Thursday, May 26, 2011

No chemicals needed, no darkroom either.

The clouds were in unique form the other day and I happen to have my super duper dandy camera with me. The one that takes so many different types of shots, aided by computer images, face recognition, anti jitter, you name the feature, it has it.

I am amazed at the quality of the photos nowadays, no more loading the film in either total darkness or sticking your arms into a changing bag while fumbling with a film loader to roll the film onto the reel for development.

Now it's there for you to manipulate, instantly.

No dodging , on exposure strips on the enlarger easel, no timers, solution with chemicals....whats the fun in all that?

A lot.

If you consider what it took to present a photo to your friends and what it takes now, you have to sit down and really appreciate what this technology has done.

I won't even describe how it was to carry a Auricon 16mm sound camera on your shoulder along with the battery pack, sun gun pack, audio control box to get TV news film on the 11 o'clock news.... now it's in the palm of your hand. About a difference of 75 pounds of stuff.

In addition to all the photos and having the camera memory card hold thousands of images, my camera is also and HD video camera.

There are now more photos shot daily because of the ease of the technology than one can ever imagine what was even considered on the old box brownie or old Instamatics......

What a marvelous gift we have been blessed with!

Now go and take a snap shot of someone.



6 comments:

JerryL said...

I have a garage full of stuff that it took to make something that comes out of my 99 dollar printer. Too bad no one wants to buy it!
Nice sepia pix.

Anonymous said...

Funny you should mention this. I just bought my third-ever digital camera, and it has face recognition too. I took a shot of the stone Catrina in my yard and, sure enough, the camera zeroed in right on her face. So, it doesn't have to be a real human face. Anything that resembles a face will do. Odd world we live in.

-- Felipe

Tancho said...

Jerry, I tried to sell my darkroom stuff on Ebay about 3 or 4 years ago to no avail. Wound up taking it over to Goodwill, sad really sad, technology may be cheap, but the memories of how much I paid for the other stuff is expensive.
Felipe,you are so right, I just tried that, and it recognized the head on my dog...face is a face I guess. This is my 4 or 5th camera, the first digital had a minuscule screen that was no larger than the view finder and had a whopping 750K pixels...and it was more expensive that what I just got and did virtually nothing.

Steve Cotton said...

I had similar thoughts today. I took several shots of the laguna for a post tomorrow morning. But the light was wrong in all of them. With a bit of digital wizardry, I got exactly the look I wanted. I remember too well the days of readjusted prints in the dark room. Don't miss it at all.

Dan in NC said...

Tancho,
I LOVE the smell of acidic acid in the morning!Blinking at the light as I come out of the darkroom reaking like Frankenstines month old leftovers! I also have enough film gear in every film size to put a Nat Geo pro into paroxysms of laughter at my olde-fashioned gear... But unlike dudes with a digital cameras who snap, snap, snap away willy nilly, and then delete, delete, delete.. I find that taking the time to set up a good shot is worth it - if only in self-satisfaction. The cost of 4x5 Tri-X film makes caution a great virtue...

and YES, I do have a digital toy that nestles in my shirt pocket when we travel - to my shame & chagrin (freaking clear images for nothing!) Cheers!
Dan in NC

Tancho said...

Steve, it is nice that all the manipulation can be done with a mouse instead of wasting photo paper and time...truly a technological gift!

Dan, I am glad that you enjoyed your quiet time in the darkroom...now that's a funny memory of the smell of the stuff. I've got a box full of old 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 cameras and carriers that will never see action again. I was able to get rid of my 4x5 collection years ago when I stopped doing giant formats. Now a few pocket cameras seem to do the trick. I have a SLR that I haven't used much that I bought a few years ago, because the little pocket ones are so easy to use. And you don't have to cart around a camera bag.