Crossing the Digital Threshold

(my first digital photo)

I have been a hold-out for longer than seems reasonable for someone in my position. I’ve been devoted to film as my medium of choice, to the point where I was starting to feel like some anachronistic buggy whip manufacturer. I intend to cling to my darkroom and the aesthetic of silver gelatin prints. And for my commercial work, I still shoot film.

Mostly, though, I am daunted by the steep learning curve that I imagine digital will require. And the cost of admission—top of the line professional systems run on the neighborhood of $8000. But I have now crossed the threshold.

As of Saturday, I am the owner of a Canon EOS 20D camera body. It’s not top of the line, but I can shoot professionally with it. All but one of my stock agencies will take images made with it. All my Canon lenses will fit it. It’s an 8.2 megapixel camera that doesn’t weigh any more than what I already use.

I’m seriously overwhelmed. The camera is just the start of the financial hemorrhage, and the steep slope of the learning curve extends upward as far as I can see. I have to buy memory cards, and a pocket drive to dump the contents of the cards into and an upgrade to Photoshop so I can handle high bit files and an image management program. And before I can use this kit professionally I’ll need to replace my ancient laptop which is still running Photoshop 4, and whose memory is maxed out at 128mb.

Here, though, is the most disconcerting element of shooting digitally. This camera sounds just like my old Canon EOS bodies. But the sound it makes is that of my cameras when I’ve forgotten to put film in them. Every shutter click thus has an aura of anxiety attached to it.

Comments

[Dave Julian]

Doug,

Glad you have finally bitten deep into the endlessly reaching arm of the digital monster. But do not worry; as like all mythical beasts, knowing it brings great magic to those who study its secrets and master its power.

True, it is a costly journey, but in your hands it will soon give you freedom, expression and control that no analog process can rival. It will also make you love your Xpan even more!

Best wishes,

Dave

[stephan]

Hey, I'm also a fellow owner of the 20D, I find it to be a pretty handy tool.

I’m curious which stock agencies accepted 20D images and which did not?

Just my two cents”” but I would recommended against getting a third party file management utility. Currently I’m using the Adobe CS file browser using keyboarding and it is working decent. Yes it could be a lot better… I can’t say too much but I’ll put it this way, I have some friends who are beta testing for the next version of Photoshop and according to them there will be no need for a file management utility when the next version comes out.

Well enjoy the new camera… thanks for the read.

Your neighbor,

-Stephan