Digital cameras - freedom in photography. (Digital Cameras in general)

Member Name: slackjack

Product:	Digital Cameras in general
Date:	06/07/00 (453 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quick, photos are free. Fun!

Disadvantages: Still expensive, not a replacement for film.

A lot of the comments in this area seem to be against digital cameras - the problem a I see it though is that they seem to compare the digital camera directly with traditional film cameras. I don't think that there are in reality that many people buying digicams who expect them to completely replace the film camera. Certainly, if I wanted to take some pictures that were going to be important to me, I'd want to take them with my old Pentax SLR - and scan them in if I really wanted them on my computer. Most of the time though, I'm happy taking snaps with a digital camera. I'm not bothered that photographic paper is expensive and that you need a good printer for decent results. I don't want to print out the sort of photos I take digitally. I'm quite happy burning the ones I want onto a CD and browsing them with something like Paint Shop Pro when I want to look at them - in many ways, it's better then having boxes full of dusty photographs. The quality might not be quite so good, but with current technology it is far from poor, and of course, the image on your monitor is bigger then a photo.
What many of the people who bash digital cameras seem not to notice though, is that they're great fun. With film - even if you develop your own photos - you simply can't afford to go out and take pictures of everything you see. I can go out and take 200 photos a day if I like. Of course I won't want to keep them all, but then it hasn't cost me anything - and I'll be able to see the pictures as soon as I get home. A digital camera allows something I've always wanted - the freedom to enjoy taking photographs and not having to worry about it.

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