? Are film sales up? Are new film cameras coming out to meet this demand? Are new pro labs opening?