Expert: Don Wood - 11/25/2004

Question
Don
I have been taking pictures for about 13 years now.  I have just gotten back into it after about 3 years.  I wanted to know which you prefer digital or 35mm? If you could leave some details about which and why that would be great. I am looking at the canon rebel or the new nikon d30 i believe. which would be better?

Answer
A pro will choose the camera that will do the job that needs to be done. Sometimes film would be the better choice, sometimes digital. That being said, when the pros went from the glass plate negative to the film negative it took quite a while for it to pass through the process. However, I believe that if you look at the availability of film at the major stores, it used to be that the film bins were 6-7 feet long and 4-5 shelves high. Now if you want film from Kodak, you must buy it in 4 packs. Kodak is concentrating on the production of disposable cameras. Fuji, and other foreign films are still being produced.
With the dropping of prices of the digital cameras and the wide variety of prices available the hand-writing is on the wall. Digital is here, it will gradually crowd out the film crowd. Why buy a 20 exposure roll of film and be limited to 20 shots when you can use a digital camera, delete the shots that you don't want and have 20 of the best shots. You might have to shoot 3-4 rolls of film to achieve the 20 shot result.This is not to mention the editing that you can do either through Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro 9. I prefer the PSP 9 over the Photoshop. It is not as expensive by a long shot.
Nikons are my cameras. I have used them for more than 20 years without problems. In fact I still use the FM2 and FE2 along with the 8008. I would use them for a high speed shoot like a sporting event. Just because I don't have a fast enough digital camera to get the action. I use the Coolpix 8700 but the shutter lag is long so you are lucky to get a fast-moving shot. Most of the time the subject has moved away by the time the picture is recorded.
All thing told, I am into digital, it's the way to go, prices are going down, quality is going up, the future is upon us. Good luck to you. Photography is a good field to be a weekend warrior in but keep your present job. Your friends will continue to ask you to photograph their special events, surprisingly, they will stop asking when you charge a fair price for doing the work.  People always said that they'd be glad to buy the film, pay for the processing but when I wanted to be compensated for my time, they stopped asking me. They would ask me for their most important events.
Welcome back to the photography fold. Thanks for asking. If I can be of further assistance please ask.
Don