Hi Bob, I think you're painting a generalization with way too broad a brush. Taking the PDML, for example, there were some early adapters ~of the Pentax DSLR~ and a lot of people hung back, waiting to see how things would shake out while assessing their needs and desire. Many had been playing with digital quite a while before taking the plunge and purchasing a DSLR, whether it be Pentax or otherwise. My first digital camera was a Sony Mavica, purchased in, I believe, 1999 or early 2000. I upgraded to a better camera a couple of years later, and finally got my first DSLR about 9 or 10 months ago. It was not a hasty decision, nor was I following the herd. I'd taken the time to visit with John Francis to see how his istD worked, got lots of raw files from list participants and played around with them in the raw converter for quite a while, spent a day with Bruce using his istD and getting some education about exposure, submitted my raw conversions and pics to the list for comment and criticism, visited a few stores to try other brands of cameras, used other brands from friends and list members, and only then decided to get an istDS.
There are numerous people on the list that followed a similar path, and several of my friends are doing the same thing, and are waiting for the new cameras to finalize their buying decision. While i think that a lot of marketing and hype was behind the push towards digital, I don't think it would have been embraced so completely did it not offer something of value. One of the things that surprised me was the number of long time Leica shooters who moved to digital long before Leica even had a P&S. They mostly moved to Canon so they could use their Leica glass, and many have now moved to the new DMR back. Some still shoot film as well, but the move to using digital has been stupendous AFAIC. And these people had a ~lot~ to think about because they were giving up very expensive systems, or adding very expensive additions to their camera gear. I'm not suggesting that some people don't follow the lead lemming, but I think you're being way too general. Speaking only for myself, but hearing echos in the hallway, I'm having more fun with the DSLR than I ever had with film cameras, I've loosened up, and while not all my photos are compelling documents, as I once tried to produce, when i come home from a day of shooting I'm excited to see what the results will be instead of suffering artistic angst over the needed processing of film. Of course, you may find that such is not the case for you. But at least you're giving it a chance. Shel > [Original Message] > From: Bob W > For the avoidance of doubt, I'm not rejecting it or being grumpy. I'm > finding out about it with a view to making a fairly rational decision. > It seems to me that the difference between my approach and the > approach taken by most of the people I know is that I am thinking hard > about it before I make the decision, so I will at least know in > advance what I'm letting myself in for. > > It seems to me that if more people had given it this kind of > consideration film would not be dying. Inside they have allowed > themselves to be herded by the electronics manufacturers who have an > interest in short product cycles which trap customers into frequent > high-dollar repurchases for minimal additional benefit. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
