Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Do you think it takes more water to build a digital camera than, say, that camera's lifetime worth of film processing and the water involved in that process? And the process of making the film camera you are using?

Is it more conservative to buy a digital camera or to shoot film over time?

Immediate thoughts:

- Accidental, unavoidable spills of chemicals at processing labs.
- Spills of the same degree while creating microchips and plastic.
- Pollution created by the plastic encasing your camera, both of them?
-

Ok. So I feel like the answer is obvious, possibly, that the digital camera will be more conservative over a period of time.

So the real question(s) I want to pose is/are:

How much water does it take to make/build one digital SLR and lenses?

How much water does/did it take to create your film camera and how much water does it take to process, develop, and print or scan?

How long is that period of time that will make a digital camera more water conservative? Is it within the plan of obsoletion all cameras have?

There are many more questions but we will work from here. Please respond/comment if you would like!

4 comments:

Michael Friberg said...

if you could get the same lifetime use out of a digital camera as you could a film camera but unfortunately a digital camera becomes obsolete in a matter of years where as an old hassy from the 60's is still perfectly fine. it has 1000% the lifespan. tricky questions you ask sir

Ian Aleksander Adams said...

obsolete is really a relative statement. I still like shooting with one mp first run consumer digital cameras. They make fine pictures. They're just different than consumer or pro cameras of today.

You can make a good picture with almost anything.

Using something until it doesn't work often gives you much more value than using something until something "better" exists.

Pete Halupka said...

it's for the sake of the argument, i feel.

Michael Friberg said...

yeah it was mostly for the sake of argument but as a semi working photographer I think there is sort of a standard of what is "obsolete" as far as digital cameras go. it is not 100 percent necessary to always have the latest and greatest camera but quality is important.