Tony,
I think this is a very astute analysis with which I agree completely,
unfortunately. Mass market mentality not only seems to prevail; it appears
to be steadily advancing in all areas of life. Even life itself appears to
be becoming cheaper with every passing day despite all the alledged sanctity
of life that is proclaimed in societies - especially first world western
societies where the almighty dollar or national equivalent prevails.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
[mailto:owner-filmscanners@halftone.co.uk]On Behalf Of Tony Sleep
Sent: Saturday, February 24, 2001 10:30 AM
To: filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
Subject: Re: filmscanners: why bother professionally ??
On Thu, 22 Feb 2001 17:13:12 -0000 Dicky (corbettr@dircon.co.uk) wrote:
> Do remember that death is natures way of warning the body to slow
> down.....(:-)
My wife puts it differently, and more threateningly ;)
Still, whether we like it or not (and by and large I don't), pro photography
is
mutating rapidly as photographs themselves become just another commodity
with
global distribution. You have to find some niche which adds value and, for
many
people, that requires getting involved with digital. Which in turn feeds the
commoditisation process.
I think the reasons for all this, especially the take up of DIY scanning
rather
than factoring-out to bureaux, has little to do with technology, which needs
only to be adequate. The real motor of change is the ability of any
technology
to transfer power and control, and with it economic advantage, up the food
chain.
DIY CCD scanning is cheaper and faster - not necessarily for the
photographer
but for the client. Given a choice betweeen photographer A who scans at
home,
delivers next day and can be bullied into the lowest possible price, and
photographer B who has to wait 3 days and pay bureaux prices, A is usually
going to look like a better deal.
Same with digicams where relevant, where clients are anxious to gain the
cost
and time savings of no film, but not at all anxious to amortise the
photographer's investment.
Along with the advantages of the easy, lossless reproduceability of digital
has
come the biggest threat of all: clients demanding all rights forever,
usually
for no extra fee, in order to exploit the photographs (and the photographer)
more thoroughly.
Ultimate Quality, in photography, as well as in scanning, is a preoccupation
for a depressingly small portion of the market - everyone has bean-counters
on
their backs now.
All of which has vanishingly little to do with the inarguable technical
superiority of drum scanners over CCD. But so long as the latter are 10% of
the
price and do the job adequately (for clients), photographers have no choice.
If
they opt for the more expensive drums, they had better be sure their clients
will wear the extra costs else they'll have priced themselves out of the
game.
Regards
Tony Sleep
- Online portfolio & exhibit; + film scanner info
&
comparisons
