Thread: Does this bother anyone else?

Originally Posted by wt21

Ecological impact?

+1 That's a real problem with all modern tech.

Originally Posted by wt21

Ecological impact?

I forgot how ecological film and processing was

Originally Posted by Ray

I think we're getting to a point where things are getting SOOOOOO good that it will soon be a question of diminishing returns. I already feel that way with my OMD and X-Pro and I think we're only a year or two away from having compacts nearly that good. Not that I'll never upgrade them but I can't think of what I'd really want either of them to do better than what they do currently, and until April of this year (when I bought both of them), I never felt that way - I always had a list of things I wished would be improved. Well, they have been...

I'm feeling pretty content with what I've got these days. I think I'm going to stay with the same gear for a long time to come. No new cameras in 2013 and all that .

Originally Posted by Isoterica

I would not call film photography a downgrade..

well my tongue was somewhat in my cheek Kristen

Originally Posted by Isoterica

in time film will be eradicated so while it isn't a waste of time, it won't have longevity. All the more reason to strike while there is time

now that's a point worth considering, but with a twist ... I too suspect that film will disappear in time, except as a sort of "renaissance fair" sort of activity ... but I also think that in - say - 100 years time, the only digital images from today that still exist will be the ones that have been printed; technology churn is so fast that I simply can't see jpegs, dngs cds, hard drives or whatever even existing in readable forms. There are already digital media made 20 or so years ago that can no longer be read, either from deterioration of the physical media or the lack of any devices on which they can be read.

of course photography can be considered ephemeral ... maybe I just want to take holiday snaps to show my friends, so archival permanence doesn't come into it, and it won't matter if my snaps get erased or unreadable.

this isn't an argument for abandoning digital and for a return to film, by the way, just noticing that the way technology changes adds complexity as well as better AF and more megapixels.

So if you want your digital pictures to outlast you - print them.

oh, and adanac, could you also bring along the mercury box ...

I think that some digital cameras are built to last, and some probably aren't. The difficulty in using a recent model camera many years from now will likely come from the availability (or lack thereof) of accessories like memory cards and batteries.

PDH,

Good point about digital storage media . . . it keeps changing. I don't know if I can even buy a card for my old D-550.

I once attended a lecture by Clifford Stoll (The cuckoo's Egg, Silicon Snake Oil). He said that NASA has original data tapes from one of the early space probes but can no longer read them because the readers are all broken and no one makes parts for them.

Part of my concern in the original post is thinking that there are no "legacy" digital cameras. A 40 year old film camera is still repairable and usable (so long as there is film for it), but I doubt that a 10-year-old digital camera would be repairable. I hope that is not the case for folks who have purchased high-end gear.

Originally Posted by Luckypenguin

batteries.

yep, forgot to mention batteries. perhaps more likely than anything else to make a digital camera (or fully electronic film camera, come to that) good only as a museum piece

You guys have seen those "weather radios" that operate from cranking a handle to generate and store some energy....how about that feature on a camera? Kind of like you're winding the film.....LOL.

Modern tech trash is certainly different from film and chemicals but it has it's own problems. More chemical bulk with film but most highly toxic bits with digital.

The batteries are a real limit on long term life. Oddly, Pentax still notes this problem since their lower level DSLR cameras can still use AA.