Hi All No, this is not the bland , meaningless comparison that the title of my post implies. I use both mediums and have a darkroom - although it is the only one in a 50-mile radius. As Rob says ' it is where you want to go as a photographer'. But what really gets my goat is when digital camera users, blinded by, and in awe of the new technology, speak as if they have just invented photography. Up until now they have been happy with shoddy prints from the local mini-lab, but now bundled with their camera is some software that allows basic darkroom manipulation. They grin as if they have just discovered fire. Brightness and contrast controls get them in a twitter, dodging and burning gets them drooling and the black and white conversion button qualifies them as an artist. As you can see - it gets be going. This is probably why my wife says I am a candidate for the BBC-TV program "Grumpy old men." Seriously though, I do believe that people with chemical stained finger-nails who wear clothes that smell vaguely of fixer and walk with that familiar developing tray stoop, do make better digital photographers. This is because we know what is possible when we press the shutter button. Someone asked me recently why I bother toning prints, because he has a sepia setting on his computer that will make his print look the same. I asked him why the thought people still bothered to learn to play the violin because they can get a synthesized keyboard that sounds just the same. He stared at me blankly, then went on to tell me about this neat new photographic technique he discovered called cropping. Harry