Tír Na HiFi

One from a recent trip to Mullaghmeen forest in Co. Westmeath. Its a beautiful beech forest, over 1000acres, and well worth a visit if you're ever up that way.


brothers leaning over.jpg by francis morrin, on Flickr

Is that one with a panoramic camera or just "letterbox" cropped Fran?

5x4 cropped to letterbox......

I have back issues of 'Photo Plus' and 'Digital Photo' magazines going back a number of years,
They are available free to anyone interested.
They consist mainly of reviews and tutorials.

Whilst I very much enjoy Film based photography, particularly MF... I am finding myself getting more and more curious with digital cameras. My current digital line up consists of a Iphone 4s and a Canon Ixus 8mp which is about 5 years old or more. So as you have probably guessed.... I am not really into digital!!!

Over the last 10 years.... Digital has decimated Film sales.... however not content with this... Digital now seems to be at war with itself.

One of the reasons why I have held off on Digital... is that no sooner having committed to one camera body... it is replaced by a newer model 4 months later, this constant change / reiteration has put me off a bit. In one respect it kind of made photography a bit repulsive to me... I am used to buying a good quality Film SLR body which last for 20 years or more. Paying 1000 euro for a body which is then considered out of date in 12 months does not really appeal to me. I'm not in that league where I can keep up with the Jons'es every 12 months.

However other features of digital, particularly its easy of use, low cost / photo, geograpahical location mapping of a shot, wi fi transfer etc I find very appealing.

Now..... I am amazed at how all the main camera brands are offering special deals / offers. One example being Fuji Film.... X100 camera.... released around 4 years ago... is now on its 3rd iteration... X100S... and now X100T. X PRO 1 camera body.... a rangefinder SLR.... around 1200 when it came out... now down to 999 with two free XF lenses... and again..... Camera Centre on Grafton street has it down to 949 including two lenses..... and Dixons in Dublin Airport have it for 800e with two free lenses. My eyes are popping out of my skull at this stage!!!!

Not content with this... various makers .i.e. Fuji, Nikon, Canon etc etc... all seem to be offering cash deals of various amounts from 125 euro off if you buy between October 2014 and January 2015, and trade in deals on older DSLR's.... other deals offering increasing amounts of cash back the more lenses you buy.

Whilst my knowledge of the Digital world / market is very limited..... I am curious to know what the opinions of the other members of this forum are on here with regard to the digital market place? How do you see it now? Where do you see it going? Are all these deals, cash back offers, sustainable for camera companies?

Why is this occurring? Is it due to the cameras on mobile smart phones getting better? Or is the market for Digital SLR collapsing? Any ideas anybody?

Is digital in crisis.... coz if it isn't... why are there so many deals / offers / cash backs which seem to be getting more attractive each year?

I personally think that all of the above will continue Adrian because all of these companies are fighting for that all important market share. In today's world I do not think that many people are interested in cameras any more. Why would they be when one can have a very good camera built into a phone? Not content with that you can now have your photo editing suite on you phone. Then, when you are happy with your image you can then immediately upload to your favoured social media site - all in no time and at the touch of a few screens.

I think, as a more discerning photographer, if one wants to make the final leap into the digital world with all of the lenses etc. then one simply has to do one's research and commit to what you think is the best system for you. Things will constantly change of course but I believe that one simply has to take the possibilities into consideration when choosing one's system and just go for it.

When I was in the world of analogue photography I was a totally committed Olympus user but when I eventually changed over I went with Canon because it simply appealed to me more in many ways.

A lot of the marketing that you mention above can be superflous anyway. Decide waht you want/need in a body [range of apertures, shutter speeds etc. - do you really need 1/8000th of a second and 35 different modes?] and put your money into the lenses which is what really matters anyway. I am a firm believer in control in photography; keep the body simple but the lenses excellent!

I agree Fergus, however when I observe numerous camera makers offering cash backs, free lenses with a new body, etc etc etc.... two things cross my mind.

1) Camera makers must be doing very very well if they can afford to offer these deals.

or

2) Camera makers must be in crisis.... and are offering knock down deals to entice new customers in or get existing customers to buy more gear.

Coincidently I was just on www.rangefinderforum.com today.... and lo and behold there was a discussion started 3 weeks ago about this very topic.

Various views were offered, but unfortunately by page 9 the thread got a bit derailed into digital vrs film..... (such is the nature of humans I suppose).

Nevertheless the points raised by the members prove my suspicions to be the second point above..... camera makers are in crisis... both in Digital and Film.

It would appear that those camera makers which have also diversified into other areas.... and as such the camera + lenses manufacturer only make up a small part of the entire companies profits will be able to survive.

I'm not so sure the digital market is in crisis Adrian but it sure is a very crowded space with Canon and Nikon both dominating the market. The amount of camera bodies on offer can be overwhelming and Nikon in particular is starting to push full frame DSLR's from the professional space down into the amatuer or enthusiasts space. A full frame DSLR can be had for as low as 1800 euro now.

I got back into photography some months back after being out of it for a few years. I went with Nikon as I just prefered the feel of it in my hands plus the versatility of DSLRs won me over. But whatever DSLR you go for (Nikon or Canon) they'll do the job just fine. Actually I got to use a friends Sony A7R camera very recently. A very small compact DSLR, huge sensor and some of the very best dynamic range I've seen in photos.

As Fergus said above, invest in good glass. They'll last you many many years if you look after them properly. I picked up some great professional lenses recently. Big and a bit heavy but they are super fast to focus and with a wide fixed aperture throughout the zoom range they are hard to beat and great in low light conditions. I'm sure you have a few primes also.

For digital, dont underestimate what can be done post processing in the likes of Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop. The purist might balk at this but all pros are doing it these days. You'd be amazed how retouching a photo can bring it to a whole new level and I'm not talking about making edits or deleting things. I mean just changing exposure, white balance, sharpening etc. Shoot in RAW and you'll have all these post processing option available.

Hi Dave,

You might be interested in this thread on RFF.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/ ... p?t=145358

From a trek yesterday at Glendalough


Falls at Glendalough by francis morrin, on Flickr