Photographers... Give me your Opinion on digital cameras

[Sparky]

Having spent most of my youth and early adult life in a darkroom learning the intricacies of tray developing and processing in total darkness, I feel the time is ripe to sell off my conventional 35mm cameras and look seriously into a digital. I've used digitals and the files that they produce, so I'm no stranger to them. I also know that the "which one is better" argument is like sitting down to a cracker barrel discussion on wether Ford or Chevy will be "Car of the Year".

I own 2 Olympus 35 bodies (one full auto and a black body all manual) and a vintage 1960's Bronica 2 1/4 and also (and this one will never get sold) my 1930's 4 x 5 field camera with an f64 ability and damn it shoots nice B/W.

What I'd like to here is from those who use digital in their profession around the 5-10 megapixel range SLR or not, and what you like about them and what you would change if you could.

I'd really like to be able to hold on to most of my 35's lens but the difference from conventional to digital is a big one and the exposures just don't work the same in both worlds. So let me hear from you... please :?

[slartybartfast]

Try this site Sparky
http://www.imaging-resource.com/

[NutCase]

I'm not sure what type of mount Olympus uses (Canon, Nikon or it's own) but my vote is for Canon. I work in a pro photo lab and most of the movie photographers use Canon and the images look pretty good. I haven't heard very many complaints but I'll try and double check for you. Most of those guys shoot in RAW format.

If you want reviews and opinions, here are 3 very good sites to start with:

http://www.dpreview.com
http://www.robgalbraith.com
http://www.luminous-landscape.com

The first site has very detailed camera reviews including sample images (noise at various ISO levels, resolution charts, sample images, etc). Very active forums as well.

The second site has some info on camera's but not nearly as much as DP Review. Forums are also very good at this place and I think there are some Canon people who post there on occasion.

You'll find some reviews on camera's and lenses on Luminous Landscape.

Assuming Olympus uses a Canon mount and you can afford a full frame sensor camera, you won't have to worry about your 50mm lense becoming a 35mm on the digital camera (or however that stuff works).

If you find a used Kodak 14n, I'd avoid it. I wouldn't buy any Kodak, especially this one.

Fuji S2 used to be good for noise levels but I don't know if that's still true with some of the newer camera's. You can see noise comparisons on DP Review.

I can also give you a list of software and sites for all kinds of post-processing fun if ya need them.

Speaking of photo, we've got a big Durst, rail mounted enlarger we're giving away for free.... just have to pay to haul the thing away.... and I can't find anyone to take it! Know anyone who wants it? Might have a big floor one too but I'm not sure if it's spoken for.

[Sparky]

Spoke to Olympus last night and the lenses I have will work seemlessly (with a minor adaptor) with the E-series SLR they have. My regular film bodies are an OM-2 and fully manual OM black body. I mentioned that the lenses I have range from a 28mm up to a 185-35 zoom the tech rep said not to worry. Exposure times and f-stops are almost identicle from film to digital.

NutCase where are you (or what are you close to) I might be very interested in the Durst enlarger..

[walksin2trees]

the home for all photogs should be http://www.photo.net

pro or hobby if there's anywhere you can find your answer my young jedi, it should be there

my personal advice is to consider how much would you like to use your old lenses... my father has a Nikon and wanted to do the same thing, and keep his lenses but ended up buying a camera he couldn't change the lenses on at all, but it's beautifaul and takes perfect photos it's not an EOS but it's damn nice anyway

if you have the green to throw at whatever you want, don't skimp on meagapixels, forget about digital zoom, but beyond that pay attention to how you'll grip the camera, what features will you want to change quickly and often while you're gripping the camera that way (zoom for example) make sure you won't be blocking the auto-focus light with your hand while wearing gloves . the one gripe I have with my father's camera is that you have to change your grip on the camera slightly while zooming, so that your finger is no longer over the trigger when you you get done framing your shot and want to shoot.

visit some stores and take test-shots, the hard thing to test in a store though is performance in poor conditions and that's where photo.net comes in plus it has lot's of great photos to check out

another cool site to drool at is http://www.digital-photography.org/
also http://www.wide-format-printers.org

[Sparky]

Originally Posted by walksin2trees

the home for all photogs should be http://www.photo.net

pro or hobby if there's anywhere you can find your answermy young jedi, it should be there

another cool site to drool at is http://www.digital-photography.org/
also http://www.wide-format-printers.org

I'm not sure why you think I"M the young one here. I've been at this game for over 35 years. I've probably forgotten more about tray developing and film processing than most of you will ever learn (sorry that was a stab I know)

As far as the Digital camera goes I have no money (re green as you put it) to throw at anything so my decision must be a careful one.

I'll probably end up selling both the 35s and the 2 1/4 Bronica to cover the cost. I'm not about to let the 4x5 field camera go though. That's my one treasure I will hand down to my grandkids.

[walksin2trees]

sorry that comment was just me trying to be funny, was not meant to indicate any beliefs I may or may not have about your age or experience, color of skin, religious affiliation, or sexual fetishes, and honestly, I'm short on the "green" category myself, don't even have an SLR camera of my own, never even done tray developing

but I've done my research and I have used a few different cameras and if you check out those sites I posted you will see what I'm talking about

also the second two sites are just two of a whole bunch of FLAAR sites and if anyone's company is looking to buy new equipment they may wish to do some research there first. I'll probably post all three of those URLs elsewhere in these forums that maybe get more traffic

[NutCase]

I haven't been to photo.net is ages.... I can't stand the way their forum software works. I normally see the unified view and then start scrolling. Their archives are weird and I always had trouble findnig what I wanted with a search. Have things changed to make it more user friendly (like this place )

As for FLAAR, I find their sites are a bunch of bull and aren't really useful. I'm not paying for a report when I can find most of that stuff for free elsewhere. I've also heard some negative comments regarding FLAAR on how and what they test. I wouldn't spend my money with them, that's for sure.

But what the hell do I know anyway (I should make that my sig or something )

[Sparky]

whoa slow down man , I wasn't bein mean either :wink:

In certain areas I am a novice. I've been a photographer and in commercial printing and graphics design for that long (remember old world methods are the basis for what we do now). The rate at which digital technology is overtaking us is just making my head spin (in a warm fuzzy way). Believe me I'd love to be able to walk in to my local vendor and plop down $5,000 on a Nikon D2x I mean I have wet dreams about a system like that 8O

So I'l just wait til, that winning lotto number hits me.. :roll:

[walksin2trees]

LOL! photo.net is not about searching for stock photos man, it's about being a photographer for the sake of photography! :roll: personally I've never used their forum, but the rest of the site is more friendly than it used to be but for photogs who like to look at photos it's the place to go

as for the FLAAR sites I've never had a reason to buy a report. I found the one while researching wide format printers, and the other by following the link from one to the other it was the other info (free) on the sites I listed, which are reviews of products, some of which I use and so I had that as a guide of sorts for the quality of the source

one i liked better was inkjetart.com (I think) for wide format printers but anyway...

I like dreaming about cameras that have their own full-size computer attached and I figure other people might too

my reason for suggesting to sparky the photo.net website was for all of the info there, sparky can look and see photographs taken by cameras he may be considering, sparky can read reviews of cameras, given by photogs that use them. plus hints and tips about buying cameras in general.

and don't worry sparky, I was trying to be funny again with the comment about sexual fetishes :wink: I know you don't really do that!