Stephen Johnson's 'The Parks Project' - Is this a glimpse of the future for LF?

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

Bill:

I guess you were answering to me...so is JORGE not JOSE...:-))

I agree with you maybe in the future we will have a back that does all that requires a lot of equipment now. But as I mentioned before at this stage it was a gimmick for this guy ....I mean who wants to carry all that equipment when you can get a Fuji quickload and shoot all you want with little hassle.

The one thing that will make me sad to see go away is darkroom work, I really enjoy this stage of the process and just thinking about having to sit in front of a computer to "develop" my negatives...well sort of depresses me. I think that if film comes to pass away, I will be one of those doing wet plate collodion and pt/pd.....as a matter of fact I already got me a plate holder for my 8x10 ......just getting ready for the bad news. :-(

[Peter Brown]

Thanks for all the comments,

I agree with Bill's & Howard's assessments and from my own research I also believe that a sturdy, portable digital back for 6x9/4x5 (without cables, laptops, etc) is not too far away and the output will equal or better our current film quality.

We are already seeing traditional camera makers such as Ebony introducing new cameras which will be compatible with digital backs, for example the "new" 6x4.5-6x12 'Finesse' with facilities for digital & film use. Other manufacturers are also introducing prototypes as well.

This is a contentious issue particularly with die-hard film users and there will always be early developers who lead the way and those who sit and wait, but one thing is for sure, digital capture is here now - we'll just have to wait a couple more years to see who is riight and who is wrong.

"Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better" - Samuel Johnson (1755)

It was great hearing your views - thanks.

Kind regards,

[Bill Glickman]

Jorge, very sorry for the name typo.....

[James Conrad]

This is not a comment in pro or con to digital LF work. Just curious, because to the best of my knowledge the largest digital sensor back only captures a max of a 6x6cm image. While you certainly gain the use of view camera movements, the last time I checked 6x6 was medium format. Has this changed?

[darter]

Wow! 9 million pixels of tired old image. The "Parks Project" is a retrogressive step uniting old cliches with the most modern equipment. Perhaps the mind set that makes people "early adopters" or pioneers in technology put their creativity in the "default" position. Digitization may unite all mediums but it doesn't change the distinctly undigital acts of thinking and feeling that most of us depend heavily on.

[Bill Glickman]

james, those backs I discussed above were 6x6 backs... they were matching 30x40" prints from 4x5...that was the mystery phenomenoa of digital files from digital cameras vs. digital files from scanned film.

[Dave_958]

Johnson was not using the latest super model version of the Better Light 4 x 5 insert that increases the file size from 140 MB to over 300 MB. According to an ad in the Nov/Dec 2001 View camera magazine the manufacturer Better Light claims that the clarity and detail of the current digital image supermodel back surpasses that captured with 8 x 10 film. At its website, www.betterlight.com, the manufacturer describes the new supermodel allows images with up to 9000 x 15,000 pixels. The Sinar HR-Sinarcam was also discussed in the Nov/Dec 2001 issue of View Camera. It can provide 450 MB files with 75,000,00 pixels. The author states that the digital back enhances his productivity. ........... ........................................... I hope that you get the picture.........................

[Dave_958]

I was in error. The www.betterlight.com website says the Super8K-2 has a maximum resolution of 12,000 x 15,990 pixels (549 MB 24-bit RGB, or 1.1 GB 48-bit RGB file) Super6K-2?. The Super6K-2 captures up to 9,000 x 12,000 pixels (309 MB 24-bit RGB, or 618 MB 48-bit RGB file). ..............................................

[abiggs]

This is true, but you have to wait something like 30 minutes to take one picture. For all of my outdoor images, this would be too long, as my subjects (water, trees, etc) move much quicker than that.

[QT Luong]

I do not agree that Stephen Johnson is a visionary for choosing digital to do his National Parks project. I think he just picked the wrong tools for the job. How do I know ? Although I use only my own resources and vacation time, I have gotten much further in my own project to photograph the Parks (55 out of the 57 parks), and I believe with a much wider variety of images, because I can backpack in the wilderness with my gear (solo if needed), and use reasonnable shutter speeds whenever vegetation or water is involved, two components quite unique to the landscape of this planet. What we must admire Stephen Johnson's for is his skill in marketing and self-promotion. The future ? I just don't see the weight of the batteries beating that of film. Batteries don't seem to follow Moore's law.