R9 - should i sell it

[rsolomon]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Richard -

 

What's it like doing stop-down composing/metering/auto exposure with the D3?

 

 

I'm getting familar with this and at this point it is "almost" a non issue, i shoot most often, but not always in aperture priority mode, this i find makes it that much easier, i have not found the viewfinder to dark to work with. Keep in mind the D3 offers focus confirmation with MF R lenses.

[mwilliamsphotography]

The thing here is that film users seem to be saying that they avoid 'post processing' by using film - surely developing, printing, scanning, dodging, burning and adjusting exposure counts as post processing - for me, there are a whole range of things that you can do with a digital image and photoshop that can be done quickly, cleanly and objectively, with minimal use of chemicals and impact on the environment. In my book making photography more accessible, does not diminish photography or the skills needed to create a good image.

 

I love film too, I'm not anti film - I just think that its use will gradually diminish and become the province of the enthusiast, or specialist.

 

ps. Lovely image, Mark

 

I think for the average user on vacation or shooting anything where there are a lot of images involved ... you get better results just shooting film and having a decent lab process the whole thing.

 

This can be done with digital and jpegs also, but it doesn't seem to yield the same level of quality ... to match neg. color film, digital has to be tended to more intensely. However, for some this may be a wash because they are very exacting when shooting digital jpgs.

 

Once done and selects are chosen for enlargements, it is indeed a wash, or favors digital.

 

But that isn't what I'm referencing as being labor intense. The desk top maintenance of digital systems is an Ice Berg of hidden labor everyone seems to ignore.

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[dhsimmonds]

When I bought my R9/DMR kit, I always thought that one day I just might revert the R9 to film use. After all it is so easy to do. After two years I now know that will never happen. I love the whole digital process too much. Returning from a long trip last month with over 3500 digital images all taken in RAW format and each requiring individual image attention and processing has only served to re-inforce my view on this.

 

I remember long hours in the darkroom, with huge numbers of test strips and mixing developer, hypo, then rinsing and drying of prints, finding the temperature had dropped too much or increased too much, the stench of chemicals. No for me digital imaging is a blessed relief, but I applaud those that persevere and produce marvelous prints from their darkroom efforts and would never try to persuade them otherwise if they enjoy it.

 

Once a monitor is calibrated (it's so easy to do) and paper profiles are generally available free of charge these days from paper manufacturers it is not such a time consuming process to produce a good print. The advantage of digital printing is that once an image is saved, one can print countless copies of it at any time in the future in the full knowledge that each one will be identical (assuming same inks and paper).

 

I have frequently tried to repeat a darkroom print at a later date from the same negative and rarely succeeded in getting an identical copy!

 

So it's horses for courses! What a good job that we are all different with our likes and dislikes. It's what makes photography so fascinating!