About Bob Todrick Expertise I can answer questions on most areas of photography. Though fine-art nudes is my main focus, I can, as well answer most questions dealing with darkroom processes (including many alternative processes).
My expertise does not include digital.
Experience I have photographed since 1975. Among my clients have been a number of major retail department stores (the Bay, Eatons). I photographed for Canada's premier motorsports magazine for a number of years, and have done much portraiture and wedding photography.
In 1990 I gave up shooting professionally to concentrate on my fine-art work and have had numerous group and one person shows since.
Organizations Co-founder of the Group of Several.
Publications Numerous newspaper and print ads.
GRAPHIS photo annual.
Expert: Bob Todrick Date: 4/29/2004 Subject: Digital portrait
Question I have been doing some portrait jobs with a 35 mm Canon AE1 Program and Photogenic strobes using negative film. I am looking for some advantage over my competitors by offering a quicker response and I have purchased now an Olympus C4000 that I have linked to trigger the strobes.
According to your experience, how close can I expect 8x10 lab prints to be from one camera compared to the other? Could a lab print from the Olympus qualify as an acceptable “family portrait”?
I consider ideal having a portable PC when shooting digital on location in order to let the customer see the pictures immediately. The PC however is a major investment for me right now. Do you know some kind of viewing device compatible with digicams?
Answer Francisco,
At 8X10 size very few, if anyone could tell whether the print was taken with 35mm or the C4000, especially in color (B&W brings in a number of variables that make film the better choice in most instances).
You would need to reach 11X14 print size before film 'may' be come noticably better than the digicam can provide. And even here it would require the veiwer to know what they were looking for (pixelation, noise, etc).
A good lab will give equal results film/digital as long as they are printing the same for both. An inkjet print from either film or digital will look the same, as long as the equipment operator knows what they are doing. As well a conventional RA4 print will also be equal (realizing that there are specialized machines out their that will give a conventional print from a digital image).
What you cannot compare (and many labs do this) is a conventional RA print from the neg and an inkjet print from the digital file...they just don't look the same.
So it boils down to how good your lab is, but an image from the C4000, printed at a good lab will definitely give saleable print quality.
Finally, most point and shoot digitals (Olympus included) have built in AV jacks. This will allow the camera, with the proper AV cables (quite inexpensive) to show the images on any color TV that has AV input (these are the jacks you would plug a DVD player into). Unlike a laptop, you can in no way adjust or manipulate the image, but it does allow you to preview the image at a bigger size.
Hope this helps.
