COMMENTARY--Why would anyone bother buying a digital camera? Well, I can think of a few reasons.
As a tech journalist, you can tell when certain technologies are really hot in the consumer space. Not because you're suddenly inundated with a forest's worth of paper press releases (although that, sadly, still happens) or because a marketing type decides to add the prefix "Hyper-X" to a given product. No, the best indicator of what's hot in the consumer space, as far as I'm concerned, is when more than three people physically ask me about it.
The best current example I can give of this phenomenon is digital cameras. Over the past week, I've had more than a dozen friends and acquaintances ask me about digital cameras. Some of them were just seeking a purchasing recommendation, while others were curious as to why anyone should bother with a digital option at all.
That's also a pretty common approach; not too long ago a reader scribed a quick note to me regarding a camera review I'd written, posing the question -- "Why not keep using your film camera and spend your money on something more useful?"
So, what to tell people? The best advice I could give was to ask them what they wanted from a camera. If you only take occasional pictures, or think that every image you snap must be represented in a physical photo, then digital probably isn't for you; stick with a film camera. Likewise, if circumstances limit your budget to the sub AU$400 space, I'd advise steering clear.
Images produced by sub AU$400 cameras are awful, especially because the packaging surrounding such cameras tends to promote really clear images that you haven't got a hope of getting with the contents.
To be brutally honest, you'd get better results out of sticking with a film camera and buying a good scanner than you would out of a cheap digital camera. Cheap also implies no preview LCD, and for my money, no preview LCD takes away one of the best reasons for getting a digital camera in the first place.
I should at this point admit that I actually love digital cameras, for a couple of reasons. For a start, I'm only an average photographer on my best day, so the whole shoot, delete, re-shoot scenario appeals to me. I'm also not as organised as I could be; there are still rolls of film at home waiting to be developed. Digital shots, however, only need a PC connection to be up and flying. I currently have over two hundred photos of my daughter, but I've only actually printed a handful of them; I can always view the rest in pristine fashion on my PC. Then there's the fact that as a result of my job, I get to play with an awful lot of digital cameras; that's not an option that's open to everybody.
Actually, now that I think about it, that kind of option should be available to everyone. If you're thinking about dropping more than AU$400 on a camera, why not go into a store and demand demonstrations on every unit that catches your fancy? Sure, you won't have a happy salesperson -- especially if they work on commission - but their pay arrangements aren't actually your problem. Getting a good camera is. It's far better to get a camera you like as the result of careful testing than ending up with the model that the salesperson just wanted to offload on that particular day.
Is digital photography a good investment or a waste of time? Have you had good or bad experiences with digital cameras? What do you think?
