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     Ethostech Tinkerer Username: Ethostech Post Number: 128 Registered: 07-2006 Rating: N/A |
In 1994 I moved from Melbourne to sub-tropical Queensland (both in Australia of course) but never re-established my darkroom because of the sheer expense of airconditioning my outside workshop and providing running water. But the truth and reality is that there is a million times more resolution in a 35mm negative than the best which the most expensive digital camera can produce. And unlike my Nikon F2 there is nothing instinctive about digital camera menu nightmares. Now .. I was aware that Fuji Mini-Labs will develop grandma's films and return them as low res jpg's on a CD. That's great for emailing pictures of the new Siamese cat to grandchildren but otherwise of little use. I borrowed a very expensive film scanner to reproduce my film frames as digital jpgs but the results fell a thousand miles short of my expectations. However, from Fuji film HQ here in Brisbane, I learned that Fuji Mini-Labs have state of the srt $100,000 scanners and upon request they will develop my Nikon F2 films and return them to me as 6000 x 4000 pixel resolution TIFFs on CD. From there my "darkroom" is my Macintosh and a high quality Canon photo-quality inkjet Printer. Sure - I cannot make 20" x 16" Exhibition Prints - but that's not so much my scene these days. Certainly the above methodology yields stunning A4 prints from anything greater that two thirds of the negtive size - so I can significantly crop and still get the results. If occasionally I want a 40 inch print - then I get it done at a local professional lab - but that happens about once ever three years. As you can perceive, this makes my Nikon F2 a hybrid digital camera. And I use that camera as though an extension of myself - instinctively and enjoyably. Oh - and as to Fuji-Minilab processing prices. $15 (Australian) buys a thumbnail sheet plus hi-res images on CD - irrespective of whether 12, 24 or 36 exposure film. Of course - I could pay $8000 for the only digital camera which can utilise my battery of Nikkor lenses - but why would I want to do that? I am simply saying that film cameras are a long way from being obsolete - provided you know how to interface with today's digital mania. My favourite Perspective-Control Nikkor continues to live :-)) Stuart Willis |