On Mon, 22 Sep 2014 21:09:31 -0500, "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh"
lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:
Gunner Asch fired this volley in
:
The Oly digitals have taken over most of the photo load of course..but
I simply have to get prints in my hands now and then...(Grin)
'had a whole -good- darkroom at one time. Simmon-Omega D2 enlarger with
the condensor color head, polycontrast filter set, the whole thing.
Gunner, stuff comes, and stuff goes. To be honest, a high-end pro-
digital can do anything and all things film could, except for
manipulation in the darkroom. And that was "once or nothing", at least
with the film, itself... like 'pushing' a roll, or cold-processing for
higher contrast. At least with digital, if you goof, you can try it
again. Screw up a roll of film, and you went out and shot it again.
Lloyd
Ive still got a pair of Omega D2s if you want them. With the 4x5 and
35mm condensers. And nearly all of what at one time was a very good
darkroom. Including a Bogan color enlarger for 35mm and 2 1/4 x 2 1/4
formats.
But they havent been used in years. No room, no time and you are
absolutely correct..digital has become the latest and greatest and it
really is good stuff. Easy to use, easy to change picture elements.
Instead of a bunch of different dodgers..the mouse cursor works much
better. And one CAN take a cd or DVD and have the photos printed to
paper. Perhaps not as nice a photo as with film..but good enough. The
only issue I have with digital photography..is photo size..ie how many
megabytes of storage space each takes up on ones computer.
All the hip slick and cool new digital cameras have at
minimum...10megapixels of storage per photo at high resolution..which
after awhile..bloats your hard drive badly. I still tend to shoot in
1024 x 768 for internet photos...because one can see most details on
the average computer screen unless one starts blowing them up and up
and up.
As Ive been a B&W buff..I do shoot a lot of "art:" stuff with the
cameras set for B&W or Sepia. Something possible to do with film..but
it was a royal pain in the ass if you only had one body on hand..and
had to swap a roll of color print film or Kodachrome (dating myself)
over to Tri-x or the new Tmax 400 after having shot half a roll and
needing to count the winds backwards..and occasionally getting screwed
up and doing a double exposure probably involving your best shot(s)
on the roll.
For "high resolution" work..I have an old Oly Camedia 5500 which will
do 5.1 mp photos and give a decent print up to about 13x17. Plus
decent enough video clips. The big problem with this camera is it
takes 512mb XD memory chips..they are impossible to find or expensive
as ****.... and the smallest XD chips today are 2gig and the camera
wont recognize the 2gig memory chip. Sigh.
On the other hand...Plus-x would give me a 35mm print about 36x48"
with little loss in resolution and the negative stores nicely in a
glassine envelope (of which I have literally thousands filled with
negatives....6 to an envelope) and the various 4x5 negatives..done in
Plus-x..will give me a print big enough to cover a barn..with little
degredation of image quality.
My regular day to day cameras are Oly 3000s and 4000s and cost me
about $15 each on Ebay..some of which came still in the boxes as NOS.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Olympus-C-40...-/331323381208
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Olympus-CAME...-/121440644846
Someday I might be in a position to pick up a digital SLR...but
frankly..I really dont "need" one as the above 2 cameras will go down
to 1.5" or so. The only issues..is not having a real wide wide angle
or a long telephoto.but for "snapshots" of a decent quality...they
work nicely. I seldom even take them off of Auto mode...they work very
well as is. In fact..I ran into a situation today..trying to take a
photo of the top of a sailboat mast some 32' up in the air for a
gentleman...the camera wouldnt focus properly..and when I put it into
manual focus..I couldnt remember HOW to manually focus. Chuckle. Had
to download the manual from the net and look it up
Oh..other problem..no external flash sync. So I cant hook up some of
the BIG strobes that I have collecting dust unless I use some sort of
slave..and with a shutter speed of 1/2000th...the slave actuator has
to be damned quick
And while I have at least 30 or more 35mm camera lenses of all powers
from 18mm to 1200 mm (and converters for just about any lens
base....for SLR digital cameras..they are still pricey little *******s
and out of my price range. (Wish some of them would fit digital SLRs.)
And if I manage to smash one (and I have) ...I simply pick up another
on Ebay for abut $21 shipping included.
But if anyone has a older surplus digital SLR with a normal range of
lenes they want to trade for something..Id be happy as hell to chat
about it.
Gunner
"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child,
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats."
PJ O'Rourke