where do we go from here?

FrankS said:
I think that the next big thing in digital photography coming to the consumer market is high quality still captures from video. But for me, that takes away the primary source of challenge and reward from photography. Instead of attempting to capture the decisive moment, one simply selects it.
Click to expand...

That would be a bit like fishing with a trawl net as opposed to rod, line and fly. I know which I prefer, but if you make your living from it .........

I am very happy sitting some way behind the bleeding edge, using both film and digital as it takes my fancy. I have no desire for any of the latest and greatest and this gives me a great sense of peace and contentment after many years of lusting after the next new thing.🙂
 
Camera store closings bother me. Photo lab closings bother me. They are not being physically replaced, so it represents a loss. The place I could once go is gone for good.

This past week I ordered a bunch of Efke film simply because they are gone for good.

Those disappearing acts are not easy to deal with, personally.

As for the rate of change of the new technology, I hope it keeps up. I do not want a stagnant industry, where the cameras sold today were good enough years ago, so they're good enough today. Just recently, digital cameras moved from being mimics of film cameras to introducing totally new and unique features (smile and blink detection, for example). I see digital cameras as still having a long way to go. It's tough keeping up, as a buyer, but it's nice to know that the technology is getting better all the time. That eases the woes of saying good-bye to the fine folks at the closing camera stores.
 
I know this is an age thing, but as far as technology getting better and better all the time, I think we may have jumped the shark on that.
 
LOL ... I just had to google 'jump the shark' because I'd never heard the expression before?

I think you're right Frank! 🙂
 
It's an age thing. The things we experienced while coming of age are powerful nostalgia triggers. For me it's mainly music, motorcycles, and cameras. 1970 to 1980 was the best decade. IMO

(although for cameras, the 40's, 50's and 60's weren't bad either.)
 
So did I and I think it spot on.
I would agree too that its age related (with me it was `65 to`80).
I think that you need to stop and accept that its now gone way beyond what the majority of us of a certain age can relate to in terms of our needs.
 
With digital IMHO the point where I did not feel the need to have "more" was in 2006.
In 2006 there was a Leica M8, a Canon EOS 5D and several other cameras that give me all I want and need.

OK, my NEX-7 (2011) is very nice but to be honest, it's kind of overkill for me with those 24 MPix.

But companies just cannot stop and say: "OK, here is the 5D and that will be the last cam you'll ever need."
They need to sell in order to survive. And since the world has become faster, the developments need to tune in in that speed as well...
 
As an amatuer and hobbyist, photography is about the process as much as the image. As a pro, it's got to be all about the image. I have the luxury of only needing to please myself.
 
I agree with Frank. I know I'm nowhere near good enough to be a professional and, therefore, my photography is about having fun with my hobby. Digital is a great medium and its invention and refinement was only ever going to make it increasingly popular and dominant. The frustration I have is that, like with vinyl records, there is a generation that has no idea what preceeded the current medium of choice nor how good what it replaced actually is. Their ignorance only fuels the reduction in choice for film diehards such as myself.

In the meantime, I shall use as much film as I can to keep it alive and hope others do likewise. Long live film and long live choice.
 
Some things never change. Among them is strong pictures. Seeing and expressing emotion, beauty, design, meaning -- this is the real pleasure and value of photography, and this is, and alway has been, independent of tools and media. It's hard to keep that focus in today's constant onslaught of the NEXT BIG THING in gear, but doing so is what really matters.

John

back alley said:
not just about film...

we seem to be in a period of great and constant change...cameras, sensors etc.

we call cameras computers more and more...electronics...products...
Click to expand...
 
We have only to wait till the next technological change and we shall stop talking about this.

When I started I heard a lot of discussions about autofocus vs manual focus cameras, as soon as digital come around the discussion focus shifted on the digital vs film and nobody cares anymore whether one is focusing manually or via AF the lens.

As soon as we shall have routinely movie cameras shooting 60fps each with a 1/1,000 s exposition or 3D technology we shall be talking about "one shot" taken photographs vs a frame of a movie and 2D vs 3D and we shall forget all the fuss about film and digital (just saying two of the reasonably possible advance in camera technology we might experience in the near future, maybe different, more surprising things, will came out)...

In any case, I already don't care much about this. It is the same as when I look an old photograph: I don't care whether it was taken on glass, celluloid or cellulose acetate and whether it was a orthochromatic or a panchromatic film, if I like the picture I like the picture if I don't I don't.

GLF
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom