LOST TOUCH (Response)

By Bill Reid C.R.C. Editor

Kevin has been very truthful and forthcoming in his response to the articles on Digital Imaging and Computer Projector(s), which appeared in the January News. I have no problem with that, democracy, freedom of speech, and all that! So here is my response to Kevin’s reaction, hopefully, taken in the same vein!: Firstly, I don’t think two and a half pages out of 13 (not including the advert pages) is really stretching the digital image input all that much, after all, WE did agree that talk and information about the new digital technology was welcome in our CRC News. Therefore I can’t see any real problem there.
Experts (CRC, that is)! I can’t remember any of our contributers ever suggesting that they were ‘experts’ in the digital work they produce à ALL of us are merely learning as we go along, just as we did when first taking on home processing of cine film and colour slides. Here again, we are simply learning from each other. WE are starting to recognise that ‘pixels’ equals dots/grain on cine film, there may be more technical points to this than we know about, but it was interesting that in his response, Kevin made comment about this, and so, we are learning a bit more, even from him, as he writes. This is what it is all about. The Film v Digital, has, thankfully, died off quite a bit now, and we can look at each technology in their own light (is that a pun)! A work collegue recently bought himself a new digital (still) camera and the pictures are very good, for digital. But even he agrees that he would still rather view slides on a screen. I certainly don’t intend my computer projector to stop me setting up my slide projector, and screen, every now and again and simply enjoy my latest home processed slides, from Konica film that I have purchased from the Club sales. 

My centerfold on Chicago were all home processed club film and we also have member’s folio slides, all home processed à However, they were all scanned into digital images and used in the CRCN, in that format. I don’t know about you, but I very pleased with the printed results.

Getting back to my workmate’s digital camera ànd having a good look at all the facilities available on it, it had everything we come to expect and accept on a conventional film camera. Aperture settings, exposure settings, a fair sized zoom lens. But hidden away in it’s menus there is an incredible array of settings that is quite mind boggling .. one in particular, is a ‘film speed’ setting! 

Film Speed and Digital! What’s that all about. Well however it works it gives exactly the same effect as changing from a 100asa film to say, 400asa settings, and you do notice the difference when viewing the image through the viewfinder. You can also add filters just as on a conventional camera, such a changing from daylight to artificial light conditions. These, more expensive digital models are certainly not omitting anything you already expect from an average, to expensive range, film camera.
Yes, digital is expensive, when you consider al the equipment you require to eventually see your images, but then so is OUR hobby! It doesn’t seem so log ago that I couldn’t afford to use anything but a cheapie camera, and it showed in my work. It was expensive to move up to the next stage and that was only to a canon AE 100 35mm camera, a great camera, but still a long way from a top model. Today more than 20 years later I still haven’t progressed to higher than a Cannon T70 but it does what I want from it. It allows me to set exposures manually, or I can leave it on auto. Changing lenses or attaching filters is quite easy. 
Another Club Name Change! Of course not à we went through that a year and more back and it was thrown out. From those discussions it was agreed that while Colour Reversal would remain the main aim of the Club, WE would embrace the new technology and where necessary exchange news and views on this, in the CRCN pages.

The Future .. is there one! If we take Kevin’s comments litterally, it would seem not, and or Colour Reversal Film and processing à however, I certainly don’t believe this is so, well, not in the immediate future. One day, no doubt. There is still a lot tied up with film and processing with the cinema industry, and while the home market may be a lot smaller, it still represents millions of people around the world, using camera and film. At this moment, I have not gone into Jessop and not been able to purchase E6 chemicals. I even purchased some stick-on 100asa labels for my new pack of six film cassettes. There is no reason whatsoever for not continuing to enjoy film and chemical processing and combining it with the digital system, and get the best of both worlds, until one day, the market decides that the silver image system has had it’s day. Once again, in these pages we demonstrate the advantage of using both systems. Surely, we shouldn’t just sit down and be beaten without making the best of the film and chemicals that are still available to us!

The above picture taken at Grand Rapids (Michigan) in 1985 is a good example of cleaning up a photograph in a graphic programme. A brick chimney grew out of the top of the loco and depot lighting cables swung out from the top right and into the sky area, to the edge of the picture. (Konicachrome 100 in Photocolor Kit).