Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Jack Dykinga Goes Digital

I was surprised to read from this month's Outdoor Photographer that Jack Dykinga, a famous landscape photographer who firmly declared no need to switch from his large format 4x5 view camera to digital just 2 years ago, is now using a Nikon D3 and D3X. Hmmm, if even a master of a 4x5 view camera is now switching to digital, the last bastion has fallen, the era of traditional film camera has truly come to an end.
True, there are still a few landscape photographers left. Joe Cornish is still using his 4x5 Ebony, but he's already going dual systems. It seems, its just a matter of time.
Never a film photographer, I don't feel nostalgic, but I still find most of the landscape photos shot by digital cameras lack the deep and rich color of Fuji Velvia. The color purple never feels right; indigo always becomes blue. The mystery in the color blue seems to be gone. OK, maybe I am "color shifted" by Velvia. Maybe that's what they are supposed to look like. But, just like the colors in the oil painting, will "Girl with a Pearl Earring" look the same if Vermeer was using colors directly from tin tubes?

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