 |
|
|
|
|
GOING
DIGITAL I bought
the Canon EOS D-30 in late December just before my January trip
to Washington, DC to cover Capitol Hill and President
Clinton’s last days in office.
I found that shooting digital for such high stress and
deadline sensitive jobs certainly has many advantages. First,
and most important to me, was being in charge of the quality
control. Having
spent many hours learning the intricacies of the equipment, I
was able to do the “darkroom” work, burning and dodging, as
I thought necessary. The
images that ultimately appeared in the magazines looked the way
I wanted them to. Second,
I was free of those early deadline and shipping requirements
that happen when you use film. For me, the prospect of no more
wondering if the courier got the packet that I had to leave in
some obscure location or worrying about if FedEx actually picked
up is worth it all. Now,
I can shoot right up to 7PM on Saturday night and transmit the
photos by 8PM. I
imagine that the magazines will come to appreciate the cost
saving to them…no film to buy and process and no shipping or
special courier bills. Photo
editors also won’t have to deal with 300 rolls of negatives,
contacts and slides cluttering up their offices. And for the
photographers, no more issues with “returns”. The
only drawback to shooting digital is that it seems that I have
NO time to myself anymore.
I know that some photographers prefer to edit as they go,
but I don’t want to be looking down at the LCD viewer and miss
the best image of the day. So I do all the processing, editing,
organizing and Photoshop in my “downtime”, but to me, once
again, it’s worth it. Finally
let me say that the D-30 is an excellent camera for the time
being until a professional model is released sometime later this
year from Canon. The
camera has some faults (as Canon acknowledges) for anyone like
me dealing in low light (ISO 800 & 1600) most of the time.
Slow AF, slow shutter release time, etc.
To
their credit, Dave Metz and Chuck Westfall of Canon have been
listening to us D-30 users and responding in record time.
I only hope our input finds it’s way to Japan. The
digital revolution in photography is just beginning. I’m looking forward to what the next few years have in
store for us. Photojournalist PF Bentley specializes in covering U.S. domestic and international politics. Bentley is known and respected throughout the print and broadcast community for earning unprecedented access to presidential candidates, Heads of State, and Capitol Hill. He has covered every U.S. presidential campaign and photographed every serious presidential contender since 1980 including Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bob Dole, Al Gore, Bill Bradley, and Bill Clinton.
Join a discussion on Digital SLR cameras |
