For Position Only: Seeing the Light of Digital Photography
If you’ve read my column, even once, you know that I’m a curmudgeon. True, I love technology and all that it can do to make our jobs more efficient and our tasks easier to complete. But I’m also a skeptic, and I’m loathe to change an opinion once I’ve formed it, even if facts and circumstances evolve and my perspective grows dated. I’m a lot like that kid Mikey in the old Life cereal commercials — I’ll stare at the bowl interminably and refuse to taste a new food (or try a new technology), but eventually I give in and then look out — I love it!
And that’s what happened to me this spring with digital photography. I saw the light.
Futzing with Buttons
As you well know, there’s nothing new about digital photography. It’s been around for years now, and cameras have steadily improved, yielding better image quality, offering better control over capture, and becoming increasingly affordable. And while I have long intellectually understood the benefits of digital photography in a print production workflow — fewer processing steps, greater image integrity, no film costs, and so on — I haven’t had much opportunity as a freelance writer to appreciate those benefits firsthand.
Personally, I love my Ricoh XR10 35mm camera, on which I learned all about photography — f-stops, apertures, white point, filters, and more. OK, so I migrated to a little Ricoh R1 point-and-shoot and got a tad lazy over the last few years, but it works just fine, thank you very much. I know how to use its three simple buttons to get the image I desire, and I have my Ritz Camera Frequent Foto card that gets me 10 percent off on prints and free doubles (a must for every parent of a small child). I’m just a happy photographic camper.
So what does my husband do? He rocks my world by buying me a digital camera for Christmas: a snappy silver device, a 2.1-megapixel Ricoh Caplio RR10, which does double-duty as an MP3 player among other neat feats. I admit, I was excited when I unwrapped the box, and I immediately began playing with it, checking out the various modes, charging up the battery, setting it up, and tethering it to my Mac. I told you: I love technology. But actually use it? Pish. Remember the trip to Italy I wrote about a couple of months ago? We took the digital Caplio and the analog R1: my husband used the former, I used the latter. Who wants to mess with a new, unfamiliar device when you’re on vacation? I want to snap a photo quickly and then put the camera away so that I don’t see the sights through a viewfinder. Er, LCD. And that’s just what I did, while my husband futzed with buttons and spent our down time in the hotel room figuring out (and cussing a bit at) iPhoto.
Instant Gratification
But a few weeks later, I was inspired to use the camera to solve a small problem: I had to buy a dress for my daughter, who’s going to be a flower girl in a wedding this summer. The bride, my sister-in-law, who’s living in Los Angeles, shared some ideas about color and style, but it was up to me to find the right one. So I popped the camera in my purse and trotted off to Nordstrom, where I photographed my daughter trying on four different dresses. I came home, emailed the photos to my sister-in-law, and the next day she told me which one she liked best. How much of a hassle would that have been using a film camera?
Softened, I decided to bring only the Caplio on the two trips I’ve taken since then. That 64MB storage card is pretty amazing. It holds dozens of photos; forget about bringing multiple film cartridges, everything fits on the one card. And, hmm, I can snap the photo and switch to preview mode immediately. My sister closed her eyes for that one. Delete. Try again. That’s better. No disappointing prints will be returned a couple of days after I drop off the film at Ritz. I know now that I got the shot I want.
Speaking of developing, remember my frustration with Shutterfly.com last fall when I used the service for my Christmas cards? At the time, I found its interface perplexing, and the cards Shutterfly.com printed were dark and oversaturated. Since I’m pretty sure those cards came out poorly because of color management issues, I gave the online print service another shot after I returned from New Mexico with a few dozen digital images, a straightforward processing job. And guess what? Shutterfly.com is my new best friend. Uploading the files was quick and easy using the site’s batch plug-in, I added a custom message to the back of each print (a nice feature), and clicked Place Order. The prints arrived in my mailbox three days later, and they were gorgeous, each and every one. Who knew they came from JPEGs and not film?
Total Conversion
So I’m a convert. My film cameras are hereby relegated to the closet shelf. Hereafter I get my photo prints just as fast but without leaving my house, confident that each shot’s composition and quality will be just right. And I will snobbishly deride those who are still operating in the dark ages of film photography.
Of course, I still have a lot to learn, such as when it’s best for me to remove red-eye and lift shadows using Photoshop and when I should leave the dirty work to Shutterfly.com. And I have to figure out efficient and intuitive systems for naming and storing images. But even though my experience with digital photography thus far is that of a consumer, it gives me a renewed appreciation for how digital photography can streamline professional workflows and processes, as well as the hurdles that graphic arts shops, agencies, and other publishers have to overcome when they adopt any new technology. But as always, it’s worth the effort.
Now, one of these days I think I may actually listen to some MP3 tunes on my digital camera. Just don’t ask me when.
This article was last modified on January 6, 2023
This article was first published on May 16, 2002
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For the record, Anita’s column For Position Only is indeed an opnion column, not a place to review digital cameras. Creativepro.com posts LOTS of camera reviews. If your’e in the market for one, start here at digital camera department: https://creativepro.com/category/home/59.html
Check out our digital camera reviews here: https://creativepro.com/category/review/59.html
Here’s a ratings grid that summarizes all camera ratings: https://creativepro.com/category/revsummary/59.html
And I hope you saw Wednesday’s story about infrared-imaging effects– that’s pretty “pro” level to me. See /wp-content/uploads/sites/default/files/story_images/feature/16589.html
I’m sorry you feel we wasted your time. Yes, this piece was a little consumer-y for what we normally do, but I find it interesting that a small personal event can make even a seasoned pro change his or her mind about digital photography.
I’m sure you’ll find the links I’ve pointed out worth your time.
Pamela Pfiffner, editor in chief
This was a nice little article, very well written with a nice tone. Yet, if time is an issue, and it is for me, then I’m not inclined to read content that has nothing to do with non-professional integration of a product. In other words, I am looking for articles that add to my knowledge as a technician, or creative-pro. This article is just one person’s opinion on being convinced that a digital camera could be time-effective. Well thats a no brainer! Although sweet and well written as it was, it kind of wasted my time – which I don’t appreciate. Do send me reviews of what digital cameras are accomplishing now, or how I can get increased mega pixels for a lower price. I’m in the market for a digital camera and I took time away from what I was doing as a professional to review material not worth my time. Thanks for listening
I beg to disagree. I may have marveled at the benefits of digital photography that I discovered in my personal experience, but those and other benefits carry over into the professional world as well. Digital cameras are capable of capturing images that are of as high quality as a scan or transparency; if your clients are sending you lousy digitally photographed images, don’t blame the technology. They need a lesson in digital image processing–and I venture to bet they wouldn’t be able to provide you good scans, either. Not every new technology is right for every design professional, but digital photography is a perfectly viable alternative to scanning in many situations, saving the time and cost associated with the old analog method while providing comparable final quality.
I thought this was a forum for discussion of professional-level creative materials and techniques.
Sure digital cameras are great if you don’t even care about red eye. If you need a picture of your pet or need to choose a dress long distance. On vacation, save time and money, buy postcards.
For professional purposes, use your 35mm. You will need to scan actual old-fashioned photographs to the size and resolution required for quality reproduction. You will be able to file them, review them and edit the scans as necessary and so will everyone you meet and/or work with. There are no hardware or software limitations involved in reviewing old-fashioned photographs. (Transparencies and professional photographers will still yield best results, but I think we are talking cheap and lazy here.)
Most of my clients have gone to low-end, digital cameras. I get 40 plus photos on a floppy disk. They are about an inch square and full color at 72dpi for about 33k each. It is a complete waste of time to take photos at that quality and resolution.
Learning to use a digital camera is just the tip of the iceberg in digital photography for professional use. Don’t waste your time. For now 35mm is still a better choice. Spend the time learning to use Photoshop instead.
Anita,
Sounds like you’re well on your way to becoming a digital camera junkie.
Watch out. Next thing you know you’ll be getting a color ink jet printer and start doing your OWN prints instead of Shutterfly. (That’s what happened to me.)
And that 64 MB card? It’s actually unlimited if you travel with a powerbook. Fill it up during the day, download the photos at night. It’s an unlimited supply of “film.”
Of course the downside to this is that your camera is almost completely obsolete. You got it for Christmas? And it’s May? God, woman, that’s practically 10 years in human life. (I know. My Nikon Coolpix that I got las April is totally obsolete. Gotta get a new one.)