Allow me to politely disagree with some of this. A guy like Dennis
Reggie is definitely shooting "carriage trade" - and charging as much as
$35K to do it. And he is doing it with Canon digital, and was doing it
with Canon EOS film 35mm and Hassle lad - expensive, but we're not
talking equipment costing more than an SUV, nor are we talking 4x5s.
Yes, I'm sure there are some wedding photographer's shooting that way,
but I am also sure their results are no better, and in many cases not
nearly as good, as those of people using more "mundane" equipment.
Two, Reggie, who shoots the likes of the Kennedys, has stated on
numerous occasions that he can count on one hand the number of times
anyone ever ordered a print over 8x10.
We could go back and forth, over and over this...But..there is no need
to constantly upgrade computer hardware anymore..and upgrading has
gotten cheap. There is also no need to upgrade digital equipment once
you have reached the point where the equipment turns out the quality you
need for the work you're doing. And digital is definitely at that point.
Beyond that, how does the lab "tweek the curves to get the fucia dress
to look fucia" when it not only hasn't seen the fucia dress, it doesn't
even know that it IS a fucia dress; and it certainly doesn't know what
that fucia dress looked like under the particular mix of lighting
present in the church, the bride's mother's house, or the reception
site. The bride knows, and the photographer knows - but the lab doesn't
know.
Anyway, this is, as I have said, really all a matter of personal opinion
and preference. If one is convinced, for whatever reason, that they
should be shooting something - or everything - with film, then that is
precisely what they should be doing. We are talking about an art form
here - it may have commercial ends, but it is an art form. And it's up
to the artist to decide what tools and media to use. If he or she makes
the wrong choices, and is doing work for a customer/patron, there will
be hell to pay. And that's where the film hits the developer and the
electrons hit....
Best
B. D.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of AG Schnozz
Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2003 2:10 PM
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [OM] Albert's quest
Island Dan wrote:
>You'll find the Pro's that sell there Photo's blown up and sell for
>$600. $6000 still stick to FILM!
Yikes! I'm actually going to agree with Dan, here.
There are multiple levels of weddings. The "carriage trade" is
freqently done with cameras and lenses costing much more than your new
SUV. It isn't uncommon for these photographers to shoot a number of
pictures with 4x5.
Then you have the mid-level weddings. These are the ones where they are
spending $15-20,000 for the wedding. Expect about 100f the wedding
cost to be spent on photography. These photographers are starting to
blend in digital, but still shoot much of the wedding on medium format
film. Hey, it's not only a livlihood, but also a reputation to uphold.
The low-level weddings are the ones which have generally been shot on
35mm, anyway. Maybe some medium format, but if so, it's Mamiya 645
territory. Replacing 35mm with digital is very logical and is usually a
step up in quality.
Is digital cheeper than film for the average working portrait/wedding
pro? NO!
Why is that? Well, there is the equipment cost factor.
Depreciation, storage, editing (I NEED to keep upgrading computers and
software). This is an easy observation. Hey, the average
wedding/portrait photographer will use the same system for over 15
years. Those Hassys have been depreciated off the books for a zillion
years and still make the owners a lot of money.
The second factor which increases the costs is a major change in working
habits/styles. With film, we tend to let the labs take care of the
print making process. It's NOT MY JOB as the photographer to worry
about how to tweek the curves to get the fucia dress to look fucia. I
let the lab do that. My cost to get a high-quality print done by hand
is not that different than a digital to FCA print. Instead of five
seconds to write down the frame number on my order form, I'm spending
half-an-hour editing the stinkin image. "Time-per-job" increases
greatly whenever we internalize processes instead of out-sourcing.
What's our time worth? Back-office time has to be calculated into the
equation.
AG-Schnozz
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