Going Digital

Well, it has been 2 years now, but in October 2005, I finally  "went digital".  I purchased a Canon EOS 5D as soon as they were introduced and joined the rest of the digital world.  Once immersed in the digital world, my first thought on the subject was "what a racket!"  Any arguments on saving money by not buying film went out the window as soon as I bought my second digital camera body, not to mention all the computer hardware and software that goes along with it.  It's not cheap.

As great as the technology is, its not without a few bugs.  Sensor dust is the first thing that comes to mind.  Right after getting my 5D, and before having much experience with cleaning sensors, I left for a 3 week expedition to the cold, dry, and dusty Tibetan Plateau.  Although I made a few attempts to clean it in camp, I have had to remove upwards of 70 dust specs from some of those images!  And while we had a portable generator on that trip, on my first trip we did not.  Many digital cameras, computers, backup devices, etc are very dependent on recharging batteries and do not take AA's.  They are very dependent on a power source and taking one to a remote area would require a generator, solar panels, or the like.

The "digital arms race" that we are in causes our investments to become 'obsolete' way before their useful life has ended.  Additionally, there is no way to deny that it has changed the way we travel.  Rather than a camera body, lenses, and a bag of film, we are now burdened with camera, lenses, laptop, portable hard drive, cables and are constantly searching for the nearest outlet or wifi connection.

These negatives aside, the digital photography world has really been fun.  The ability to  correct exposure errors (and sometimes not just slight errors), shooting in low (and getting lower) light, and having creative control on the the finished image, would have been unimaginable 10 years ago.  After making that startup investment, there is nothing [but editing time] to restrain us from making countless exposures, the likes of which only pros could have afforded in the past.  This has really opened doors for photographing birds in flight, shooting blurs, flash techniques, etc.

All these technicalities aside, we have creative possibilities that we never had before.  Although things will continue to change faster than we can grasp those changes (or buy them!), it still boils down to a creative vision and spending quality time outdoors.  Spending hours on a mountainside with a majestic Dall's ram, and and enjoying the beauty of the images afterwards, is just the same.  Luckily, Not everything has changed!