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Re: [OM] Why this is the way it be?

Subject: Re: [OM] Why this is the way it be?
From: Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 2009 20:37:57 -0500
Fernando wrote:

> I've had other more personal reasons to not switch to digital.
> Therefore, until I found the topic discussed in this thread, I was not
> aware of the issue.
>


First of all, one must clearly separate Photoshop from Lightroom.  Although
both are Adobe products (more or less), their purpose of living is a bit
different.  Along with that, the price of the two products are in completely
different leagues too.

In a perfect Digital World, you upgrade cameras, computers and software
simultaneously. Prior to this current economic downturn, that's pretty much
how things worked and everybody was happy.  However, we've been reaching a
leveling off of the technology where improvements are more incremental than
dramatic.  Sure, I'd like 24MP full-frame to replace my 5MP
crop-sensor--that would be dramatic. But upgrading from 18MP to 24MP is no
longer flying.  Professional photographers didn't flock to the Canon 1Ds
MkIII because in reality it didn't offer them any vast improvement--if ANY
improvement over their MkII.

As far as software is concerned... Are we listening to ourselves?  What kind
of nonsense is it that we have to be getting dual, if not quad-core
processors and 8+ GB of RAM just so we can even have a hope of running the
latest version of Photoshop without slicing our wrists?

I've been a strong proponant of alternative (underdog) options.  For me, I
have been quite content with Picture Window Pro as it is extremely fast and
it doesn't kill your computer.  I'm running--get this--ONE GIG OF RAM on my
system and the program screams.  The entire cost of the program is about
half of just a Photoshop upgrade.  For some of us, this price difference is
putting food on the table.  Sure, I wouldn't mind some of the luxuries of
Photoshop, but at what price?

Same goes for digital cameras.  At what price must I sacrifice inorder to
have the latest/greatest?  Since joining the digital revolution, I've spent
about $2500 on cameras and memory cards.  All of which is now worth about
$400--maybe.  Since joining the digital revolution, I've spent another $2000
on computers and software--no need describing current value.  This has been
$4500 spent on hardware and software which has little residual value and is
now woefully out of date.  This is worse than buying a brand new car!

My $4500 is chump change compared to many on this list.  Shall we all add up
what we've spent on cameras, computers and software in the past five years?
Now ask ourselves how much more we're going to spend over the next five
years?

To be fair, my system is hybridized, (both film and digital), so a lot of
the cost is directly related to all forms of photography, but when I upgrade
my digital camera (replace with some zillion pixel wonderbeast) I'll have to
invest in a new computer to go along with it.

Between 1988 and 1993 I spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $30,000 on
film and processing for speculative work and "learning".  My camera
investment has always been a zero-cost thing in that everything I've sold
has brought in about the same as what I bought it for--and what I didn't
sell is still in active use today.  Of that $30,000 "investment/cost",
fortunately, revenue from image sales had done a good job of covering a
large portion of it and I still make the occasional sale from the stock
library from those days.  If I was just starting out today and trying to
build experience, a stock-library and establish myself, I could see a
similar cost and it would be by staying current with equipment, computers
and software.  I'm no longer there.  I can't justify any major purchases as
a Hobby and as a part-time photographer, I don't make enough money to
justify $1500+ per year in upgrades.  It's a catch-22 for me.

Obviously, I don't speak for Moose.  I only speak for myself, but possibly
there are others here that can relate to what I am saying.  I am no
recalcitrant--I'd like a brand-new digital camera, computer and CS4 like the
next person.  Why not toss a huge Epson printer into the mix while we're at
it.  A few Canon Big-Whites wouldn't be bad, either.  (talk about upgrade
tax--does anybody use any non-IF Canon lenses anymore?)

These can be exciting times for the film photographer.  There is world-class
equipment available in any and every brand available for peanuts.  The films
keep getting better and the REAL limiting factor for most photographers
isn't the equipment, but the slushware between the ears.

AG
-- 
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