Digital Photography

I was a keen amature photographer going back more years than I can remember, shooting with an Olympus OM1 using various lenses, Weston Master V lightmeter, and a Vivitar 285 flash unit with all the bells and whistles.

For various reasons my older kit has be confined to the cupboard, unused for a number of years during which time, digital photography has taken over from film.

These days I shoot most of my images using a Canon G10 compact camera, but also have a Lumix DMC FZ38 and an Olympus SP800-UZ that I use less frequently, but keep for a number of reason. Using any of my current digital cameras has given me more flexibility than a camera bag stuffed full of film equiptment, with perhaps the exception of flash. The image quality is remarkably good, especially from the G10 (with I picked up secondhand). The capability of digital cameras now far exceeds my ability to take stunning images.

And thats the point. Since the demise of film everyone has the ability to far exceed what was capable with bog standard film cameras a few years ago. Technology has pushed everyone photography capabilities light years ahead with even the most modest camera, including many phone cameras. But taking great images is not a function of the camera, its a function of the photographer and their knowledge of making great images.

Big business will lull us all into insecurity that the kit we use just doesnt cut it compared to the latest and greatest. If that were the case, images from bygone ages taken on film or glass plates would not have stood the test of time, but that is not the case. Look at images from some of the great photographers of bygone years and they are as good today as the day they were shot. Ansel Adams, Henri Catier-Bresson, Bailey, McCullen used their eyes to control their images. It was not Nikon, Canon, Leica, Olympus that created the images but the photographer's skillful use of the available technology to capture the moments their eyes saw.

So whether you use a phone camera, or haul your Nikon DSLR kit around in a wheelbarrow makes little difference. Its all in the eye. Learn to use that before upgrading to the latest kit. Save yourself the money and create better pics. After all when it comes to image detail, when was the last time you printed a photo large enough for an advertising billboard. At 6 x 4 all that tech is wasted.

Stop kidding yourself that its all in the camera.