As the wedding season is approaching in Europe, I will be on my way back to England and France to shoot some weddings. Living in Taipei, and having access to very high quality lab for a portion of the price I would have to pay (or you have to pay :- )) for a professional lab in Europe. I have never felt the urge of buying a DSLR, having my negs scan gives me the quality and flexibility I need, so why am I about to buy an EOS 5D?
Well, It may just be because I just won the lotto! But no, this time “logistic” is the reason ( Sounds good as an excuse: “Yes darling, it is due to logistic requirement!” wow impressive isn’t it, you might try with your partner…)
Indeed travelling halfway around the world, shooting quite a few weddings and coming back to Taiwan would require an awful lot of rolls, not mentioning X-ray issues. So yes I am going to get a new toy, I mean a professional tool….
If not for this season weddings, I would have waited. Why? Well patience is a virtue for a start, but virtue is just like the English coast: it’s beautiful but it’s sad…
And mainly because I feel like I’m about to buy a disposable camera, yes I know, a 2000 euros disposable camera (yes it’s damn cheaper here!), but still a disposable camera. Let’s be realistic here: how much is worth your 3 mega pixels camera today! You might get more money just selling the case it came with!
Cameras have become just like computers, by the time you get used to it, it’s already outdated, outperformed etc welcome to consumer society….
I could face this dilemma just like a friend of mine considering the fact that if it’s good enough to perform the job for which you bought it then stick to it. Yes I wish! But can you imagine yourself showing up at a wedding with a 3 mega pixels DSLR (because yes a few years ago they sold those as “professional quality”) while Auntie Jenny has a better one? No, of course not, we strive to give our customer the best possible quality, and so we have to keep updating. Those are the times we live in.
My Uncle has spent most of his career shooting weddings with a trusted FE, a camera he bought more than 25 years ago, and will keep on working for years to come. Now do you really think you will still be using this DSLR of yours in even only 5 years? I bet not.
So alongside my new digital toy, I will continue using my film cameras, my medium format cameras and other pinhole cameras until the day the digital revolution exterminates the last standing roll of film, and on that day you will hear the long complaint of a desperate photographer, in love with technology but who has an antic mistress…
Nico
