Author Topic: What Digital Camera?  (Read 2742 times)

KenP

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What Digital Camera?
« on: April 02, 2024, 19:42:47 »
I am curious to know what particular digital camera moved you away from film for good? There seems to be a lot of nostalgia for older digital cameras in recent years. I have not been around photography long enough to have experience worth commenting on. However, the large user group here has extensive professional experience and likely has used nearly every variant of digital technology since inception. I am speaking mostly in terms of 35mm but I do understand that medium and large format in film provided advantages that might still be preferred. Perhaps some members here still use film professionally as there is a recent resurgence there as well. Professional or otherwise, what was the one camera that moved you into the digital realm? Ken

Birna Rørslett

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Re: What Digital Camera?
« Reply #1 on: April 02, 2024, 21:49:06 »
I used on occasion Kodak's botched DCS cameras in the '90s and whilst these cameras were horrible in terms of handling and their limited resolutiion, they did provide a pointer to the future. Thus I invested heavily in digital scanners and started converting all my slides to digital files. Which took a while. Then got my first Nikon D1 in 1999. Never looked back.

Frank Fremerey

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Re: What Digital Camera?
« Reply #2 on: April 02, 2024, 22:00:47 »
My first Digitals were borrowed. The Dimage 7 from Minolta was the first I did use for a longer time.


Then a friend showed me food shots he took with a D70 and I got one asap. In fact I got two of these and started a career as a food photographer. Easy. I love food, cooking and all these crazy people in the business.


The first camera that felt like a real replacement for my film bodies was the D3. I used it till the display went shaky and then sold it to someone who is still happy with it.


Today I have many digital cameras and use them for different purposes and situations. The one I love most is the Zf but the D500 comes very close and the Fuji X100 is close to my heart. The Z6 and D850 are workhorses. Super dependable.


You are out there. You and your camera. You can shoot or not shoot as you please. Discover the world, Your world. Show it to us. Or we might never see it.

Me: https://youpic.com/photographer/frankfremerey/

Roland Vink

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Re: What Digital Camera?
« Reply #3 on: April 02, 2024, 22:26:49 »
None, I still use my FM3a. My first digital camera was the Nikon D600, which was the first relatively affordable FX camera. My use of film dropped dramatically after that but it is  fun to shoot film sometimes.

MEPER

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Re: What Digital Camera?
« Reply #4 on: April 02, 2024, 22:50:25 »
I think Nikon was slow in developing some hi-res DSLRs compared to Canon.
I remember I watched a poster like portrait print which looked very good and I asked what the source was. It was from a 11 MP Canon DSLR.
Can't remember what Nikon had a that time......4 MP maybe?
I then thought......ok....when Nikon come with around 11 MP DSLR I will consider.
So my first DSLR was a Nikon D2x.
It was this camera that caused I sold my Hasselblad as my printed scanned (CS 9000) 6x6 slides does not looked better then D2x printed files (shot at low ISO). The largest prints I made were A3+.
I think Nikon was settled only for DX sized sensors. I remember a Nikon article with a headline saying something like "who needs full frame?"
The competition changed that. Could be interesting to hear Nikon about that decision. But sensors back then liked very much to get the light rays in with 90 degrees to the sensor (perpendicular). This was one of probably more technical reasons for the smaller DX format. I also guess the D in DX stands for Digital.....or what is the history behind the "DX" naming?

For me it was difficult to get the dark shadow details out of the slides by using the scanner. It looked much better projected than when scanned. Maybe I should have made some "thinner" slides for scanning purpose only.
I was "allergic" to blown out highlights when projecting a slide.

Ilkka Nissilä

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Re: What Digital Camera?
« Reply #5 on: April 03, 2024, 08:58:51 »
I think Nikon was slow in developing some hi-res DSLRs compared to Canon.
I remember I watched a poster like portrait print which looked very good and I asked what the source was. It was from a 11 MP Canon DSLR.
Can't remember what Nikon had a that time......4 MP maybe?
I then thought......ok....when Nikon come with around 11 MP DSLR I will consider.
So my first DSLR was a Nikon D2x.

It's true Nikon didn't have a full-frame camera early on; Contax, Canon and Kodak did. I believe a technology known as offset microlenses was developed and used first in Leica rangefinder cameras to manage the light coming from a difficult angle from the point of view of a digital sensor, and Nikon used this technology in the D3 which was their first full-frame DSLR. I don't have any inside information on this I am just recalling what was discussed at the time.

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It was this camera that caused I sold my Hasselblad as my printed scanned (CS 9000) 6x6 slides does not looked better then D2x printed files (shot at low ISO). The largest prints I made were A3+.

That's interesting; I have an LS-9000 as well and I do find 6x7 cm film scans to be excellent and in some ways better than digital was at the time. Especially I think black and white film could hold amazingly fine detail. Yes, there is grain also, but there is robust detail and beautiful, rich tones in the sky and other even areas. I was using a Mamiya 7 rangefinder.

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I think Nikon was settled only for DX sized sensors. I remember a Nikon article with a headline saying something like "who needs full frame?"

Every company has to try to sell what products they have at the time. 
Quote
I also guess the D in DX stands for Digital.....or what is the history behind the "DX" naming?

APS film was called IX and so DX is basically Digital APS or DX.

Quote
For me it was difficult to get the dark shadow details out of the slides by using the scanner. It looked much better projected than when scanned. Maybe I should have made some "thinner" slides for scanning purpose only.
I was "allergic" to blown out highlights when projecting a slide.

I think it's just best to accept that the printed medium is different from a transmitted medium (transparency) and they have different properties. I've always been happy with the latest-generation LS-5000 and LS-9000 scanners compared to what scans I could get commercially for a reasonable price per scan. However, the film still contains more detail as can be seen in some comparisons between Nikon's 4000 ppi and Minolta's 5400 ppi scanners, as well as when looking at slides under a good microscope. However, depth of field creates challenges in the scanning process and while there are ways of mitigating it, digital cameras do capture more consistent detail across the frame than scanned 35 mm film.

MEPER

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Re: What Digital Camera?
« Reply #6 on: April 03, 2024, 11:39:27 »
Was your film scans from positives or negatives?
I think the light in LS-9000 is not strong enough to get all the shadow/dark details out of a slide but much better with negatives. If I tried to "force" the details out from slide I just got a lot of noise that was not in the slide. I think for scanning negatives are much better. They are not as dark as the slides so you can get more details out of a negative (in this case the highlights).

Birna Rørslett

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Re: What Digital Camera?
« Reply #7 on: April 03, 2024, 12:00:15 »
Negative colour film has a base mask that can limit dynamic range -- my experience.

Whatever technique used, film grain ultimately limits what details can be extracted.

MEPER

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Re: What Digital Camera?
« Reply #8 on: April 03, 2024, 12:40:43 »
My best scans was from the B/W film called "Gigabitfilm".
It is still available?
http://www.gigabitfilm.de/html/english/products/product_photo_135.htm

For that film I could have used a 8000 dpi scanner to get more details out if it.

Birna Rørslett

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Re: What Digital Camera?
« Reply #9 on: April 03, 2024, 13:14:49 »
The Gigabit website looks pretty much dead?

MEPER

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Re: What Digital Camera?
« Reply #10 on: April 03, 2024, 13:34:19 »
Yes, a bit dead but website has always looked at bit strange and not obvious where to "click".
The funny images examples is still there with the x1000 enlargement as the last example:
http://www.gigabitfilm.de/html/english/information/24x36/examples/examples.htm

MEPER

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Re: What Digital Camera?
« Reply #11 on: April 03, 2024, 13:46:49 »
Liquidated in 2011?
http://www.gigabitfilm.de/html/english/imprint/imprint.htm

From memory I purchased my Gigabitfilm here:
https://www.macodirect.de/en/film/black-white-films/
Maybe they have something now that is close......

Erik Lund

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Re: What Digital Camera?
« Reply #12 on: April 05, 2024, 14:21:24 »
I jumped directly onto Nikon D1, but kept shooting film for some projects where needed. Shooting F5 and also 6x7 on film scanned on Nikon LS-8000 with Silverpix
Erik Lund

armando_m

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Re: What Digital Camera?
« Reply #13 on: April 05, 2024, 17:00:11 »
Started with small kodak cameras that allowed manual mode, jpg only

my pentax film camera was failing

Eventually got a nikon d40 and I started using raw

the rest is history
Armando Morales
D800, Nikon 1 V1, Fuji X-T3

Thomas Stellwag

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Re: What Digital Camera?
« Reply #14 on: April 05, 2024, 19:37:46 »
first one using was a Sony Mavica with 3.5" floppy disc, but it was in my job
first I owned was a Nikon Coolpix 950 (2000), then a Canon Powershot G5, then Nikon D200 (2006) with all the expensive consequences
Thomas Stellwag