It's two and a half years ago now that my wife and I walked over the top of
the 'coathanger' (Sydney Harbour Bridge). When we got up there the guide
took shots of us with a digital and when we got down we were presented with
a very nice 6 X 8 glossy of our group. At the time I was surprised at the
quality; to the eye it could have been processed from film! From memory the
cameras the guides were using were Sony's and at the reception counter there
were about eight colour printers going flat out producing prints that were
selling like hot cakes. That was more than two years ago so with two weeks
being a millenium in this digital age how much better is the gear now?
But in October last year we spent a fabulous month in the US and while in
New York I just had to visit B&H. They had basic Fuji digitals at $US130 so
I bought one just to play with. Had a nice little fiddle with it at the
hotel room in Las Vegas, put it back in the box, and put the box back in a
small carry bag that my wife had bought at Napa Valley. The next morning we
packed our bags into the taxi's boot (sorry, trunk) to go to the airport. At
the end of that journey I paid the fare while my wife and daughter were
unloading the taxi. The cab then sped off with the wine carrier containing
the digital, a very nice bottle of red and worst of all, my new Giants cap
(which I was wearing while watching Barry Bonds hit his 71st and 72nd home
runs at Pac Bell Park) all never to be seen again! Fortunately my OM-2,
three lenses and Stylus Epic were safely tied on to me. I think I'll stay
with film for a while.
Regards,
John Wheeler.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Winsor Crosby" <wincros@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2002 6:09 AM
Subject: RE: [OM] Digital camera downfalls
> >Good post. Here in Ottawa (Canada's capital for international
> >posters who are unsure about Canadians) I think no wedding
> >photographers use a digital camera. When my wife and I got married
> >4 years ago, we asked around for fun if any used dig cams. None
> >did. We still keep in touch with our photographer (used Hasselbad
> >BTW). When I saw this post, I immediately called him. He is aware
> >of no one who shoots weddings or any other professional function
> >with a digital camera here in Ottawa. He has one though, like I,
> >but it is "just for fun." The immediacy of the digital camera is
> >cool, but the quality is not a substitute for film as of yet.
> >
> >Everyone has been saying for the past 3 or 4 years that dig cams
> >will take over. They haven't yet; they are accessories, not a
> >photographing system. DVDs were supposed to takeover from VHS.
> >Just before Christmas CNN had a tech show on. VHS still outsells in
> >terms of rentals, VCR vs DVD purchases, you name it. The DVD
> >industry is forecasting that it will takeover during 2002; but such
> >forecasts have been made for the past 4 years.
> >
> >Digital will eventually take over, but I bet it will take at least
> >as long as DVDs have taken. Just my 0.02 Canadian cents.
> >
> >-Bill
>
> And then there were vinyl LPs and CDs. That took how long? :-) My
> local(small city near Los Angeles) movie rental place has more VHS
> titles because they contain all the older movies. However if you
> look at the line of people standing in line with the newer movies
> that most people rent more than half are holding DVDs. The rest of
> the US lags a little behind the two coasts in these trends. I don't
> know about Canada. And DVD is much newer than digital photography,
> but it is for all intents and purposes a completed technology and we
> are just talking about marketing. Digital photography is still being
> created. So that is a handicapped race you are proposing.
>
> One would not expect a highly competitive cottage industry like
> photography to be cutting edge. Basically it is an industry based on
> tradition. On that same CNN you mention, the correspondent last
> night was viewing digital pics from the photographer's N*kon on his
> Mac G4 TiBook in Afghanistan before switching to the downloaded
> digital images. It is later than you think.
> --
> Winsor Crosby
> Long Beach, California
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