Fourteen Hundred and Thirty Ideas About Digital Photography VS Film

With fewer than 48 hours remaining in my fifth decade of life, I more than fit the description of the "old dog who has trouble accepting the new"; but I do understand dollars and cents.

And here's how it breaks down:

$1000---my usually frugal son's purchase of a "mega digital camera", complete with a carrying case, a "mono-pod", and some additional accessories.

He and his family just returned from a truly exciting, two week, driving vacation that covered six states and part of Canada.

We're a large family and have always shared vicariously in each others' adventures through the photos that have always been a vital part of any trip. Proof is in the boxes and boxes of pictures currently in storage and waiting to be put in albums.....as soon as we build some additional bookshelf space.

Some of those pictures are over thirty years old; but, "we'll get to them" - someday.

My wife's first question to the returning vacationers was, of course: "How many pictures did you take and how soon will we be able to see them?"

One of the most startling aspects of the digital photography vs. film comparisons came in their answer:

"You can see them right now if you'd like... There are fourteen hundred and thirty of them... and they're right here on this card. We still have some editing to do; and we'll probably end up deleting a few."

Minutes later we were "slide showing" away.

Hours later we saw the fourteen hundred and thirtieth picture; and it was, indeed, as if we had been along for the entire two week trip.

And my old 35 mm camera was looking pretty sorry. Years and years of dependable service couldn't even come close to this digital photography experience.

We watched as our son flipped, cropped, enhanced and enlarged at will.

With a mouse click he printed the most perfect picture we had ever seen of the world's most perfect grandchildren.

He has promised to duplicate all 1430 pictures for us. Imagine. Duplicating over 1400 pictures in the time it would take me to make an all-too-familiar trip to our local film developing shop.

Another option is simply to plug the card into our TV, permitting "full screen viewing" at will.

A quick preliminary review comparing the "old" (my 35mm and me) with the "new" (digital photography):

And this is where the digital photography vs. film comparison REALLY gets interesting.

1430 PICTURES THE OLD WAY:
70+ ROLLS OF FILM
DEVELOPING
TRIPS TO STORE
ALBUMS TO STORE PICTURES
TIME TO ARRANGE ALBUMS
BOOKSHELVES FOR STORAGE
DUPLICATES FOR RELATIVES AND FRIENDS (TEN FAMILIES AT 20 PICTURES PER)
POSTAGE TO MAIL DUPLICATES

Lumping all together and "guess-timating" I came up with a current expense of considerably more than one dollar per picture doing things "my way".

In this light, our son's "expensive" digital camera now becomes an absolutely incredible bargain.

1430 PICTURES THE DIGITAL WAY:
CAMERA
PICASA (much more about this on the blog)
Of course, my comparison breaks down quickly. The expense of taking 1430 pictures the old way, on even the most exotic of vacations, would have been prohibitive.

Thanks to the marvels of digital photography, K.C. and his family were able to start shooting, and keep right on shooting picture after picture. (And they're still shooting)

I could go on and on with these 1430 reasons to become a digital photographer; and I probably will.

Depends.
I mentioned that I have only hours remaining till I turn 60. If my wife picks up on all the "hinting" I've been doing, I will very soon be retiring my trusty old camera.

OUT WITH THE OLD. IN WITH THE NEW.

I'm a not-so-gracefully-aging, self-described, cyber dinosaur who found myself being dragged into the computer age by my children and grandchildren. Inherently resistant to anything new, I have recently fallen under the spell of the Digital Camera and I now invite you to join me in this learning experience.

Share in the step by step progress at: http://digitalphotographywithpoppy.blogspot.com/

It may not be pretty at first, but it will be fun.