The definitive guide to digital-age survival

[noimmunity]

I think this place needs a sticky thread with information, resources and an ethics for survival/thrival in the age of the constant upgrade. 😀

1) use film. it's already permanently outdated. use old(er) cameras;
2) read and contribute to threads that don't have to do with the latest/greatest;
3) remember that you can be social, and do it via discussion of images and gear, without having to use the latest/greatest;
4) discussions of "outdated" digital gear can still be interesting and fun;
5) hold back on judgements on new camera releases until a few months after release;
6) don't let discussions of new gear monopolize or overshadow either the discussion of images or the legitimacy of social hobnobbing around images, cameras, and gear;
7) avoid unnecessary or frivolous comparisons;
8) chew gum and breathe deeply instead.

 

[Robert Lai]

I use film, fountain pens, typewriters, and paper mail.
I also use computers when necessary, but I don't love them.
Since I do photography only as a hobby, there is no need for me to get the latest of anything.

 

[noimmunity]

Refusal is definitely one very important alternative.
Intentionally going slower is another. The latter in particular is constantly mentioned by photographers as a creative plus.

 

[MCTuomey]

I use film, fountain pens, typewriters, and paper mail.

Same here (well, the film and fountain pen parts), also use digital, but not pressured by obsolesence

My take from Jon's list: just stay centered on making pictures with the gear I have (it's already way better than me), new gear thought wastes precious time

 

[Pioneer]

My Digital Survival Tips

My Digital Survival Tips

1. Buy an older digital camera, preferably one that uses AA batteries (they are cheap)
2. Buy and install a Katzeye focus scrreen (or equivalent)
3. Short out the focus motor in your camera.
4. Turn the Mode Dial to M and glue it in place with super glue (after u shorted the motor no one will buy it anyway)
5. Set your ISO to 400 and forget about it.
6. Find the menu item that turns off your display and do it.
7. Buy a gross of memory cards and go forth and shoot pictures (you can store them in the fridge or the freezer if you want)
8. When you get home, take out the memory card and write the date on it.
9. Throw it on the desk and forget about it for a couple months (like you used to do with your film)
10. Pull a memory card out of the freezer and put it in the camera (you are ready for tomorrow)
11. Season and repeat as necessary.

See! Digital can be just as fun as film was! 😀

 

[FrankS]

 

[Richard G]

1. Don't buy the Monochrom, your M9 will get lonely.
2. Don't order the iPad air engraved with your name and phone number for free.
3. Don't launch the camera in the iPad air.
4. If the camera is crooked and as expected, on your early morning visit to the Genius Bar in the Apple Store, they don't have a replacement with the same size storage, wait till they have. Don't take up their offer to email you a self-addressed mailing label to send from your office the faulty hardware so they can send you a new engraved iPad in the post.
5. Don't take the opportunity to get your car washed at that Westfield shopping centre, or give them your mobile number so they can SMS you when it's ready.
6. Don't buy a coffee with your remaining coins while you wait.
7. Don't return to the Apple Store.
8. If you return to the Apple Store don't buy a new iPhone 5S 64G outright so your son can have your iPhone 4 now his HTC is dying, not quite so soon as expected.
9. When you go to the Telstra store for the nano SIM don't listen to the Telstra people when they tell you their iPhone 5S on your plan is cheaper and also unlocked.
10. Don't let them insert the SIM in the shop and link to your Cloud account, instantly updating your contacts, @mac.com mail, including the email receipt for the iPhone 5S unopened in your bag.
11. Don't hope that the email receipt for the Apple Store bought phone will be on your new phone already, or think that your old phone could display the same email without 3G as they can link it to their WiFi. Don't smile or wish them a nice day as they refund you your money.
12. Don't call AppleCare when your old phone doesn't back up right.
13. Don't call again and let Alvin from the Philippines see your desktop remotely to help you set up the new phone.
14. When you go to meet your wife and children for lunch and you find a metered parking spot next to her car, but of course now have no coins (see 6 above) just risk the ticket.
15. If you didn't do that, go to the 7-11 to buy chewing gum for the change.
16. If you didn't do that, download the app advertised on the sign and pay electronically.
17. DO NOT throw up your hands at your digital Saturday morning and get back in the car and drive three blocks and park for 2 hours for free.
18. Do not take the Monochrom out of the car and take two photos you would otherwise have missed parking so close to the cafe.

I swear, that was not quite all of my Saturday morning yesterday. Later I updated my photographic notebook, mischievously labelled on the spine "Off Photography" with my M800 Pelikan fountain pen. I should have read another chapter of War and Peace (an actual book here.)

 

[DougFord]

^^^very funny

 

[hepcat]

1. Don't buy the Monochrom, your M9 will get lonely.
2. Don't order the iPad air engraved with your name and phone number for free.
3. Don't launch the camera in the iPad air.
4. If the camera is crooked and as expected, on your early morning visit to the Genius Bar in the Apple Store, they don't have a replacement with the same size storage, wait till they have. Don't take up their offer to email you a self-addressed mailing label to send from your office the faulty hardware so they can send you a new engraved iPad in the post.
5. Don't take the opportunity to get your car washed at that Westfield shopping centre, or give them your mobile number so they can SMS you when it's ready.
6. Don't buy a coffee with your remaining coins while you wait.
7. Don't return to the Apple Store.
8. If you return to the Apple Store don't buy a new iPhone 5S 64G outright so your son can have your iPhone 4 now his HTC is dying, not quite so soon as expected.
9. When you go to the Telstra store for the nano SIM don't listen to the Telstra people when they tell you their iPhone 5S on your plan is cheaper and also unlocked.
10. Don't let them insert the SIM in the shop and link to your Cloud account, instantly updating your contacts, @mac.com mail, including the email receipt for the iPhone 5S unopened in your bag.
11. Don't hope that the email receipt for the Apple Store bought phone will be on your new phone already, or think that your old phone could display the same email without 3G as they can link it to their WiFi. Don't smile or wish them a nice day as they refund you your money.
12. Don't call AppleCare when your old phone doesn't back up right.
13. Don't call again and let Alvin from the Philippines see your desktop remotely to help you set up the new phone.
14. When you go to meet your wife and children for lunch and you find a metered parking spot next to her car, but of course now have no coins (see 6 above) just risk the ticket.
15. If you didn't do that, go to the 7-11 to buy chewing gum for the change.
16. If you didn't do that, download the app advertised on the sign and pay electronically.
17. DO NOT throw up your hands at your digital Saturday morning and get back in the car and drive three blocks and park for 2 hours for free.
18. Do not take the Monochrom out of the car and take two photos you would otherwise have missed parking so close to the cafe.

I swear, that was not quite all of my Saturday morning yesterday. Later I updated my photographic notebook, mischievously labelled on the spine "Off Photography" with my M800 Pelikan fountain pen. I should have read another chapter of War and Peace (an actual book here.)

ROTF... well written! And all that just to receive phone calls, texts, and emails from people you really don't want to hear from much anyway? Wow... 😉

 

[jsrockit]

Or you can just use what works for what you want to accomplish photographically and forget all of the deeply personal manifestos.

 

[Margu]

digital is open ended. the look of images will keep changing as the software changes. what this means is if you shoot RAW, your images are never "final".

 

[Lauffray]

you forgot...
9) realize there is no definitive guide to anything in life 😀

 

[valdas]

- The digital camera I really want is not made yet. Wait for next Xpro2, NEX8, AR8r, 5DmkV etc...
- Buy more B&W film whenever you see "special offer" (film ain't getting any cheaper)

 

[jsrockit]

digital is open ended. the look of images will keep changing as the software changes. what this means is if you shoot RAW, your images are never "final".

I have to agree. Any time I go back to an image, I tweak it. However, prints are final.

 

[kuzano]

Nope....

Nope....

I have to agree. Any time I go back to an image, I tweak it. However, prints are final.

Not if you buy paint in differing media, chalks, pastels, and brushes. Even then the quality of the brushes is different one from the other.

 

[gm13]

This is great, too funny

1. Buy an older digital camera, preferably one that uses AA batteries (they are cheap)
2. Buy and install a Katzeye focus scrreen (or equivalent)
3. Short out the focus motor in your camera.
4. Turn the Mode Dial to M and glue it in place with super glue (after u shorted the motor no one will buy it anyway)
5. Set your ISO to 400 and forget about it.
6. Find the menu item that turns off your display and do it.
7. Buy a gross of memory cards and go forth and shoot pictures (you can store them in the fridge or the freezer if you want)
8. When you get home, take out the memory card and write the date on it.
9. Throw it on the desk and forget about it for a couple months (like you used to do with your film)
10. Pull a memory card out of the freezer and put it in the camera (you are ready for tomorrow)
11. Season and repeat as necessary.

See! Digital can be just as fun as film was! 😀

 

[Godfrey]

digital is open ended. the look of images will keep changing as the software changes. what this means is if you shoot RAW, your images are never "final".

If you create a TIFF file after you finish rendering your RAW file, it will always look the same unless you edit it further.
But make a print. ;-)

G

(Going off to my photo group's holiday gathering. I'm taking a Minolta Instant Pro (aka Polaroid Spectra Pro) and three packs of Impossible Project Silver Shade Cool to do portraits. I'm equipped with tripod and radio remote release for this little entertainment. 🙂

 

[thegman]

Just use what you want.

I enjoy film cameras, and also I very much like computers. I also like Irn Bru and Lagavulin whisky, but the two don't mix.

All you have to do is stop caring what companies want you to think. Film is not outdated in any other sense than it was what works to sell people things.

120 or 4x5 film is higher resolution than pretty much any digital camera, it's simpler, cheaper technology, but that plays no role in how we are sold things.

Just stop listening to what corporations tell you.

I enjoy my computers, and have owned countless, I use cloud services where it suits, have tablets, laptops and desktops, but I just bought a 2014 diary and a pen to replace my Google synced calendar. It's vastly cheaper, more hardy to damage, does not need a battery, and runs faster (I can flick to a page faster than I can unlock my phone, load calendar app, and go that day).

Technology only sometimes gets replaced with something better, mostly it's because it helps stuff sell.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Agree with all. Except four, will try to ignore all digital.
For next hour 🙂

 

[charjohncarter]

I use film, fountain pens, typewriters, and paper mail.
I also use computers when necessary, but I don't love them.
Since I do photography only as a hobby, there is no need for me to get the latest of anything.

I do like you, I also play an acoustic guitar and an accordion: