I gave up film years ago, the advantage of digital was far too great.
Granted I am not a professional so some of the challenges with early
digitals were not as much of an issue for me. I just upgraded to my first
digital SLR (Rebel) and think it is a great camera. All the pros you
mention below are correct but here some thoughts
:
-- Memory, even though getting cheaper is still expensive. If you travel
with the camera then you have to decide if you want to buy extra memory
cards or lug a computer around with you. And you will shoot a lot more
digital pictures than you ever did with film. I will shoot the same thing
many times, different settings, different angles etc. 30 shots to get one
good one, no problem and worth it, how many times will I get back to Turkey?
I also shoot more panoramas now, six shots horizontally and three vertical
will give you a great print but it does eat up memory with a six megapixel
camera!
-- Batteries management can be a real challenge. My last digital was a
Minolta Dimage 7 that used AA batteries. I traveled with at least five sets
of four and at least two chargers. Why two? In places like Greece, Turkey,
Australia you need to insert your key into a slot to turn the room power on.
That means you can only charge batteries in the evening (at least for me).
I just returned from Turkey where I had a power converter plugged into the
wall and three chargers plugged into that. I'm sure the cleaning lady
thought that was strange. The Rebel however has a battery that will last me
all day and charges pretty quickly. I still need a few AA's for the flash
but I'm hoping this problem has gone away for me.
-- You can't really rely on the LCD on the digital to tell you how good a
picture you took. It does help you see gross mistakes but I have been
surprised how many shots I thought were good that had some burring from
camera shake that I didn't pick up. It is better than not seeing anything
at all and if you have a laptop you can always check a shot before leaving
the area if you want.
-- Took me a while to get use to the idea of just taking a shot and tossing
it out later. Once you get over the hump of shot/delete is free it can be
fun. Be careful however that you don't fall into the trap of getting lazy
just because you are not paying for the film.
-- Digital cameras age like computers. They do not get better with age. My
analog Nikon is staying pretty stable in value according to ebay, but
digital camera prices can drop like rocks.
-- You will get hooked so don't think your first digital will be your last
;-)
-- I've never had any problems with my 5 digitals other than Dimage has been
back to the factory twice for repairs. Never had to send an analog camera
back. I've also never had a memory problem that caused me to loose pictures
and I never bother to take them out of my luggage before they are scanned at
the airport.
-- I always travel with a film point and shoot in ready reserve. It has
saved me a few times when I ran out of battery or when the digital
surrendered to the god of low reliability. Then again I have found myself
out of film at bad times and have not been about to go back and delete stuff
for a 'better' picture.
One reason I went digital is because I now store everything on my computer.
Getting ready for the day when I'm in an old folks home where I have my
thousands of photos on my laptop and not stored in hundreds of fading
albums, plus I have a backup set safe with my brother in another city.
Digital camera definitely beats scanning.
Quality? Getting pretty good, still lack some of the tonal range of film
but I'm sure you have noticed that many pros are going digital so that will
be a judgment call. Features? the Rebel is my first Canon so I don't know
how the digitals compare to ELAN 11e but I found it works great for me. Do
wish it had a few more metering options.
Comment on lens: I was told when I bought the Rebel that there is some
question what the lens standards will be in a few years. I have an analog
Nikon with a good set of lenses so I wasn't sure about moving to Canon
considering that meant a new set of lenses that may not be the standard in a
few years. This isn't an area I know well so I would suggest talking to
your local camera experts about this. But for the next few years I would
think
Bottom line: go digital, you will love it
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kotsinadelis, Peter (Peter)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2003 2:07 PM
Subject: **SPAM: RE: EOS Should I stay with my ELAN IIe (50e) or should I go
digital?
>
>
> Anastasios A. Papadopoulos (Tas) wrote:
>
>
> I am a rank amateur, currently holding an EOS ELAN IIe (EOS-50e). I am
> considering an upgrade to either the Digital Rebel, or the 10D. The
reasons
> I am considering this are as follows:
>
> I would not need to carry film
> No worries at the airport check-ins
> I would not need to have film developed
> I could take many more pictures deleting the ones I didn't like
> I would not need to scan my film rolls (I am digitizing everything)
> I can use my current lenses
>
> My concerns are the cost of the camera bodies and feature sets. Although
I
> am slowly learning more about my camera, are there features on the 50e I
> might miss on the digital bodies?
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
> Tas,
>
> The Digital Rebel is a neat little camera. Small and offers all the 10D
does with a few minor exceptions but with a $600 savings you wouldn't
notice. The only noticeable item is flash exposure compensation that you
would set on the camera body. But with a flash like a 550EX, you can set
this on the flash itself.
>
> Peter K
> bkËbË{w% & Ç m 0 _é?zä b o
>
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