At 20:23 10/29/02, Dave wrote:
Well, it all depends ...
One of the charms of my E-20 is that it can function as an AF wonder, or I
can take complete control of Shutter, Aperture, and focus manually. I can
decide what color temperature I want. I can decide to use full or retarded
flash. I can bracket. I can control when the flash fires, doesn't fire,
etc.
Dave,
My semi-rant was directed more at the marketing and the marketing-driven
design of consumer cameras in general. It applies whether the light
recording device is film or a CCD (although CCD's have their own issues).
I'm a Luddite with a jaded view of Corporate Marketing. They devise a
dream to sell to the consumer (the latest snake oil that cures all ills)
and then influence the creation of a product that can be touted as
fulfilling that dream. Variations of this theme rearrange the exact
sequence of events. Their objective function is maximizing revenue stream
by convincing the consumer to chase technology at breakneck speed. What
was new this afternoon is touted as worthlessly obsoleted tomorrow morning,
and deserves to be heaved into the trash along with yesterday's newspaper.
The fundamental technical principles of making a photograph have not
changed since the inception of photography, whether it's a glass plate with
a collodian emulsion painted on it or a CCD making the light recording. It
boils down to light, Optical Physics and artistic composition. The
photographer needs to take ownership of the entire process and control all
three in reliably creating visualized photographs.
I pick up a current automagical plastic brick and do not feel in control
any more. If you feel you're completely in control of everything that makes
the photograph and you're reliably realizing what you've visualized for
your photographs, then keep doing what you're doing.
-- John
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