Film and digital...

This was first posted to the Rollei List:

I think the biggest problem of digital is the amount
of prejudice flying around from both proponents and
critics...

I have owned a number of digital cameras. My most-used
camera at the moment is an EOS 10D digital SLR. I
still use my Rolleiflexes, Leicas (and C/Vs),
Contaxes, Pentacon 6 and Canon film cameras. All have
advantages and disadvantages, and if I didn't (a)
enjoy using any of them and (b) find that the quality
was sufficient for what I wanted to do with them, I
wouldn't use them.

Digital SLRs have MORE  control over exposure than the
equivalent film camera, because in addition to having
the same shutter speed and aperture range, you can
also vary the "ISO" for each shot. That's probably the
biggest single advantage of digital, IMHO, apart from
vastly reduced running costs. My current digital
compact, the Canon S70, offers an aperture range of
f2.8 to f8, with shutter speeds running from 15
seconds to 1/2000, and it has a zoom lens equivalent
to 28-100mm on 35mm. Covers most eventualities.
Shutter lag isn't really an issue with the SLRs,
although it remains so with digital compacts, but that
can generally be largely overcome with prefocusing,
use of the infinity mode or manual prefocusing,
depending on the model.

I like digital, and I like film. I intend to carry on
using both for ever and a day, and I believe that both
will continue to be around for as long as I could
possibly care. Whatever helps me take pictures is
welcome, and if it happens to be supremely engineered,
have excellent lenses and the F&H label on it that is
an added bonus!