Bacon and ham: what's the difference

Roger Hicks commented wryly " What I can't understand is first, people who make wildly optimistic claims for digital sharpness, and second, people who can't imagine any style of photography other than their own."

Roger, in some cases it comes down to a simple lack of experience or, perhaps, knowledge of technique. Some years ago, when digital gear wasn't as capable as today's latest most best, I sat in on a presentation on aquarium photography on compuserve's fishnet. The presenter claimed that it was impossible to take good pictures of fish in aquaria with film based imaging devices but not too hard with digital. When asked about his experience with film and why he thought it was a poor choice, he replied to the effect that he'd shot two rolls, got consistently poor results, and then gave up on the technology. There's a lot of this kind of ignorance and intellectual laziness around. People who don't want to learn how to use a technology to best advantage tend to think its useless.

The same is true for claims of the benefits of a virtually costless recording medium. These make me think of the days when amateurs hosed camcorders around recording everything and getting no usable, um, footage. Video is a fine medium for making films if one is poor and not too exacting about image quality, but that doesn't save it from being used badly.

Cheers,

Dan

Dear Dan,

A fine point at which to let this thread fall off the end of the list!

Thanks,

Roger

loss of technical quality in return for greater convenience, fine. Just don't pretend that you can match the bigger or better camera.

Why would i pretend that a smaller neg is as good as a much larger neg?

As i said before it's about getting the photo, that's what it's all about.

Anyone can buy a whole plate camera and take a technically wonderful photo of boredom. Hey, give me a interesting photo taken on a cell phone.

Having said all that quality can add to a photo but never make a photo in my opinion.

Love the Churchill quote in your column.

May the force be with you;).... Regards Allen

All gets a bit serious and heavy around here.