My Transition to Digital Pro

I've been doing this a long time. Photography, that is. Both as a job and as a personal art form.

The transition from being a film professional and hobbyist to doing all the same things in digital has taken me some time. Part of the reason is the sheer cost of some of the equipment. When shooting film was the norm, I could buy and sell used equipment at the drop of a hat. Being trained in camera and lens repair also helped, since I could basically buy low, fix and use, then sell high.

High end digital equipment, on the other hand,  is expensive, period. But, by being patient and frugal, I was able to piece together a set up that equals or surpasses almost everything I did in film.

Not a single brand new item in this rig. Used, demos, refurbished... saved me a lot of money. And yet, I get to shoot with heavy duty, super high resolution, and extremely versatile equipment. About the only thing that still doesn't match up is the large format view camera movements and the extreme depth of tonality in those films, but even at that, I can get pretty close with some of the newer image manipulation software programs.

Even the motion picture work I did (on film and video), training videos, local TV commercials, and an independent feature length film, I could now do on these same cameras.

In one bag, I can transport a rig covering fisheye and ultra wide angle to super telephoto and including macro and portrait. And it all doubles as a motion picture outfit. Of course, I still need other bags for the tripods, lights, reflectors, panoramic mounts, etc...

I still love film. And film is still needed for certain applications. But the high quality and versatility of digital has remade professional photography in this modern space age. I, for one, am loving it!