This is a rant about what says in the title, and it is not about me liking or disliking the digital cameras or indeed the entire (or part) of this digital photography thing. However, it is entirely about why I do not use digital cameras for any of my photographs, not if I can help it. Hence, this article is entirely about me why not go digital.
From the start, I have to say that I am not a stranger to digital cameras; as I come from an intelligence background, you can imagine I have had access and worked with these cameras “from the other side”, as it were. Covert or not, still or video, body worn or mounted on vehicles, I have been there, as field operative, not in a technical capacity. And of course, when the work to be done required images (read: always!), you can imagine (pun intended) digital support was at hand. And because any job, anywhere, involving anything, in the intelligence field, require mandatory image recording, digital support is a must, not a “perhaps”. Hence, I have had contact with any number of these modern cameras.
At the end of the 90’s, when the digital cameras were a novelty of sorts, I bought a few; I remember the Canon Powershot 600, the Sony Cybershot U of a “whopping” 2.0 Mp, and others. So you see, I have not exactly lived in the woods, you know. I am a man acquainted with both worlds, so to say 🙂 )))))))))).
Now, I do have a digital camera (besides my cellular phone), a Nikon D3200, but I only use this to photograph my cameras and accessories in order to have them published online, or to showcase the vintage fountain pens I repair (www.stilourideieri.ro). In a way, I contradicted myself, eh? Saying I am not using digital cameras, and later on admitting I do use them. But you see, I do not use digital cameras for any other reason than the one aforementioned. Anything else is done by either Minox or 16mm, 35mm and/or 120MF.
Reason? The same for which I do not use film point and shoot cameras. Too trouble free, I guess, and by this I mean to say that a film camera should solicit your brain and eyes and senses to a degree of learning stuff. I like to learn stuff, and probably this is just as well, for after 20 odd years with my Minox cameras, I still learn things by using these. And you know what? That’s all right, it is fun and makes me feel better about myself.
Starting with the choice of film for a certain occasion, going through the motions of metering, composing, choosing your shutter and judging shadows and such, and ending with processing the negative…this all string of events and things to be observed and remembered and judged again is something that makes me believe I have had to run a marathon and although I didn’t win, I have finished the race. And again, makes me feel better about me.
It’s a pain, I freely admit. At times, it may seem like a fruitless task, and a time consuming at that. But you know, every time I take out a good negative out of the tank, I figure it was well worth it, and I congratulate myself. And when this happens, I consider that day to be a good day for me, and I am happy.