Mishka, Interesting perspective. Earlier, I was also enamored by digital. I ended up with a Nikon Coolpix 990 and have taken 3000 pictures or so. The quality is ok, but no better than you said. For me, picture quality and control really came forward as things that are important to me. The instant part was usually to overcome the weaknesses of the digital P&S.
My wife started to use the digital as I started to slack off and now, whenever she really needs to get a shot, she takes her ZX-10. The flash range is too short (no easy to clip on flash on the coolpix), the focus is too slow, the viewfinder too small, the ISO range too small, and on and on and on...you get the picture. To get good shots, she has gone back to film. For me, that was the time when I finally seriously entertained MF for control and picture quality. If you think 35mm film still has a big edge over digital, you ought to look at some MF images! Bruce Dayton Friday, April 12, 2002, 6:05:47 AM, you wrote: M> until recently, i too, have been obsessed with (coming) digital stuff. M> i am not anymore. M> i am an amateur and "fun", "end result quality" and "cost" are the only M> things i care about. M> as far as final quality goes, no matter what anyone says, digital is M> still behind the film. it may be reasonably close to 400+ speed negs, M> but as far as E6 goes, Velvia and Provia 100F are still difficult to M> beat. M> fun -- for reasonably priced digicams it's as much as in p&s. which is M> quite a bit, but a far cry from what one can do with a slr and a bunch M> of primes. M> cost -- c'mon! slide film goes for as little as $3/roll, M> development/mounting adds another $6. that's $9 for 36 pictures. M> negatives would cost half of that. to justify throwing traditional M> stuff away and sink money into digital, you need to shoot an equivalent M> of 300-400+ rolls, to break even. again, i am an amateur and this would M> take *years* for me. by that time the digital setup would become M> antique. and there's no such thing as "collectible" electronics. M> electronics, unlike traditional cameras, become junk as time passes. M> just look at old TVs. M> and, looking at the cost, here goes fun again: with traditional one can M> take a $100-$200 slr + $50 lens + a few rolls and know that whatever M> stupid things he might do, his losses are limited to $200-300. with M> digital, at least speaking for myself, knowing that i have kilobucks M> hanging around my neck would have seriously interfere with whatever i M> were doing. M> that leaves instant results, a much praised feature of digital. but M> it's not! one needs a laptop at least, to see the pictures. unless you M> lug it along with the camera, you still have to wait until you get M> home. from film, even with slides, it often a matter of hours to get it M> developed. with prints it's a matter of hours (often 30 minutes, M> together with prints) in *almost any part of the world*. M> if i were a pro, i probably would have a completely different set of M> objectives. but i am not. and when (i am not saying "if" -- it's really M> "when") digital get to the level of quality, convenience and price of M> 35mm stuff -- i will jump. but now i simply don't care. complaining why M> pentax (or whoever else) have not come up with 2MP SLR which would cost M> $$$ and suck compared to LX? nah... >> The majority of shots I take are E6 and I end up scanning them anyway- I >> do appreciate the quality of film, but for a life-long amateur, digital will >> provide me with more immediate feedback and lower cost/frame to improve my >> photography skills. >> >> Like you, I'll jump ship to Canon if nothing happens soon- and it kills me >> to say this. My Pentax ownership will be relegated to 67 and my original >> SP. M> - M> This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, M> go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to M> visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org . - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
