Transition to digital ?

[JohnL]

I know there are few real digital RFs as yet, but there are many digital viewfinder "prosumer" cameras, and many, perhaps most, of those who haunt the RF forum also shoot other types of camera. I was wondering how far the transition to digital has gone among us ...

 

[digitalox]

My only digital is broke, so I have no choice. film only. wasn't a great cam anyway. I'll try to wait until the price comes down and the quality goes up before i buy another.

 

[Pherdinand]

well, something like 1 to 2 % 🙂 but it's not really a matter of faithfulness to film. (To me.)

 

[Kin Lau]

My poll answer is a little misleading. I'm mostly an SLR shooter to begin with, and since getting the dslr, and the fact that there are very few keepers when shooting birds, means most of my shots are digital.

I'll go out at times and just shoot with the RF's, but it's bird migration session right now, so I'm burning thru a lot of shots w/ the dreb.

 

[bmattock]

I went from 100% film decades ago to NOTHING for the past twenty years to 100% digital about five years ago and now back to 100% film. Nothing against digital, just lost my digital camera and not happy with the replacement and now I wait and save for a digital SLR to take my M42 and Canon FD lenses. But having gotten back 'into' film, I doubt I'll ever abandon it again. Hey, I like both!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[Designer]

For taking photos w/. my baby daughter, I always shoot digital. Otherwise, almost all using film.

 

[lars]

Another tired post from me, saying how I have embraced digital, although I still shoot film every now and then just 'cuz I don't (YET) have a digital camera with the same handling / performance qualities as my rangefinder and film SLR.

I'm going on a 4-day trip down to the Oregon coast and am torn btwn bringing my film SLR or my digital prosumer (Minolta A1). A big consideration (literally) is our 25 lb, 14 mos. old son whom I will be hauling on my back on hikes along the beach. The A1 is very small but capable where as my Maxxum 7 produces gorgeous results with Reala 100...but the 70-210/4 lens is heavy. And my wife is small, so getting her to carry the baby or my film gear is going to be a painful experience for me. The A1 might be the right choice, and the Max 7 a few years from now when he can walk on his own.

I suppose I could also bring my Bessa R and take a couple of film shots.

Larry

 

[rover]

Just for the stuff I am selling.

 

[Rich Silfver]

My answer was 1-30% (closer to 1 than 30..) but I'm not 'getting into it' as the poll answer states but rather quite happy with just using it for quick snaps of stuff once in a while.

Love film.

 

[MP Guy]

I'm in the market for a digital contax N. However, as always, looking for the best deal.

 

[GeneW]

I shoot both. Rather than do an image count, I voted on the basis of how often I take out one or the other. It's about 50-50, but the digital results in a higher number of images.

Love my RF's, Love my DSLR ...

Gene

 

[Doug]

Looks like I'm in the same position as Rich. Very low digital use, and content with that. I got the digital mostly to document property-manangement issues and also for quick snaps to illustrate some point in online discussions. 🙂

 

[sfaust]

I shot a little digital, but was very unhappy with the focus, shutter lag, and blown highlights and bad exposures. So I shot mostly film. Then my clients (editorial/Corporate) starting asking for digital, so I got a high quality digital SLR. I immediately starting shooting more and more digital as all the issues I had with digital were now gone. Very fast AF, no shutter lag, excellent optics, highlights well under control. And printing 11x14's that were indistinguishable from film, I swithed all most all of my work to digital. The last year, I started shooting more and more black and white film, and am now about 80% digital and 20% film. But I do see that changing even more toward digital as time goes on. Especially with the high quality MF digitals that blow away 35mm, but the price has to come down first.

 

[lars]

sfaust made the exact point I was about to post. It looks to me like a lot of digital dissatisfaction is the result of a bad experience with a low end or jurassic-era digital camera. Once you move up into the expensive stuff with real dials, knobs, and dedicated buttons, and better AF and reduced lag, you enjoy digital much, much more.

I started with an Epson 850Z and I *KNEW* it would suck greatly compared to a film camera of half the price. But that didn't stop me from buying an A1 a few years later. The 850Z is still used for its original purpose (taking static pics for web content) where as the A1 was bought for my photography hobby and therefore it had to have performance and an interface similar to what I'm used to using.

Larry

 

[wierdcollector]

I have a foolishly cheap Vivitar digital but no idea if it even works as my 'puter won't recognise it. I didn't buy it, my wife got it with points from a credit card. I'm still so computer challenged I can't figure my scanner out, so it's gathered dust for over a year. No great interest on my part I'm afraid. When I need a photo to post, I have Walmart put my shots on disk. I enjoy viewing others' work, but most of mine isn't worth judging or posting.

 

[SolaresLarrave]

I don't even have a cheap digital... So, I'm all for film use! 🙂

 

[hinius]

I would literally sell my soul for a digital Konica Hexar/Canonet/Yashica Electro. The technology is definitely available for a digital fixed-lens rangefinder with classic handling and super low-light performance.

Unfortunately, it would appear that it is only the law of supply and demand that prevents such a camera from existence. As a result, I am bypassing capitalism and appealing directly to the higher (or lower) divine powers! I repeat, I will sell my soul.

 

[vladhed]

More digital shots because...

More digital shots because...

it doesn't cost anything, so I tend to just shoot shoot shoot. But I usually get crap, crap, crap. So in terms of "good" shots, it is about 50 - 50 digital to analog.

 

[LionFlyer]

I mostly shoot with film. I have 1 Nikon MF body and 2 Nikon AF bodies and a modest collection of Nikkor glass plus 4 Range Finder cameras. I also have an Olympus 2020 and a Sony S75 for digital. The olympus is used mostly for IR images or for photos I plan to only need for the computer. The S75 is a snap shot camera. When I want the images to be around for a long time I put them on film. Real life story about film. My brother found some negatives at our Mom's place going back to when I was a kid. He asked me what the words Safety Film on the negatives ment. He has been scanning them and emailing them to me. After 40 years the images on the film are still usuable and all that was done was to put their enevelopes in a box. My floppies from 1982 are so long obsolete I don't think they can be read today by any working computer. If the data on them is even still viable. So I use film when ever it matters. Digital when it does not.

 

[matu]

I don´t like the way the Digital Images are made.
Cheap lenses, Digital Zoom? Auto exposure.... are far away of the romantic, heavy and old trash I´m used to carry.
I think it´s not the format what does it matter, It is the way you shoot the photo, I like to see the speed, the F-stop, play with the wheels, knobs, with the light meter....
Maybe when I´m Old I´ll buy a Leica Digulux 2 on flea market.