Dear Olympians/Zuiks:
In the last 2-3 days, while the OLY list experienced its first Digital
Orgasm (Hmm, "digital orgasm"... I can't believe I wrote this! :-)
Oh well...), I was patiently sitting on the sidelines (ok, ok, I like to
watch -- I admit it :-)).
Now that the collective energy of this discussion seems to have subsided,
I'd like to make a couple of "post-coital" :-) comments.
First, we must realize that, for better or worse, consumer electronics
market (of which photo gear is merely a part) is driven by the industry,
and NOT by the consumers. Indeed, consumers weren't exactly storming
the FCC demanding HDTV (High Definition TV), nor were they demonstrating
on Microsoft's front lawn for the immediate release of Windows 98. Yet,
both products have descended upon us, as inevitable as the old age, and
almost as unnecessary (and unwelcome!).
The same is true of digital photography. It's here because the industry
needs new products to survive, and so it will obsolescence and phase out
the old products, regardless of how satisfactory they are to the end user.
Resistance is futile -- we all shall be assimilated. In the process, the
all-important mass-market segment of the consumers will cheerfully trade
quality for convenience (e.g. CD's vs LP's, nuked vs freshly cooked food,
etc.) Pros' and the discriminating amateurs will stick to their high
standards, and will pay the price -- as usual :-(
Which brings me to my second point -- and a bit of good news. Despite
consumer electronics industry's best efforts, we humans remain decidedly,
hopelessly, blissfully analog creatures. The great majority of us rejects
digital-only watches, or all-digital car instrument panels, although very
few care about these devices internal construction. Let any C*non A-1 or
N*kon F3 owner look through an OM-4 viewfinder, and you'll see my point:
they LOVE the OM-4's combined analog & digital metering display.
Moreover, on average we humans are creatures of habit, slow to accept
changes, esp. if there is no outside pressure or another very good reason
to do so. It took camera makers 10 years to figure out that for their new
wonderbricks to sell better they should appear more "retro", "camera-like"
(see EOS Elan IIe, Maxxum 550si, Pentax ZX-5n, etc.) IMHO, digital cameras
may follow the same evolutionary path.
And so, it seems that digital photography (DPG) is upon us, willing or not,
but it is likely to have a good 10-15 years of growing pains. That's far
enough horizon for me to lose very little sleep over DPG in the next
2-3 years. Meanwhile, if the new digital toys become as inexpensive as
the flatbed scanners, I will surely buy one to play with. But, for any
serious work I'll stick to my OM's/Zuiko's.
Cheers,
/Gary Schloss.
Studio City, CA
schloss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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