Moving to Digital Soon (was "I need a lot of counselling...")

[George Sinos]

Marnie said: "...considering how many pictures I take (not that many right 
now), I think I can hold off..."

I carried a small point and shoot film camera in my coat pocket or brief 
case for at least a couple of years.  I bought the Optio S just a few 
months ago.  I noticed this morning that, in that short time, I've take 
more images with the Optio than the film camera it replaced.

There's a couple of reasons for this.

The obvious one is the lack of incremental cost for film and processing.  I 
just don't think about it.

The other is the immediate feedback on the LCD display.  After reviewing a 
few shots, I get ideas for more.  I'm still there at the site.  So I 
immediately follow up on those ideas.

On a slightly different tack, I experienced another side effect of digital 
for the first time early this morning.

When I went to get the newspaper I noticed some mushrooms had sprouted in 
the yard.  I took a few shots of the larger ones.   After reading the paper 
and having a cup of coffee I dumped the images into my computer for a quick 
look.  Though they had looked OK on the little LCD screen there was a 
little blur due to camera shake.  I had held the camera in a very awkward 
position and evidently hadn't been very steady, so I went back out and 
successfully re-shot the images.

When I returned from my Saturday morning errands, the kid down the street 
had mowed the lawn, mushrooms and all.  Had I used film, this would have 
been a lost opportunity.  I would have dropped off the film during the 
morning's errands and picked it up until Monday after work.

Not really a big deal in this case.  But it was an aspect of digital that 
hadn't "hit home" until today.

So, back to Marnie's words,  I think I can hold off too.  But, yesterday a 
DSLR was something I knew I would eventually buy as a supplement to my film 
camera.  Today I'm fairly convinced that the film camera will be the a 
seldom used supplement.

See you later, gs