Digital BW, The Print

> -----------
> Um, that's simply not true. Not all change is good, and while there
> are definitely events that represent real progress according to 
strictly


Scott-

You are right. Technology does go down some dead end roads from time 
to time. But the move to digital is much more than an affair with 
SciFi and possible new solutions.

I repeat my query: How many recent improvements can one find in the 
wet darkroom world vs. the almost daily refinements in the digital 
world? From where I sit and watch, the digital progress is 
overwhelming and the days film manufacturing are numbered. It would 
be nice to think both would exist side by side, but economic reality 
will eventually bring a halt to the world of film. Probably the only 
thing keeping it alive today is the hope that the millions of film 
cameras (mostly in closets) will get pulled out for pictures of the 
cousin's wedding or christening...but eventually this will stop. Who 
knows exactly what will end it... remember a couple of years ago, 
there was a product written about (don't know if it actually was ever 
produced) that was a digital "insert" to the film bay of conventional 
cameras...kind of like the cassette insert for iPods <g>. Such a 
product could end film manufacture overnight if it really worked 
well. I haven't seen one, but doesn't Leica now have a digital back 
for it's rangefinder and SLR cameras? 

I'm not anti-film but just don't see why anyone would continue to 
work with it unless you were a John Sexton who is at the top of the 
food chain in terms of quality...for the rest of us, still on the 
learning and improvement curve, why wouldn't we devote our energies 
to the technology and medium that will grow with our skills???

And in the final analysis, isn't that what this forum is all about? 

cheers,

Tom O'Connell