Ken Rockwell has returned to the dark side

[kshapero]

Excerpts:
Why Digital is Dying
Now that it's been less than a month since I discovered how easy it is to get great-quality digital files directly from professional transparency film at the same time its developed, some bigots have had a problem with how great film is.
Today I can drop my Velvia at NCPS, and a few hours later, all my film is processed, scanned at higher resolution than a digital camera, and ready to use. (NCPS does mail order, too.)
Bingo! I now can shoot film as fluidly as a digital camera. The big block between film and getting it scanned so we can do something useful with it has gone away. I have all the quality, artistic, economic and logistical advantages of film, and all the speed and flexibility of digital. Whoo whoo!
It the old days (the late 1990s), all we had was film, and klunky scanners that took at least ten minutes per image to scan images slide-by-slide. We had to work exclusively with film, and pick and choose the few images we wanted scanned to digital. This was a pain, and the scans were only of so-so quality unless we wanted to send them out for $50 drum scans on $100,000 PMT scanners.
Digital SLRs replaced film for newspapers in 1999, and became popular with hobbyists starting in 2003, all for their convenience in getting your pictures immediately, not for their image quality.
Today, 99% of amateurs use DSLRs. This is because DSLRs have been the fastest and most convenient way to get digital files of moderate quality, and the immediate LCD feedback helps newcomers to the hobby see what they are doing as they do it.
DSLRs are all fine and dandy if you don't mind blowing a few grand every other year just to stay current, but DSLRs cost more in other ways. Every time a bigot sends me hate mail about how expensive film is, I also have to point out that I blew $6,000 on my desktop Mac and 30" monitor in 2006 just to look at my digital files (and do this website). With film, no computer is required, and with film, you don't shoot all the thousands of deleted rejects people do so blindly with digital cameras.
I've spent thousands of dollars more on digital gear than I've ever spent on film and film cameras.



The man is unpredictable.

[Sam N]

I'm convinced he has no real points of view. He is a big prank on the photo community. I have to admit it's pretty funny at times.

If it weren't Ken, I'd say something along the lines of: "he talks about scanning film to digital being so easy and great now, and then turns around and says that you don't need an expensive computer for film".

Since it IS Ken, I'm just going to take what he says as entertainment and not devote any time or energy to thinking about it. It would be like trying to interpret a poem randomly generated by a computer.

[Tuolumne]

The guy certainly believes that consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

/T

[RicardoD]

I tried NCPS scanning on some 120 provia a few weeks ago at "normal" resolution and I was not impressed with service in terms of overall color accuracy. Perhaps its different for 35mm or they pay more attention if you pay for the "high res" premium service that Ken advocates.

And his comment that his doesn't need a computer for film contradicts his opening paragraph about using film and then scanning. What device does he plan to view his scans with?

I like his website, his almost daily updates, but you really have to take a lot of what he says with a grain of salt.

[stuken]

Originally Posted by Sam N

If it weren't Ken, I'd say something along the linkes of: "he talks about scanning film to digital being so easy and great now, and then turns around and says that you don't need an expensive computer for film".

You dont. He's' taking about getting scans from a lab. And even the cheapest computer can run any editing program you want to use nowadays.

[aizan]

don't you still need a computer to "do something useful with it [digital files]"?

i'll be impressed when he gets a darkroom set up!

[MichaelW]

In many ways he is a complete tosser & yet often he writes things that make perfect sense. His photos are dreadful but he quite happily puts them up as evidence of his expertise. It seems that most of his high profile on the 'net has come from his waffling on as an expert on what digital camera to buy but now he is heavily promoting the benefits of film photography.

Personally I'm happy to see someone 'high profile' going against the current orthodoxy that digital photography is the be all and end all. He recently had an article about the Contax G2 that made perfect sense. Whatever, he's not half as much a waste of time as the pontificator at ludicrous landscape.

[shimo-kitasnap]

I find his stuff easier to read than the stuff of "ludicrous landscape." For a while it seemed like he was pro digital and then changed back to pro film and I think he's back again.

He did help me do one thing besides waste my life away reading about cameras on the internet; he convinced me to ditch film. From a time and money standpoint it made perfect sense.

I'm a happier photog now.

[shimo-kitasnap]

I just realized he's into cars, very expensive ones. Mentions his wife drives a Porsche SUV that he can't afford.......I wonder if he's the stay at home dad?

[Nh3]

I guess he was reading my threads. lol

[itf]

The big block between film and getting it scanned so we can do something useful with it has gone away.

Who is this guy? To do anything useful with film you need to scan it!?

[Photon42]

Ken Rockwell would easily sell refrigerators to Eskimos, I believe. He's just not the guy trying to present all the pros and cons. This does not mean of course the rationale behind his articles is wrong. It's just what he's at in that particular moment rather than the full story. I still find him entertaining to read from time to time.

[tom.w.bn]

You can't take someone serious who writes such an inconsistent garbage.

[teo]

Originally Posted by shimo-kitasnap

Mentions his wife drives a Porsche SUV that he can't afford.......I wonder if he's the stay at home dad?

Somewhere on his site he writes that he attended at some school for conslutants.. or something... So he should live shooting real estates and babbling something... or similar...
Lucky one...

[Fred Burton]

Maybe Fuji is paying him to pimp film this month.

[kevin m]

The guy certainly believes that consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

I think the saying is that "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." Maybe Ken's more a Walt Whitman fan: Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself!

I like Rockwell; even if he's too chatty, his site is still full of useful info and his enthusiasm for whatever catches his interest that day is infectious. But does he think getting your film scanned when it's developed is some sort of new invention? Haven't most of us been doing that for years now?

[sepiareverb]

What's the big deal? Nothing wrong with his argument to my mind. How many here shoot film and scan it? Seems like a normal working method nowadays, and if a lab is offering top level scans quickly and one prefers working with film for the look, ease of editing or for storage reasons this seems like an ideal solution for doing commercial work on film again.

[teo]

I think the point here is that he's always said things like "the old days of film", "tripods are for wimps who shoots film", "a D40 is everything I need", etc (except for LF, about that he's always said is superior) and suddenly it seems he's discovering film for the first time...

(nothing against him however, he's often points, a bit too entusiast for me... Always better than the legions of dorks in DPreview forums... ;-))

[Rayt]

What's wrong with flip flopping? It isn't like he is running for office.

[Gid]

I like Ken Rockwell. There's some good stuff on his site and it can be very entertaining. However, the economic argument just doesn't stack up (at least for me). Here in the UK, Peak Imaging (who I have used a lot) charge just under £30 for a roll of 135 slide scans suitable for a 12x8 print. You need to add postage and the cost of the film on top of that, which brings the cost to around £36 ($48 at current rates). My 5D does better and if I shot a roll a week it would pay for itself in approx 34 weeks.

[carpediem007]

Originally Posted by Rayt

What's wrong with flip flopping?

Don't we all now and then?

I'm happy about any "well known & respected?" member of the photographic community advocating film use...

Some beginning photographers might even start using film because of him and that only betters my chances of being able to use film for years to come...

Also, at last months Photokina for example, David Mecey (of Playboy "fame") talked about one of his new books and showed some very large (and VERY beautiful) prints (like 1x2 meters) from MF B/W contact sheets(!) he'd done lately. You should have seen the look on the faces of some of my "digital only" friends

I'm not saying "one is better than the other" (I use both); it's just nice to have the choice... Ken helps me have that choice... Thanks Ken...

Cheers,
Michael

[funkaoshi]

As others have said, Rockwell has a habit of talking out of his ass a lot of the time. I'm still not entirely sure why he has the sway that he does.

[kevin m]

As others have said, Rockwell has a habit of talking out of his ass a lot of the time.

He'd fit right in here, then, wouldn't he?

I'm still not entirely sure why he has the sway that he does.

Because he's more entertaining and informative than most posts here, and it's easy enough to tell when he's full of it.

[literiter]

Yeah, I don't see what the problem is. The only time I'm inclined to go to his site is when someone quotes him on this site. He at least provides a little fodder for discussion.

When he says "DSLRs are fine and dandy if you don't mind blowing a few grand every other year just to stay current" really rings a bell for me. As well; "No digital display can match the brightness and vividness of a transparency on a light table." Then; "No friggin shooting delays" and "No batteries or battery chargers."
The are just some of the reasons I'm not really passionate about Digital myself, and why I'd rather wait before committing myself to digital photography.

[NickTrop]

Flip-flopper here. Film most of life with my cheap Cosina SLR and a Vivitar 50/1.7... Digital convert after SLR jammed... thought something lacking with digital files (a point-n-shoot, mind you), lacked bokeh, shutter lag, washed out and delay with LCDs, ability to shoot above 200, eye always on the battery indicator (how many times did I want to grab my camera after not using it for a while to discover it was almost dead, along with the spare), and only 4 aperture settings...

... decided to by a MF camera instead of a DSLR to "learn photography". Saw how beautiful film is, esp. MF. Then acquired several FLRFs, fixed my SLR (by giving it a good thwak on the back, 'click' - read that solution on the web - worked...)

Never looked back...

Ken is rediscovering film. So did I. It takes the best images. Cameras are funner to use, cheaper, last longer...

Nothing wrong with that.
|