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Author
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Topic: The Digital Age
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Graham Ritchie
Film God
Posts: 4001
From: New Zealand
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted November 04, 2007 10:29 PM
Was surprised the other day when I took a roll of slide film into a camera shop to get developed and asked for another roll, was told they were waiting to get some in, ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif) years ago there used to be heaps of the stuff, but since a lot of people are now using digital camera's the demand has dropped off, when I asked if they still stocked slide boxes, not for years I was told, ever get the feeling you are still living in the dark ages, well thats how I felt, although there is nothing that can beat the quality of 35mm slides, I have taken lots over the years with my old Canon FTB-SLR, people are now more interestd with convenience of digital than of lasting quality, I hope their digital photos that are either on print or DVD are still around in twenty years I wonder if they fade, I guess its not just Super8 that is in trouble its film in general thats under threat.
Graham.
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Paul Adsett
Film God
Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted November 05, 2007 07:50 PM
I think digital still cameras will be the death of archival family photos. Simply because how many people who use digital cameras actually print any of their photos? I think most people, like me, run hundreds of digital photos and just copy them to the computer hard drive, take one look at them, and that's it! How many people have the discipline to touch up, organize, and maintain their digital photos? Precious few I suspect. With a roll of 35 mm film you get a print of everything that you have shot, good bad and indifferent, but at least you have a hard copy of everything, and, even if they all end up in the photo shoe box, your heirs will be able to see them when you finally kick the bucket. My wife and I have family photos going back to the late 1800's. How many of todays digital stuff will survive? Almost none I suspect.
Its the same with movies. We have home movies going back to the 1950's that still look pristine. They are all edited, and neatly stored on 400ft reels in labelled film cases. We project them quite often and they are enthralling for the family. But, the miles and miles of boring video movies that we have shot in the last 15 years are piled up, unedited, and never viewed.
A case of less is more - for both stills and movies! When you can shoot stills and movies at almost zero cost you end up with a huge pile of trash. Film requires care and discipline.
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The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade
Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar
Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj
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Claus Harding
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1149
From: Washington DC
Registered: Oct 2006
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posted November 05, 2007 10:12 PM
Paul,
I like what you wrote, because it touches on the very basics of what we do in Super-8 (and stills) as well. The notion in photography and film of thinking before you shoot, of making sure what you capture is what you want to pay for in developing is pretty well gone.
I work broadcast video as a cameraman. And so, so many times I have heard: just get a few more of...just because you can. And, sadly, because noone really knows what they want, we just pile it on, shot-wise, give it to the editor and hope for the best.
When there is no effort in shooting, and no effort in projecting or looking, you wind up with lazy people and lazy results.
The regular folks, ironically, might enjoy good images when they see them, and even appreciate them, but they don't make the critical jump as to why not only are these pictures "better than theirs" but how they could, with some effort, close that gap and be back where so many of us were in the 70es with both 35mm and Super-8 film.
Paying attention because you didn't have all day and you only had so much film.
Best,
Claus.
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"Why are there shots of deserts in a scene that's supposed to take place in Belgium during the winter?" (Review of 'Battle of the Bulge'.)
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Graham Ritchie
Film God
Posts: 4001
From: New Zealand
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted November 28, 2007 02:27 AM
Well my wife, "the better half" has just returned from a short trip to Sydney Australia, she took along a digital camera and last night subjected me to some of the photos she had taken at the zoo, well shot, and in focus, but they went on and on, ![[Eek!]](eek.gif) now I realize the pitfalls of digital photography I tried to look interested, but lost count somewhere after 80 something, and was very close to zzzzzzzzzzzzzz, seemingly my son had been put through this earlier and managed to disappear, I have been informed this is only part of it, and more, a lot more, are to follow any ideas how to get out of this one? ![[Confused]](confused.gif) .
Well, the good news I have bought a couple of rolls of the new Ektachrome 64T Super8 film for my old Canon 512XLE camera, its been a few years since it was last used. I always liked Canon cameras whether its still or movie, they made good lenses, also got some more Kodak slide film so I guess I am heading in the opposite direction to digital trend, ![[Wink]](wink.gif) it will be interesting to see the results of 64T.
Graham. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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