trangaroo asked: So I noticed you switched from the XTi to the 5d, how's that changed your views on digital photography/the pictures you now digitally take? Because sometimes people say that the camera could make the artist, is the 5d really something else?
I initially used the Canon Rebel XTi because I’d run out of money to develop medium format film, and was in one of those “I MUST SHOOT NOW” periods.
(Full Disclosure: that period has yet to end)
I asked my buddy Sam if I could borrow his XTi, as he hadn’t used it for quite awhile.
That’s the whole reason. It was available.
Coming from medium format, the Rebel was…a challenge. It doesn’t handle light nearly as well as film, and it showed in my photos. But, not being able to capture light as well did help me focus more on composition, so I’m glad of it, in that respect.
And, despite my struggles with it, after several months, I was determined to make digital Work. So I went and bought myself a used 5D.
And, to answer your question (finally): it really is something else.
While still not medium format (which is a helluva standard to have to live up to, and I apologize to my 5D for judging it so harshly), it is a huge jump in quality from the XTi. Huge. Its ability to capture light is far more sophisticated, the images where I overexpose are vastly smoother when it comes to the gradation of light.
My views on digital photography? They were changed as soon as I started using the XTi. But it was the 5D that allowed me to take shots of the kind I’d been taking w/my Mamiya, blown out shots, shots that feature a lot of light. Couldn’t do that properly with the XTi.
Digital is the future. Good or bad, that’s the truth. Silly to exclude it from my kit, just because I’m sour film’s been supplanted in the general populace. And I am sour, make no mistake.
