TTL Goes Digital
Published by Ken Scott on 23rd July 2007, 10:55: Tag Equipment, Photography
Some will say “at last, he’s seen sense”; some will be gobsmacked; yes TTL has at last gone digital, or, should I say, I have bought a digital camera - the first new SLR camera and lens for 22 years!
First impressions of the Pentax K10D are very favourable, with fine quality results achieved in everyday shooting situations, and the camera’s features appearing to be useful.
The body is bigger and heavier than the old Pentax ME Super, but the zoom lenses are lighter so, overall, my kit-weight for an expedition might not increase. I have yet to test the battery performance in expedition conditions, and if the weather-sealing enables the camera to withstand the same abuse the ME Super has received then it will indeed be an advance.
My own jury is still out on the images, for quality is only as good as the electronic device they are viewed on. Comparisons with film are futile for that reason, and I suppose I still enjoy the satisfaction of holding the original image, the actual piece of film that went through the camera, and seeing quality in the absolute (within the limits of my own perceptions). Other conveniences will emerge, and creativity will no doubt be liberated, although I remain personally committed to representing landscape and light as I see it.
Something still tells me though that the concept of a D-SLR is misguided. Now that high-definition electronic viewfinders are possible, why do we need pentaprisms and mirrors? Why can we not fit a full-size 35mm sensor into a tiny camera? After all the shutter and film plane have been that size for decades. Why is there all this fuss about anti-shake devices to avoid dust on the sensor when someone could have invented a blind? It all reminds me of a tale (apocryphal?) about the Americans investing millions in a pen that could write in space in zero-gravity, whereas the Russians took a pencil!
