Quick snap

Whoever said things would be easier in the digital world! Well they probably would be if everything was digital and although it’s possibly where we are headed…we’re certainly not there yet! Only the other day I was discussing with a colleague the major advances we’ve seen over the last decade.

Previous to digital, we would call in a photographer, fit into their tight schedule, and get the object shot. Then, about a week later, we’d get a tiny proof sheet back for us to run a Lupe (eye glass) across to ensure we’d had something we wanted. Each shot required, would be flagged and the negatives or transparencies would be sent to the scanning company for hi-res scanning or drum scanning as they used to call it. Finally a CD (which was pretty new back then) or possibly a Cyquest Disk would be delivered and you’d finally get to see on your extremely expensive but VERY slow computer what you had photographed a fortnight before!

In contrast today, we can shoot with high level cameras at a fraction of the time and cost with some amazing results. The digital world has bought technology to our doors which saves us time, money and on many occasions our sanity…but is there a cost?

When it comes to digital photography, it’s a case of when is big enough actually enough. I shot some beautiful shots for Challenge Dairy the other day (which can be seen in our gallery) on a new, state of the art, high resolution camera with a lens that nearly cost as much as the camera. Every click of the button produced a 150Mb file at over 39 megapixels! WOW. No doubt, the images are stunning and the shot can be zoomed in on with clarity or blown up for a billboard not a worry…but most people would buy a house for what that setup was worth!

That’s the top end and the playground where all the pro’s play but what about further down the digital train. K-Mart sell digital cameras for $29.95 and nearly every phone on the market has a camera on it of some kind! The problem is that these low end digital products just don’t produce a shot with the amount of information you really need to work with.

So many times we have clients bring in discs of photos they have taken – many of them wonderful shots – but most of the time they are just simply too small for us to use. It’s such a shame to see there disappointment when we have to tell them that the shots just aren’t high enough quality.

There’s a really great guide available on the net that might help you. It was published on bhphotovideo.com (Click the link to view the guide)

Hopefully this gives you some insight into both the evolution of digital photography within the industry and also a clearer picture of what you should expect out of your camera.