[LRFlex] Re: Was: Dyed-in-the-fixer dinosaurs - Now help for digi user
- From: "Neil Gould" <neil@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2004 09:50:38 -0500
Hi David,
Recently, you wrote:
> I agree, the paraphernalia is a big hangup - particularly for the
> traveler. Recently, however, there has come to the market a neat
> device that eliminates the need to carry a lap-top.
>
> It's a battery powered CD burner/card reader. You pull your card out
> of the camera, pop it into the box and within 3 minutes or so, you've
> burned a CD. You then burn a second copy before erasing the card (in
> the camera) and mail one CD home, while the other goes in your
> back-pack.
>
> Mail from some third world countries can be problematic, but the
> chances of both your being robbed and your other CD being lost in the
> mail at the same time is remote. So no matter what happens, you're
> likely to get your photos home!
>
I'm not sure which "problem" is being "solved", here. Do you take any
special measures to back up your film cannisters to protect against both
robbery and having them lost en route? I'm just curious.
We recently returned from a trip to the west coast (USA), where I debated
over which gear to haul. The first part of the trip was to San Francisco,
where we did some of the "touristy" things during our stay. On the return
trip we spent a few days in the Rockies, so I wanted to re-shoot some of
the scenery that I first shot around 25 years ago (Estes Park & Garden of
The Gods, Colorado).
On the earlier trip, I shot those locations in 35 mm, so this time I
decided to take my Rollei 6008i kit. That decision made it impossible to
also take my Leica kit (I know... automatically OT by definition...
apologies!). Out of deference to weight and space, I also carried my Nikon
digicam (8700). That kit, with its extra batteries, charger and extra CF
cards easily fits in a shoulder bag for a small consumer video camera and
weighs under 3 lbs., which makes it a practical alternative for snapshots.
I wouldn't be inclined to add an external CD burner, batteries and charger
to that kit, because adding extra CF cards would only increase the
carrying weight by a couple of ounces each, while expanding the shooting
capacity and eliminating the time spent burning CDs (I'm not sure about
the 3 minute estimated figure, either, as it can take that long to
download the contents of a 512 mb card to a fast computer). The CF cards
are small and light enough that they could be kept in a separate pocket or
container, as well. In fact, keeping track of them would be more of a
problem than carrying them! ;-)
If shooting "pro", the kit would likely have to be more extensive, mainly
because of the expectations of "instant results" with digital. While in
San Francisco, I was able to observe a digital photographer hired for an
event that we attended. He took over 500 shots, and was displaying them
from his laptop via a media projector during the event while continuing to
shoot. Of course, he was local, so many of the travel-related issues that
you mentioned would not have been a problem.
Another direction that has taken off is the delivery of "instant prints",
and there are now many portable printers that don't require the use of a
computer to deliver 8"x10" prints to customers at an event. These printers
are cheap enough that one could set up a number of them to produce prints
quickly. This is the type of setup that one can find at amusement parks,
where shots of riders can be purchased between ride cycles.
My long-winded response to your original points can be summed up by saying
that I see digital vs. film photography to be as different in purpose as
photography vs. video. To me, the overarching question is the kind of work
that one is interested in doing. What is getting overlooked is the process
of review, editing and selection that the film photographer does as a
normal part of the process. A "shotgun" approach to shooting and lack of
scrutiny seems to be the general direction that digital photography is
headed, and that doesn't interest me much.
Best regards,
Neil Gould
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Terra Tu AV - www.terratu.com
Technical Graphics & Media
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