Digital BW, The Print

sounds like you are also a P&S virgin as well.  the first thing you 
have to do is learn your camera and learn its limitations and then 
learn how to live with them.  There are many many fine photos taken 
with even more limited, but fine, p&s cameras like the Yashica T4 or 
Epic Stylus.  Read your manual and think about what it means to you 
and what you want to shoot.  If shutter lag is your biggest issue 
there is probably at least one way to minimize it.  I have a Canon 
S400 which has a "hard" focus lock which essentially turns it into a 
manual focus camera with nearly zero shutter lag.  You also should 
understand what kind of depth of field you will get (ie. gobs) and 
use this to your advantage.  With my S400 I generally set the focus 
lock at around 6' before even entering a room where I want to take 
casual candids of people (at a focal length of 7.4mm I get everything 
in focus from 3.8 to 13.8 ft. so there is no reason for the camera to 
focus every shot).

Also, consumer cameras like the A70 will often oversharpen images 
because it looks better to the vast majority of consumers.  The S400 
has a "low sharpening" parameter which I think is good... see if it 
is on the A70.

I don't mean argue with you on this, but it is practically insane to 
suggest that only film images are "real," once you make a print the 
image *is* real, period.  Make your edition, whatever, then pitch 
your negative or digital file and you are still left with a "real 
image."  Was it made using a 150 year old process?  No, of course 
not, but once you hang a print on a wall who cares as long as it 
looks good?

If you are making "huge" prints from a 5MP camera you don't have 
enough resolution to match most film images so your friends have done 
some kind of interpolation.  There is also no grain and if you think 
you should be seeing grain and do not, well, then it looks digital 
instead of grainy... but yes, I will agree that "real" film grain has 
an aesthetic quality not found in digital images, but silky smooth 
digital b&w images can look great as well... ya' know, some people 
that shoot silver film shoot in large format so they don't see the 
grain... so it's not like you have to have it to have a good photo:)

Enjoy your new toy, it should be capable of taking some decently 
serious photos with!

mark

PS  But watch out for CA, it will kill you.

...
> As a digital virgin - having just gotten a Canon A70 from Santa I'm 
having 
> fits simply trying to get a candid picture with the freaking 
digital lag 
> time! I may resort to shooting bursts of three. There is another 
level of 
> concern (I don't mind a digital v. film dialog here :-))  and that 
is the 
> fact that digital images are virtual and film images are "real." To 
me that 
> is a big, important difference.
> 
> Regarding larger blow-ups I have friends with 5M cams who do 
enormous color 
> ink jet prints that are stunning. They have a distinct digital look 
when 
> examined closely.
> I say "so what" to that. Us poor wind mill tilters looking to do 
excellent 
> B/W reliably will soon achieve the same glory.
> 
> Did anyone see the current N.G.. aviation issue?  It was their 
first 
> all-digital shoot. Check out the actual mag.. Tell me if I'm full 
of it, 
> but I swear
> every image had a distinct "outline" effect around adjacent large 
tonal 
> areas. I'm probably not describing that well, but take a look.  Is 
that an 
> artifact of the camera or reproduction?
> 
> AZ
> 
> Build a Lookaround!
> The Lookaround Book, 2nd ed.
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