I have gone digital.
My last post a year ago I was debating film versus digital and finally I had to go out and own one. No comparision to film even now after having shot digital for 9 months. Film is a class of its own if you can afford to keep it running and digital is a class of its own if you can afford to buy one. Surprisingly before I bought my digital camera I scouted Ebay for 8 months looking at review and resale value and found that my Film camera sells at the same price I bought it a few years ago but my digital camera was down 10 % in two months and now its 30% cheaper than that what I paid. Yes knowing all the strategies of camera companies I must admit that I conveniently choose to ignore those philosophies of better grain, full frame coverage, superior chemical technology and mega pixel myths and bought my Nikon D 70. Two reasons primarily. 1) I had to contain my running cost and maintain publishing quality 2) I had to improve my post shoot work flow in order to proof it with people. Until I can get a dead serious photoprinter to assist me in 1) I wont go back full time to film.
As I graduated through the ranks of photography in the last 6 years I see the value in begining modest and advancing to adopt hi-technology. It is worth walking the analogue path and philosophical thinking to a better work flow oriented technological lifestyle. So where do I stand today ?. Well on the anvil of better photography. I still shoot film once in a while and when I teach people photography and I use my digital to instantly proof those examples for them so that their learning expereince is a bit faster and satisfying than mine.
In the age of speed, it is essential for commercial professionals to have better time to market and hasssel free work flow for artistic work. Both kinds have their USP in the right place. After all it wont be easy for Kodak, Fuji and others to scuttle the $ 20 Billion annual film business in one stroke just because digital cameras are the future.
However for every photogrpaher knowing when to buy the right gear is more important. Dont think that digital photography will eliminate your mistakes and give you better pictures from day one. They dont and this is a hard fact. You still need to know how the new sensor technology behaves versus film. With all the sophistication, cameras have increased their inherint problems as well. I swear I would have thrown my D70 into the dustbin had I not been reading about it on the web forums. It took me just two months to master the way the camera really took pictures. it was far more complex than frame, meter and shoot.
Finally Digital sensing is a lot less tolerant than film sensing.