Seahorse - Nikon D1x

COMMENTS ON DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Digital photography is a reality, and in many ways the future of photography. It has both benefits and drawbacks, and will affect professional and amateur photography in profound and somewhat different ways. There are those who do not want to acknowledge that it is fast becoming the camera of choice among both groups, but as they say “it is not what it should be or could be, it is what it is that counts."

Some claim that digital photography is the end of photographic art, as few will “trust” a brilliant photo because it might be enhanced by photo software. Currently this is a huge debate in the professional community. Whether or not you concur with this point of view, I personally feel that it will not be as bad as predicted and actually add another level of artistic input to the process of taking great images. The benefit of this revolution (and it is truly a revolution) will come to those who are willing to adapt to the new cameras as fast as possible and be willing to pay for the upgrades as the cameras and software improve.

Digital cameras have been around for a few years and have primarily been used for editorial purposes (they have taken over the newspaper market for instance). Like computers, they are constantly improving and unfortunately this means buying new cameras periodically. They also require the use of a computer and knowledge of photo software like Photoshop, which have high LEARNING curves and are intimidating to many photographers who have always used film cameras. However, looking ahead a few years (sooner than later I suspect), digital will be the primary tool for taking pictures by the majority of photographers.

With the capacity of the storage media (currently 1 gigabyte) and the cameras themselves expanding rapidly (a 5 to 11 megapixel capacity increase in the past year for the high end 35mm cameras), they will soon rival film from a file size point of view. Medium format cameras have already done so in many ways due to the greater file size that can be produced. As for fine art, (say 16X20 prints or larger using the cibachrome printing process) it is debatable whether we are there yet, but it is only a matter of time as the file size increases. In fact, there are new printing processes that make digital images look even better than film in many cases due to the lack of grain. You might wish to check out the Lightjet printers at http://www.cymbolic.com/products/lightjet5000.

French Angelfish - Nikon D1x

Underwater Photography
For underwater photography it has been a slower evolution to the digital format as there were no housings for the high-end cameras like the Nikon D1x until very recently (March, 2001) when the Seacam D1x housing arrived.

Since April 2001, I have been testing out the new Seacam D1x housing at various dive sites around the world and have taken approximately 10,000 images. It is an exiting adventure to be on the edge of a new technology, but I often feel like a software developer, as there is plenty of frustration and constant innovation required at this point to master image making with these digital cameras as not all claims by the various manufacturers work in the field

A review of the Seacam D1x camera housing and the Nikon D1x underwater is attached ( see SEACAM D1x). Note: Please understand that I am only describing my own experiences with the camera and housing, and others may well have different opinions. Any comments by other users of underwater housings/cameras are encouraged and will be added to this page when possible.

In any case, underwater photography poses a number of challenges that do not exist above water and require more use of the photo software to create images that come close to the film counterparts. Basically, many of the images, especially those will lots of color tend to be relatively flat when downloaded into a computer. Of course, the tendency to compare these images to Fuji Velvia film images (50 ASA) has something to do with this due to its greater amount of saturation and that may not be challenged for some time.

I will continue to add information to this page as time goes on, but it is encouraging that already digital files are being accepted for use by magazines and other editorial purposes.

By the way, I still bring a film camera (Nikonos RS or Seacam F100 housing)with my on dives as insurance, and for the fact that they are still the best for wide angle subjects.