Move to digital?

Posted by: MontyW on 08 August 2004

Hi,

I know there are quite a few photographers who love to give their opinions and advice. I'm in the process of trying to rationalise my thoughts as to whether I should move to digital or stay with traditional film and no matter which way I look at this issue, I cannot 'square the circle'.

My current gear consists of:

2 x Nikon F5 bodies
3 x F2.8 zooms that give me from 18 - 200mm
2 x SB24 flash and battery packs

1 x Bronica 645 range finder.

I shoot just about any subject I can, from landscape/city scapes, reportage and potraits. I predominatly shoot black and white and a few roles of Velvia for landscapes.

So, why do I want to change - probably because digital is so instant, probably because I don't want a wet darkroom anymore and I am less keen to send my work to processing labs.

So, what's putting me off digital? Well it's not the price... as I can get a very generous trade in on all my nice Nikon gear. It could be the uncertainty of the technology involved or it could be one or a combination of the following:

[LIST]The quality of digital - is it really as good as a quality ASA 50 tran or can it come anywhere as close as the quality of my 645 negatives;
The battery life of a digital SLR - I can go for a few weeks to exotic places with my trusted F5's and not have to worry about loosing power;
Is technology moving so quick that a top Nikon or Canon (yes I would even consider moving to Canon) mean that I have a 'duff' camera in two years time?

I'd appreciate any thoughts/comments, especially if you have gone through the same dilema.

Cheers,

Dave
Posted on: 08 August 2004 by Julian H
Dave

Why don't you try it and see?

You have 2 F5's; chop in one for a D1X/D2H (or D2X if you wait long enough) and see which one comes out of your bag most often.

As far as I'm concerned the lack of a negative/slide for me to work with in the darkroom is the reason why I have not gone to digital capture. I scan with a Coolscan 5000 though, which I believe to be the best compromise.

I use the Permajet VTBlax for digital B and W printing but I still prefer to do black and white printing traditionally.

Julian
Posted on: 09 August 2004 by count.d
Dave,

It won't reach the quality of your 645.

Your 2.8 zooms are very good, but the S range are better.

As far as 35mm v digital is concerned, if your end result is scanning the 35mm tran, then I would shoot digital in the first place. The ultimate quality from your 35mm is when you are shooting b&w and you hand print on fibre based paper. Digital won't quite match that quality, but it has image manipulation advantages.

"I'd appreciate any thoughts/comments, especially if you have gone through the same dilema".

I have the dilema every day of the week. I change the format to suite the job.