The
Eye
Of
A
Lens
by Erin Fletcher
I welcome technology with open arms but with so many new inventions everyday, my arms are becoming tired. I love to work with computers and the latest software but like all human beings, I tend to resist change. I found myself to be the most resistant to change when I was told that a new digital camera was taking all my valuable knowledge and doing it automatically. I was working as the photo editor for my campus newspaper. Everything I had learned about cameras, film, developing and printing had been trial and error under the instruction of the editor. I was proud of the progress I had made over the first year and a half until the day the bomb shell hit. It wasn’t the fact that a digital camera would lessen my work load that I disliked, I was all in favor of reducing that, it was my pride in the knowledge I had accumulated. Now it was worthless to me. The adrenaline rush I experienced when I’d taken that perfect picture due to expert control of the camera (or mere fluke!) and the pride and excitement I felt when I’d developed those nearly flawless negatives will no longer be there. I almost feel like the challenge of professional photojournalism had been taken away and replaced by this digitized apparatus that claims to have a better sense for light, shutter speed and aperture than a human. I beg to differ. Photographs are not just taking pictures but the taking of pictures from the view point of that human being. Digital cameras will take the personality out of photography. The photographer has only the control of the picture itself and not any of the technicalities. I love to manipulate my camera. I own a 1981 Ricoh SLR Camera and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. It is completely reliable while still allowing complete manual manipulation.
THE CONS OF DIGITAL CAMERAS:
Expensive Equipment
Requires a computer to download pictures and the appropriate software
Poor picture quality compared to print pictures
Completely automatic, very few control features
We are in the information revolution now and require the ability to transmit photos and words fast and efficiently, a feature that traditional photography can’t beat a digital camera with. Despite the lack of quality digital pictures lack, they are convenient, easily manipulated on a computer and quickly processed. The replacement of the traditional camera will not be replaced entirely for some time. Instead, "digital and film-based photography will continue to exist side by side for some time. ....photographers will have to learn to use the computer as their darkroom to enhance, crop, and print their photographs"( Larish, John. Digital Photography: Pictures of Tomorrow. California: Micro Publishing Press, 1994. Page 174). Because of the digital photograph our culture is experiencing a change once again with the convergence of art, photography and electronics.
THE PROS OF DIGITAL CAMERAS:
I have to say, as a student who is planning a career in journalism, I know that the digital camera will influence my line of work as severely as the computer did to journalism ten years ago. When looking at a new technology I can’t help but think: What next?
Picture accessible seconds after being taken
Digital pictures can be manipulated and improved on the computer more easily than scanned picturesQuick and easy, especially for non-camera usersNo more expensive film/developing costs.
