JRG-Imaging
Leading Member
There's been alot of D60 vs. D30 debates. a lot of them rehashed over and over and over again.
So lets look at a few points. I'll include my experience with the 1d and film cameras.
1) has digital replaced film?
So lets look at a few points. I'll include my experience with the 1d and film cameras.
1) has digital replaced film?
- In a word, yes. Digital cameras have replaced point and shoot compact cameras almost completely. However there is a very steep learning curve when using digital cameras, many problems and opportunities arise that, if one is unable to figure out or know's where to look for solutions will be daunting. Our instore point and shoot figures are down from last year, while digital sales are way up!
- no. digital looks different, and always will. this is not to say it's better or worse, but it will always look different and trained lab techs can usually spot the difference between a digital print and a film print done on the same machine with the same paper. this is assuming a digital minilab machine.
- before last year's crop of consumer-priced 4000 dpi scanners, 3072x2048 was the resolution the 2700 dpi scanners put out. This is also the exact same resolution as PhotoCD scans (NOT ProPhotoCD). what does this mean to you? well if you have to work digitally it's more cost effective and you will get better results if your original is a file of this size, not a scanned image of this size. the 4000 dpi scanners now are resolving more detail than a negative can usually hold, and is why they all have GEM (grain equalization managemant) software - they are essentially scanning the grain structure itself.
- a consumer/prosumer slr body is low in cost to produce and retail. they are made of polycarbonate plastic shells. some of the better consumer cameras (labelled 'prosumer' by the catch phrase happy media) have magnesium chassis with polycarbonate shells. Professional bodies are generally made of magnesium (or steel in the case of manul slr's). the difference? there are several. Consumer cameras are designed with the 4-10 rolls per month user. they provide everything a user will need, which is essentially a light tight box with a shutter and a mirror (and a CCD in the case of DSLR's), advanced metering, small motor drives, ae lock, af lock, etc. they use optical af systems, meaning they need visible light to focus and do not use any through the lens infra red focusing. they all feature some form of focus tracking, which works fine when your subject moves around your focusing area but not too well when moving toward/away from the camera. professional slr's have longer life shutters, most rated at 1.5 to 2x the cycles of consumer/prosumer shutters. they have the most advanced matrix/evaluative metering systems, faster mirror return times, quicker motor drives and the most add on accessories of the consumer cameras. their focusing is designed to track fast moving objects, although still not flawless.
It would be nice to jump up to the D60 though. I agree with you that digital is the way to go.