Of course you have to have some foolery; the day's goat was Simon posing as the Fat Controller. Now there are those who are less than charitable who might argue Simon could lose a pound or too. Not me.
I'd argue anybody who's prepared to lug a Billingham around packed with Mamiya bits and bobs in this day and age needs to be strong. And yes I know all the arguments about when you scan a 6×4.5 tranny it equates to over 400 megapixels or something.
Once again this debate started and it set me off down a new line of thinking.
We could go on and on about is 6×4.5 better than 12 megapixels, but there's a key difference the pure quality debate misses. Interestingly the same point came up in the last two talks I've given. Think on this...
When I go out on a day's shoot I carry 24Gb of flashcards. That's enough for roughly 1,200 exposures. And that's freedom.
Freedom? Yes, freedom to experiment in ways you never would have in the 'good old days of film'. Contrast the 1,200 exposures I now have with the five rolls of Sensia 100F and their 180 exposures I used to carry.
So what does this mean in practice?
Something like this... There's the train heading towards you. With film you think about the right spot in your mind, and when the subject gets to the spot you fire. Have you got all the smoke in? And all of the loco's shadow? And for the purists, are the 'rods down'? Chances of getting the framing perfect, better than 50%.
Now think digital. Same train approaches you. Just before it gets to the spot, you start to fire - and continue to do so at eight frames a second until it's passed. How many frames have you used? Eight, ten, ... Does it matter? Not one jot. Have you got all the smoke in, and the loco's shadow, and the rods down? I'd suggest in 90%+ of cases you have.
You can pretty much bet one of the sequence of frames will be perfect. And it hasn't cost you anything. I've never ever seen anybody do that with film in a camera.
What else? You're walking through a shed. The light is playing on bits of locos in interesting ways. There's a picture, but where?
Take one - look at the back of the camera - not quite right. Change the framing slightly - better but still not quite right. Move a bit - try again - still not quite right. Move a bit more - that's it. See what I mean? Would you have done that with film? I think not!
It's early in the morning and that lovely sun is low in the sky. You could be conventional and shoot with the sun, or be adventurous and shoot straight into it. What about flare? Check the back of the camera. What about the exposure? Check the histogram on the back of the camera. Need to bracket? Okay, we'll do third stop increments from +3 stops to minus 3 stops. A problem? Not at all.
And that's what I mean by freedom. I attempt things now I'd never ever have attempted with my beloved Sensia, because frankly it would have been just too expensive to do so. And the opportunity for an instant review on the back of the camera means you can try and try again until you get to what you want.
My photography has come on leaps and bounds since I've learned to enjoy the freedom and blast away. It's become almost a failure if I go home with empty flashcards - somehow I haven't been trying hard enough!
Check out the Great Central Railway album...
