As I said above, according to a Sky TV News report August 2005, for every one film camera that's sold, there are 15 digital cameras sold and it's gotten a whole lot worse for film camera sales since then...
So whare does that leave us all now, exactly right back to the beginning. I mean after all if you want prints to put in the family album, you will still have to visit your local 1 hour photo lab with you memory card and have them transferred to prints and in most cases still costing you about the same to make prints. However I have noticed that their print prices have sharply increased, no doubt to cover the cost of lost film sales and processing charges.
Of course you will save costs in having to buy and process your film, so your a few pence in profit, or are you...
Have you taken into account the additional cost of the initial purchase of your new digital camera and if you did, have you worked out how long it will be before you can actually claim that your in profit on the deal!
And do you know how cheep it is now right now, to buy a pro or semi pro used film camera. Film is cheep and film quality has never been better, and that's the truth. You can even pick up a Pro Medium Format Camera, new or used for cents on the dollar.
Well I'm an old timer when it comes to photography, having started out when I was a boy at school, using a camera more than 50 years ago, so why should it bother you one bit..
Did you know if you shoot on film and then get the lab to make a high resolution CD of you negs to Images, you can in fact produce good definition images and although it may not be quite as good as a digital camera image, who needs that extra quality in the first place, especially if you just want pictures for the family album.
As I say who needs this kind of definition to day, I mean your prints that are in your album will look just as good either way and if your sending your digital images to your friends and family via your PC, it's not going to make any difference at all.
My son-in-law swears that the old Long Playing Records, (Vinyl), you use to buy, that have long since been replaced by the music CD, are in fact of a higher quality tonal range and sound definition that any equivalent re-mastered music CD. And, I have to agree with him, assuming that the LP is in "mint" condition, which because of it's age might well not be up scratch. Scratch being the operative word...
But again is this additional sound quality required for you Super Woofers pumping out Hip Hop, especially on the dance floor or disco club...
This brings us back to photography and the great advantage of digital is simply being able to see you results immediately and discarding by pressing "delete" or erase, the ones that didn't make it and only keeping the ones that you want.
However the same criteria still applies and will always apply, if you aspire to be a great photographer, that is careful composition, lighting and exposure and unless you have a hold on this pro approach to you images, they will be nothing more than mediocre, and that's a place I don't want to visit!!!
So apart from your virtual photo album on line, what is the difference. Well if your a snapper, you will always be a snapper. But if you take a pride in producing images that appeal to the eye and you have learnt your stuff good and well, you'll be able to create great images in any medium, be it film or digital or whatever medium that may follow in the next decade or two.
It's all down to basics and although I can't talk in great technical detail about digital imaging, which is one way to create an Image, I can talk in great technical detail about photography technique, which is more relevant to day than almost any other time.
Why might that be I here you say, because it's becoming easier and easier to produce a photo image than ever before, but are we all forgetting something...
When I was a boy, I dropped out of school at the tender age of 15 years to work as an apprentice in one of London's largest advertising studios.
I worked in the darkrooms and learnt how to print black and white "bromide" prints and became a bit of an expert before I was 16 years of age, to such an extent that some of the top Ad/ Fashion photographers use to ask for me to print their work for them, and I'm talking about prints size 20x16 inch. not wallet size en-prints.
At the time good quality color prints were a long way off before they became the norm. and the studio would shoot all color advertising photography on Kodak Ektachrome "Sheet Film" on large size View cameras, whare you would view the image under a dark cloth on the screen at the back of the camera.
To day in the advertising studio, many pro photographers have switched to digital in the last decade, but still are using the same studio based camera types. This would include the 5x4 inch View camera, fitted with a one shot digital camera back and of course medium format cameras such as the Hasselblad, Mamiya and Rollei, that have had special digital backs fitted to them.
Therefor, to the established studio photographer of many years standing, the only thing that has changed is that his camera has been fitted with a digital back.
BUT take note, he stills applies the OLD techniques to his photography, that is; careful attention to composition, lighting and exposure. Because that's how he was trained and that's what earned him his reputation and why his clients still keep coming back to him.
IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH DIGITAL CAMERAS... as far as the professional photographer is concerned, digital cameras are just a new piece of equipment that he now uses, and that's the bottom line...
I do hope your getting the message loud and clear, that just because it's easy to use digital, it does not mean that you don't have to learn your stuff to become a photographer. For example reading up good books, this is how I learnt the basics when I was at school. I have to say that in my case, because I was able to work as an apprentice in one of London's largest studios that I gained invaluable experience. This was to be one of the the most incredible stories in my life and the experience taught me everything I needed to know about photography technique.
Roger Lewis © '2003 - 2009' www.PhotoRog.com
