Is Al Kaplan going Digital?

[brambor]

Grant said:"leicas are like shovels. the technology doesnt change. when you buy into other things where the technology changes, you update. are you still using the first computer you ever bought dennis? what about the first car you ever bought? its not that one is better or worse than the other, its about technology."

 

I don't buy the argument that it is about technology. It is about making pictures. If you enjoy doing it with a shovel then be it. There are guys who can make much better wood carvings with a chainsaw than I could ever do with anything technologically advanced machines.

[dennis_couvillion]

"the median age of the automobile fleet in the United States has increased significantly, from 7.0 years in 1992 to 8.4 years in 2002."

 

Perhaps in the hands of second and third owners...

[grant_.]

rene, go try to shoot for sports illustrated with a leica M...sometimes technology does matter, and is necessary....like it or not...

[kevin m.]

Yeah, those poor sports photographers suffer with their dim viewfinders, confusing knobs, wheels and buttons and lousy autofocus. Just think what they could do with a rangefinder!

[paul_neuthaler]

Al, when you start to believe your own publicity, it's the beginning of the end. . .we'll discuss over lunch later this month.<div></div>

[socke]

<i><b>Rolffe wrote</b><br>

"Is Al Kaplan going Digital?"

<br><br>

Do pigs fly?<br></i>

<br>

<a href="http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1925.html">From RFC 1925 (The 12 Networking truths):</a><br>

(3) With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine. However, this is not necessarily a good idea. It is hard to be sure where they are going to land, and it could be dangerous sitting under them as they fly overhead.<br><br>

 

<br>

And back to the article Al cited. Reaching 30,000 or more shutter actuations with a dSLR is much easier than with a film camera. One just shoots much more as with a film camera. Most people who experienced failed shutters on their D30s never shot as much with their Elan 7s.<br>

<br>Professionaly used cameras see more use, but even there you have a difference between digital and film. Who shoots a whole roll in a burst except maybe sports photographers?<br>

And then to depreciation, don't know about the US, but in germany you have to depreciate your equipment as adviced by the internal revenue. In case of "technical change" you can depreciate your equipment to zero in an instant. <br>

Let's assume I bought a Canon 1ds in 2003 and depreciate it acording to the rules over five years. Then it was in my books with a value of roughly 6000 Euro last year. Then I bought a 1DS MkII in december and depreciate my 1DS to a symbolic value of 1 Euro in my books. I reduce my taxable income by 6000 Euro and save some 200 Euro taxes.<br>

This makes sense if you earn (enough) money with your equipment, if not you'll try to retain a higher value to get a better credit rating and you'll probably don't buy another body :-)<br>

In any case, it makes sense to expect this kind of equipment to be less competetive in a shorter period and if you depend on it to earn a living you better earn enough money to get the next big thing every two or three years. This does not mean, that you don't get any use out of your old camera. It still does what it was intended to do.<br>

I know more than one photographer with a D60 as backup to a 1D and that as backup to a 1D MkII.<br>

I don't earn money with my cameras, so it's a different story. My D60 will need some service this year and I won't buy a new dSLR as long as Canon doesn't come with a better viewfinder. Or, more probable, an Epson R-D1 or digital Zeiss-Ikon :-)<br><br>

Sorry if this is a bit difficult to read, my last bussiness english lesson was in may 1992

[brambor]

of course Grant but you know that there is more to life than Sports Illustrated so judging photography by this narrow view would be incorrect. If I was shooting for SI then my equipment would be 1DMKII with 1V as a backup.

[mattalofs]

"We would like Al Kaplan to go out and shoot some pictures and be able to present them in digital format on this forum. "

 

Indeed. And if getting them online is a problem, Al, you can mail me prints and I'll scan them for you.

[kipling]

Al, I have a question. <p>

What exactly would it take for you to go digital? What would you buy into and what do you

want and expect from a digital camera? What are your requirements? Just that it take Leica

glass? Or are there other things? <p>

Just curious.

[edmo]

Another day, another opportunity to do some trolling.

[socke]

Cars and Computers are a bad analogy to cameras, expecialy Leicas!

 

Try to hook up an Apple ][ or Comodore 64 to the internet. It is possible and you can read photo.net with it. But better don't try the Miami Heralds website :-)

 

My mexican Volkswagen Beatle was great in 1982, but today I like a heating which actualy works without the risc of carbon monoxide poisoning. Come to think of that, with the help of an airbag I still might have my incisors. And with anti skid brakes I might not have needed the airbag.

 

A Leica M2 or M3 on the other hand is not so different to a M7 that an upgrade is realy needed. A good handheld meter is probably better than the built in and who needs AE anyways? I use my D60 in manual, it makes more sense to me than AE with manual exposure compensation and I never had the lenses to use my Contax 167MT in programm mode.

[edmo]

Volker, I don?t know I think it?s a good analogy. The heating in my 735i didn?t work when it was new and twenty years later it still doesn?t work.

[al_kaplan1]

In the past hour I've sent essentially the same thing in emails to several of you. What the hey, let everybody know my deep dark secrets. Here's a Copy & Paste from one of them, with a couple of words bowdlerized.

 

I hate shooting SLR's for most situations, and chimping a P&S makes me feel rediculous! I prefer my Leica RFDR's.

 

But I also have another problem which doesn't affect my long term memory, but short term I'm extremely forgetfull. About 4 years ago, for never diagnosed reasons, I had a few epileptic seizures in my sleep. The docs answer to that was "Give him DRUGS" and the doseage was large enough to effing guarantee that I'd not be able to have another seizure! After nearly 2 years of walking around in a spaced out fog, and KNOWING that I was in a fog, I took it upon myself to see just how small a dose I could get by with. So gradually over several months I went from 900mg a day to the 75 I take now. The doc says in theory it shouldn't be enough to do anything, but when I tried stopping altogether, with the doc's knowledge, I had another seizure a couple days later. So I take a pill every night at bedtime.

 

I bring this up because that is the main reason I don't delve more into digital. I can play around with something new for a few hours, like the scanner, get to the point where I've actually scanned an image, even posted it or emailed it. The next day I can't recall what the eff I did, back to square one. It's very frustrating! I really wish it was otherwise.

[Uhooru]

Trevor, are you printing your own files? I would imagine the costs catch up pretty fast if you're printing at home and are serious about it in the sense that you work up a digital print in similar fashion to a darkroom print. A good printer, ink and high quality papers are pretty pricey. I'm not offering a price/analysis here,but I bet at the end of the day, digital's not that much cheaper than film just as a guestimate. I'm doing both, and its expensive either way you go. Needless to say, I would love to have a D70 or D10,D20 or S3 or whatever. But I just bought a Hasselblad..oh well. Choices.

[thomas_sullivan]

"...I can play around with something new for a few hours, like the scanner, get to the point where I've actually scanned an image, even posted it or emailed it. The next day I can't recall what the eff I did, back to square one..."...........errr, Al, there's a device called a pen, and when used with something called paper, they kinda remember for ya.

 

or, you could even use the computer you did the digital editting on, with another window opened to Word, and type it in as you do it.

[thomas_sullivan]

even though it might have sounded sarcastic.........which I guess it was...........it is exactly what I do. I keep notes of everything new I do.......eventually, I don't need to look at the notes anymore

[peter k]

Hi Mr./ Capt. Kaplan, sorry to hear about the situation. Try to pretend you really like scanning and that it was fun and informative maybe it will stick better. Regards Peter

[kipling]

Sorry to hear about that Al, I hope everything works out. <br>

In a nut shell. Just forget about going digital until Leica bring out an all manual Digital

camera with one button on the back: Tri-X. Otherwise, it's a lot to learn. <p>

On the otherhand, nothing like daily training to help your memory get better. <p>

 

Cheers, Kipling

[al_kaplan1]

Thanks Thomas. That's asuming I can find "Word" the next time...LOL Hey, I'm serious, not kidding. If you haven't been there you might not understand, but for me it's reality. I walk around making notes, believe me! Another thing I've lost is my absolute sense of direction which other boating people envied. I could spend all day out fishing, cruising around, foggy weather or out of sight of land, and instinctively know exactly which way to head directly back to port. No more! Now it's compass, charts and GPS.

[socke]

Wow Al, sorry to hear this!

My grandmother was epileptic and took drugs. In the dark times from 1933 to 1945 she was short of beeing subjected to euthansia for that fact.

 

I know she took drugs twice a day but her long and short term memory was very good. Sometimes to good for the rascal who was her grandson.

 

In the navy I had a friend who got seizures under stress which increased over time that he was decomissioned after he fell from his scooter. He never had seizures while under stress but short after that and he is nearly cured now.

 

Another friend is a classical singer, she studied music and singing and works as a teacher because she can't act on a stage, but she lives without drugs after she was in and out of a hospital for five years. Ok, she's got an advantage, she's married to her neurologist.

 

So I hope that there is a cure for you without drugs or with lesser side effects.

[henry_dorsett2]

A better analogy to old cameras is old boats. Here is my 1930 Old Town Canoe in 2001, fresh from 6 new ribs, 3 new planks, and new canvas (courtesy of North Woods Canoe's Roland Thurlow, the Old Town equivelent to Golden Touch). My Dad re-canvassed it in '65 and '79, and I expect my 1 year old daughter will do the same in 2040.

 

I hope she can find film for her SL in 2040....<div></div>

[terry_rory]

Barry, printing at home costs up to 40 pence (80 cents maybe) per small print even not allowing for mistakes. This factors in good quality paper, inks etc.

 

Even this will not give the quality or longevity of a good Fuji Frontier print. Printing at home is a no-no for me if the end result is to be framed and sold. (I would never sell a home print to a customer, only a proper Frontier 300dpi laser print onto Crystal Archive Paper or similar.)

 

What I do with pictures I keep is smarten them up on PS7 and save for the size of print I will require then squirt it onto a CD which gets processed at my favourite lab or (more recently) send the file off to www.photobox.co.uk and have the print delivered next day.

 

Up until now my film results come back to me on Neg and CD but I am getting a neg scanner very soon. (Next week probably.) So things will change a little.

 

I gave up getting those little 6x4s long ago. Waste of time, space and money.

[dennis_couvillion]

Al, my ugly old b*stard friend... does this mean that if I insult you today you won't remember it tomorrow? ;>)

 

Keep truckin' Al... you know we all love you. Well... most of us do. Some of us do, at least... I like you, Al. ;>)

 

Now, can we talk about something important... like where I can pick up a set of 16x20 developing trays for a quarter?

 

Dennis

[._._z]

<i><blockquote> Is Al Kaplan <u>going</u> Digital?

</blockquote> </i><p>

 

Al misspelled <u>t-r-o-l-l-i-n-g</u>

[dan flanders]

I don't think canoes are a good analogy. Back in '56 I paid $275 for a Willits in Tacoma. In '85 I traded it to a friend for an '80 Jeep station wagon. He took it to Missouri when he retired and put a couple of coats of varnish on it. The other day I got an e-mail from him that he had turned down ten grand for it! <p> Ten years ago it wasn't easy to get 36 month financing on a new car; I bought a Crysler Van in '02 and got 60 months. Appears the banks think they last longer these days.