April 2007
Third Note: The Digital Camera. Disadvantages and Pitfalls
The replacement of the darkroom with the bright screen of the computer is more or less a given, but the same cannot be said for the replacement of the analog camera with the digital one. A professional photographer, whose images are simply published, has much to gain from the speed and convenience of a digital camera. Likewise, an amateur photographer, who mostly captures family moments and prints them in small sizes, also benefits from the quick and safe nature of digital photography. While the former may require an expensive reflex camera, for the latter, a compact model is more than sufficient. However, for the photographer who values the quality of their images, possibly printing them in large exhibition formats, and for whom the camera is a tool for artistic creation rather than just work, a digital camera still falls short compared to an analog one. On the other hand, a good, affordably priced film scanner combined with a quality negative can produce a file size and image quality that is still hard to match with today's digital cameras at a reasonable cost. Therefore, it might be wiser for the demanding photographer to wait for the prices of high-quality digital cameras to drop—or at least stabilize—and for their quality to improve to the level of analog cameras before giving up on the great cameras of the past. If, despite this, a photographer insists on using a digital camera, they should be aware of certain pitfalls unique to this medium. The first, as always, is the digital medium's tendency toward excess. The ease and lack of cost should encourage greater selectivity and restraint in taking shots. Where no limits exist, we must set our own. The second pitfall is composing through the screen. The viewfinder should always be preferred, as the screen distracts from reality and artificially pushes us toward the intended result. The third and most dangerous concern also involves the screen. A photographer must learn to resist the temptation to check their shot immediately after taking it. There must be at least a short gap between the real event and the evaluation of its transformation into a photographic moment. Moreover, the next shot should not simply be an attempt to correct the previous one. This approach erodes the essential elements of surprise and mystery that should accompany the photographer during shooting. It also restricts the necessary freedom of photographic judgment, which must remain independent of the suffocating presence of reality.