Newfangled vs. Old-fashioned:
Technology in the photography world

By: Sarah King, SNN Reporter
Amalgamated Academy
Bay Roberts, NF

Kodak, Apple, Sony, Epson. All four of these well known photography companies have recently entered into the digital photography world. As Bruce Lane says, digital photography is the way of the future. Lane was the presenter of a session entitled "Digital Photography" at Stem~Net's annual Hook, Line, and Net conference in Clarenville. Lane focused on the advantages and disadvantages of digital photography versus 35 mm photography.

A digital camera has the capabilities to make even the worst photographer appear to be a pro. With photo manipulation software such as Photo Paint and Adobe software, you can crop, paint, sharpen and even change the lighting on all of your favorite digital photographs. You can zoom to a closeness of one inch with the zoom technology available to the digital world. To view the photographs, there is an immediate still photo left in the viewfinder/video screen on the camera. Lane recommends using a digital camera with students as young as grade 2. He says that the school, the parents, and most definitely the students can benefit from the experience that they are gaining by using these cameras as a learning tool. One of Lane's favorite uses for a digital camera is to create screen savers using an application called Screen Paver. Of course, there are also the most obvious reasons for choosing digital over 35 mm. It's cheap, it's fast and, it is accessible to almost anyone.

But, to every rule, there is an exception. In this case, the pros out-weigh the cons, but the cons exist none the less. A digital camera has a flash of only 8ft. compared to a 150 ft. flash on a regular camera, this increases the need to "really put the camera in someone's face". Also, to save pictures from the camera to a disk takes approximately 10 seconds. This means that you can't take pictures one right after the other. Also, pictures that are professionally developed compared to pictures that are printed on an ink-jet printer from a digital camera are much higher in quality.

As with all things you must choose the kind of camera that best suits your needs. Lane feels that digital cameras are the way of the future, but if you do not feel confident with the new technology, stick with your old 35 mm camera.