User ID

`

In deciding between BW and color,
deciding between film and digital is
clearly quite beside the point.

.

ORpilot Loc: Prineville, Or

Have you priced 8x10 film ? I sold my 8x10 when the price hit $10 a shot. Think about that all you spray shooters out there.

Bipod

I comment on what is possible--according to science.
Your loss if you don't appreciate it.

Bipod

Have you priced FF digital cameras (which have to be replaced every few years)? Buys a lot of film...

Bipod

There are three different techniques, whether film or digital: color, decolorized color, and B&W.
Each has different strengths and weaknesses.

The choice isn't color or B&W. In the digital world, it's color sensor, decolorized color sensor capture,
or monochrome senso--- three very different images.


I might shoot a high-contrast scene in B&W film because of the greater dynamic range
compared to color. You don't get that with a decolorized color image: it's the same sensor.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

What replace my FF body every few years? I did not get that memo.

Bipod

How old is your oldest working digital camera? It used to be common
for cameras to last 50 or 100 years.

Can you replace a surface-mount component in a multi-layer board?
Do you know anybody who can?

When a boards go out of production, the camera is unfixable, unless the
problem is very superficial. And these days, models are gettting discontinued
more frequently than ever. (Pentax made K1000 mechanical film camera
for 21 years.)

Your only opition with a discontinued camera that is out of warranty and has
a bad board is to buy an identical used camera with some different problem,
and cannabalize it for parts. But digital cameras are full of plastic parts that
don't age well.

I used to do board-level repairs on PC motherboards and TV sets. I don't
anymore.

Surface-mount PC boards with proprietary ASICs and consumer-grade
components, mechanical assemblies that cannot be disassembled and contain
plastic gears, are not built to last an require an exact replacement of the
entire assembly.

Consumers consume technology, but they don't have a clue how it's made.
They think when they send their digital camera back for warranty
service, "the factory" fixes it.

Next time you send a digital camera in for warrranty service, scratch your
initials into the bottom. If the problem was inside the camera, it will come
back with no initials or scratches anywhere -- except on the serial number plate.
"Good as new" -- literally.

Electornics can be made that lasts a long time and is replarable: my Photogenic
Flashmaster AA01 for example--made int he 1970s, but after a little TLC, it works
perfectly. But it's high voltage, large, heavy and was expensive to build.

Low voltage connectors and solder joints are very vulnerable to corrosion.
Some low-power embedded systems have logic levels as low as 0.9 VDC
in the core. That power has to get from the supply to a pin on the processor.
There better not be even a hint of oxidation on the connector.

Consumer electronics and its mechanical parts are not built to last or to be
repaired. They are built to be consumed, then thrown away.

fourg1b2006 Loc: Long Island New York

Gorgeous set...very nice.

srt101fan

You sure throw a lot of words around but you sure don't know how to use them to support a position.

Nothing you say here even remotely supports the notion that "FF digital cameras .... have to be replaced every few years..."

Bipod

Then show that it doesn't. Make an argument, not an assertion.

And you could try responding to a direct question, rather than evading it.

srt101fan

Bipod, I don't mean to argue with you, and part of me sympathizes with your yearning for the good ole days....

But I can't leave your comment that digital cameras "have to be replaced every few years" unchallenged. I think this is disinformation that could confuse newcomers to digital photography.

And why do I have to show anything, you are the one who made the assertion!?

And what direct question am I evading?

Oh well, the sun will rise tomorrow, and digital cameras will continue to be the marvellous devices that bring joy to lots and lots of people....

User ID

`



Yes BP, thaz all factual .... but has nothing to do
with why one chooses between BW or color. That
decision is according to the client, or it's personal
choice if it's personal work. You make that choice
FIRST. AFTER you make that decision, THEN you
consider film, sensors, filters, and whatever else
your resources might include.

.

Bipod

As you well know, I asked you: how old is the oldest working digital camera you own?
You say there is no need to replace your digital camera every few years.
But I would like to know if that is exactly what you have been doing.

I'm sorry you're incapable of having a reasonable discussion.

Oh well.

Bill_de Loc: US

I by new digital cameras every few years because I enjoy having and using new toys. One of my neighbors is still using a D2Xs that I gave him 3 or 4 years ago. I bought it when it first came out if that helps you pin down the age.

Last year I gave a couple of D300's to two UHH members. As far as I know it was because they wanted to use them.

As you know, there is a difference between need and want. Hopefully the salesman who benefits from these purchases and the others he makes will be able to pay to put his kids through school. I like that better than the government having to pick up the tab. People who voluntarily spend money keep the free economy intact. IMHO it's a good system.


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Shutterbug57

HP5+ for B&W. Ektar for color.