Camera Gear

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Digital or Film?
I use digital and film for my photography–I have a foot in both camps. I’m quite comfortable with my Pentax K10D digital camera and I’m on intimate terms with Adobe Photoshop when it comes to “processing” the digital images on my laptop.

I’ve been using film a lot longer-in fact, something like ten times longer. My film photography reached a peak about ten years ago when I was entering international photographic salons. I got some prints accepted but never actually won any medals. That was before I realised how pointless, in my opinion, the whole salon/exhibition thing is. Ironically, the type of photographs I’m taking today are better suited to international salons but now I’m just not interested.

This is a roundabout way of saying that I appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of analogue and digital photography and use each depending on the subject and what I want to achieve.

For me, digital is preferable for travel photography, where you can confirm on the rear LCD screen that you’ve captured the shot in what may be a once-in-a-lifetime location, and for colour. The quality of the colour prints that emerge from good inkjet photoprinters is now higher than you can get at a traditional lab. I also use digital for black and white photography but still prefer an unglazed, glossy, fibre-based darkroom print to anything that comes out of a printer, although some of the new inkjet papers now resemble the fibre-based surface I like and the gap is closing. There just seems to be something entirely right about using film for black and white street photography and I’ll usually have a film camera with me-along with my K10D on trips to Paris.

In Paris-go with digital
Most photographers aren’t like me, however, and will choose one or the other. That being the case, I would always recommend that you go with digital. Aside from the LCD screen and colour flexibility advantages, memory cards are now so low in price that it doesn’t cost much to take a handful with you-and the savings in weight and space over the exposure equivalent in 35mm film is considerable.

The cost of digital single lens reflex cameras (DSLRs) is also coming down all the time and, if you’re serious about your photography, I’d recommend getting one. Smaller “point and shoot” and “pro-sumer” non-reflex cameras can do a great job and up to A4 print size can keep pace with DSLRs. They fall down in comparison in a couple of important areas, though.
They usually have smaller sensors (think of it as film size) than DSLRs. In the film world, all other things being equal, a bigger negative will produce higher quality than a smaller negative. In the sensor world, it’s much the same but not entirely for the same reasons. Smaller sensors are “noisier” at higher sensitivities such as 400 ISO and above than those found in the typical DSLR. This means that, to borrow from the film world again, they appear grainier than bigger sensors.

Responsiveness
At lower sensitivities and in bright conditions it isn’t really a problem but Paris looks great at night and DSLRs can still be shooting–handheld in some cases–long after the point and shoot has been put to bed. DSLRs are normally more responsive, too. There can be some “lag” with non-DSLRs after pressing the shutter release before the picture is taken. This will only be a fraction of a second but that’s time enough for someone or something to move out of shot or ruin your carefully-planned composition. With DSLRs, the picture is taken almost exactly as the shutter button is pressed.

Any of the DSLRs on the market will do a great job and they’re now approaching the price of the more expensive compacts. I chose the K10D for a few good reasons: it feels substantial without being too heavy, it has a range of small, high quality prime (i.e. non zoom) lenses which helps reduce the weight of my camera bag and anti-shake, which reduces the chance of blurred photographs at slower shutter speeds, is built into the camera body and not the lens. I can use my older – going back to the ‘60s – Pentax film lenses and still benefit from features such as anti-shake. These are important reasons for the type of photography I enjoy.

6MPs are fine
Nikon, Canon, Sony, etc, all have their adherents. In terms of image quality, all of the competitors to the K10D will produce more or less identical prints so don’t sweat over that too much. Try them all out and pick the one that feels best, fits your pocket and meets your needs. And don’t get too hung up on pixel count. A 6 mp DSLR is great for enlargements up to about A4 and that’s big enough for most people.

If you’re sticking with your non-DSLR camera–that’s OK. Most of the photos on this website were taken on my Minolta A2 prosumer model. They’re quite capable of producing fine quality results. I have a couple of Minolta photographs taken in the south of France that have been blown up to A3 size and are now hanging on my bedroom wall.

Lens choices
Unless you want to screw supplementary lenses onto the front of your compact’s lens, you’re stuck with what you have. In most cases, that’s just fine as these wee cameras often have quite good zoom ranges. I think a wideangle to long telephoto–the 35mm film equivalent of, say, 35mm-200mm–is preferable to a wider zoom of perhaps 28mm-105mm. Some of the grandeur of Paris cityscapes is diluted when they are “squeezed in” to a wider view. The main advantage of a wideangle lens in this case is in emphasising perspective–getting close to a subject and making it appear larger than it actually does in relation to its background.

A travelling outfit
DSLRs, with their interchangeability of lenses, open up new horizons both literally and metaphorically. My travel outfit now consists of my K10D with 16-45mm and 70-210mm zooms and 21mm, 50mm and 70mm prime lenses. The 16-45 is my “walkabout lens”, capable of handling most pictures that I might stumble across strolling along the boulevards of Paris. The tele zoom is great for portraits of people, for picking out interesting details in buildings or in the cityscape and for “compressing” perspective. This is the opposite of the wide angle effect talked about earlier. It’s also good for isolating subjects by throwing the background out of focus..

My 50mm f1.7 lens is for low light photography. With this lens and the K10D on 800 or 1600 ISO, I can shoot handheld in floodlit city streets. The 21mm is my favourite lens. It’s tiny and does a lot to reduce the visual impact of the camera when photographing people in the street. It’s also very light and I sometimes just take the camera with this lens and the almost equally diminutive 70mm in a pocket when travelling light.

If you’re thinking of buying a new camera or lens don’t become too obsessed with lens quality. Almost all the digital cameras and lenses on the market will deliver enough sharpness. And remember that a great photograph taken with an average lens is always better than an average photograph taken with a great lens! Memory, tripod, etc?

Film Cameras
Few 35mm film cameras are made now but Ebay is a source of some great bargains on the secondhand market. The classic SLR cameras, with a build quality to put all DSLRs to shame, are available for well under £100. These are cameras that cost £300 and more 25 years ago. A recent deal I was attracted to but managed to resist was a Minolta XD7–one of those £300 cameras– with its standard 50mm lens and a fast 35mm f1.8 lenses for £87. In the ‘80s, that combination would have cost more than £500! You couldn’t get that build quality nowadays for under £1,000.

Most, if not all, of these cameras will benefit greatly from a “CLA”–clean, lubrication and adjustment. In most cases, that basic service will have them running like new for many years to come. I would certainly advise against taking a recently-acquired camera on a trip to Paris in case it packs up.

Spare parts
One thing to watch out for, though, are those SLRs which have limited or no spare parts availability. If your local camera mechanic can’t cannibalise another broken model for that vital part, then your camera has just become a paperweight. A great, reliable and relatively cheap SLR outfit might comprise of a Pentax MX with 28mm, 50mm and 135mm lenses–an outfit that takes up little space, weighs not a lot but is capable of tackling just about anything you’ll come across in the city.

Copyright © 2008 Paris Travelogue

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