"35mm or Digital, That Is The Question!"

"35mm or Digital, That Is The Question!"

I was all about 35mm until 2008 when my Scoutmaster handed me his digital camera and said,

"Here take it on vacation with you!" I was not thrilled, one, about the responsibility of the camera in the sandy, salty environment of Florida, and two because I was leery about digital and so I balked many times, but eventually the Scoutmaster won and I took it.  

It's not that I didn't want to stop using 35mm it's just that I did not know what to want in or what to expect from a digital camera. Additionally the prints I'd seen of digital photos always made me cringe. I've been accused of being prissy about my expectations of prints, but always strongly felt that the end result of a shot is the actual print!  I knew what I saw before I raised my camera, always managed to get exactly that through the lens and so I especially wanted to see that on a print.

I took that camera to Florida with me. I used both my 35mm and the digital cameras equally for about three days. As I took the digital shots I put them all directly on the computer immediately so I could really see the photos up close. So far I was pretty pleased, but I knew I needed to see the shots developed into prints before I would feel more comfortable about giving myself over to it.  I selected about 40 shots and went to the local drugstore to the 1 hour development stand. I chose a few different print sizes so I could really see and waited. 

I kid you not, when I got those photos back I cried.  The digital photos were absolutely gorgeous and for the first time I was experiencing details I'd never seen from my own 35mm photography.  They almost looked professional!  The lady at the counter said that they were truly outstanding photos.

Needless to say for the duration of the trip the digital became my new camera of choice and the poor 35mm has sat in its case since then.  I took hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of photos and spent the rest of the trip learning only just a few of the capabilities of the camera, micro/macro and photos taken in quick succession being my favorite with all the flowers and flying wildlife, it was like a whole new world had opened up for me.

Not long after we returned home from Florida the digital went home to the Scoutmaster, but not before my hubby gave me a surprise early birthday gift, its twin.