My perspective and experiences with digital photography
August 15, 2004

Over the past few years, the world has experienced yet another ‘digital’ revolution- this time, in the field of photography.  Many people have called ’photography’ a hobby at one time or another during their lives. Up to a few years ago, it included things like ‘film’, ‘developing’, and ‘printing’.  For some, it even included things like darkrooms, enlargers, various chemicals for processing prints, and more. With the arrival of digital photography technology, many (but not all) aspects of photography have changed .... most for the better as far as the average person is concerned. After making the initial investment, the freedom to shoot and experiment is extensive. No more film cost, no printing cost, and no scanning hassles.

For several years, I had been shooting my mountain bike races and whatever sports my kids were involved with (most prevalently, recreational soccer). In the Spring of 2002, a friend loaned me his Canon EOS D30 - a 3.1 megapixel digital SLR. The lenses from my Canon EOS Rebel film camera fit onto that body, and I got my first taste of digital photography. I went off the deep end with it, and that’s where I’m still at.  The progress of technology in the last 2 years has been amazing.  Canon just announced the 20D.  When it was first introduced, the D30 sold for close to $4000.  The 20D just announced by Canon is an 8.2 megapixel camera with many significant improvements, including the ability to shoot at 5 frames per second and to buffer bursts of up to 27 shots. And, it’s selling price is estimated to be $1499 (body only ... no lens), less than 1/2 of the cost of the D30 from 3 years ago. 3 years is at least 2 generations in today’s digital camera world.

As I got more and more into photography, the investment became significant.  I was shooting many pictures, and this brought about other expenses wear-and-tear on the equipment gave rise to repairs costs, damaged and lost components resulted in more expenses. In the Fall of 2003, I decided to test the waters of ecommerce and started selling prints online.

So, here we are today - lots of new experiences under the belt both on the photo and on the business front. On the photo front, I’ve shot football, marching band, basketball, wrestling, track and field, banquets, social events, dog competitions, wildlife (in our back yard, primarily), mountain bike races, formal concerts by the high school band, lacrosse, and even dabbled with formal portrait photography. My favorite is the action stuff, but all of it has yielded satisfaction in one form or another. Each presents it’s own challenges - whether it’s trying to capture high-speed action in low lighting, or trying to get the sharpest, clearest image possible for the highest quality prints.  Each sport has presented it’s own learning curve - understanding what’s going on to the point of being able to anticipate, set up for, and capture a specific shot. Some, I’ve grown comfortable with - others, I need more practice. But, they’re all fun to shoot.

Back to the technology thing ... there are three parts to this - the traditional lenses, the new-technology digital components, and method of display.  To shoot sports action in stadium- or gym-lighting conditions takes the best of lenses, and these are far from cheap.  An aperature of F2.8 is essential, and lens costs range from $1200 to $6000 or more (each). The investment in lenses would be the same, whether one were shooting digital or traditional film. The digital components include the camera body, the storage medium (flash cards, in my case), and some form of field-portable storage to dump the flash cards into when shooting for extended periods of time. Though the investment here is not as significant as the lens investment, each year, something better comes out - this has proven to be a continuous upgrade game so far. And, there’s still lots of room for improvement. The display method includes providing either (or both) online and printed copies of the photos.