Hi,

Does anyone have a free alternative to photoshop which is good and simple to use?

I seem to remember one called GIMP? which got very good reviews..does anyone use it?

cheers Steve.

Hi,

Is the older Pentax 17-28 showing it's age now compared to the newer Pentax zooms, or is it still well worth using and buying?

cheers Steve.

Hi,

George..clearly he will not take any. Film cameras were not invented to be used to take photos with, anybody knows that! it is a a paperweight.

cheers Steve.

Hi,

Woaw...spirit of will...dangerous talk....and a plausible theory.

I was thinking this thread should be locked before George blows a gasket.

Of course my (film) SLR's are looking a little brassy now due to the fondling...

cheers Steve.

Hiya,

Yep I did, I said it...but George just drew a totally false and unsupportable conclusion that did not fit the facts.

The facts point to exactly the opposite conclusion to the one that George came to.

He suggested that the majority of the AP readers are film users, which as I pointed out, is not anywhere near the truth.

If AP did have a mainly film readership it would not last out the month...likewise the AP website.

I have read every AP for the last 5-6 years and visit the AP website most weeks, clearly George does neither. AP and its website probably has about 70-80% digital coverage and this same ratio of digital photos submitted in its pages. So clearly then George is quite right, it must be read by a majority of film users...

cheers Steve.

Hiya,

George..re:

"Frankly, I think they were mad to publish this survey. It demonstrates that they have very few digi-users, and are therefore of little interest to the majority of potential advertisers"

Pentax disagree with you..they advertise their DSLR's in AP. Nikon disagree with you, they advertise their DSLR's in AP...Panasonic, Leica, et al, Canon, all advertise their digital cameras in AP..why are they taking out full page ad's when there are, as you have told us, no digi users reading AP?

cheers Steve.

Hiya,

"The only conclusion you can confidentally draw from this survey is that AP is read mainly by film users. I bet if you look at their audited circulation figures for the last few years you will find that circulation is declining. And if circulation isn't declining, then market share certainly is."

NOPE! it just aint so.

The majority of the AP photo competition entries are digital.

The vast majority of users on the AP website forums are also digital. I used the AP forum for over two years and the overwhelming majority of the people on there are digi users.

Take a look at the AP web forums..they are littered with questions from DSLR users...and this is where the poll was posted, on the same website.

Most questions in AP refer to digi and AP is very much NOT a film only magazine, it is aimed squarley at both camps. The vast majority of its tests are of digi based gear...clearly, since there is hardly any film gear left.

Sorry George, but just because a poll goes the way you would not like it to, drawing conclusions that go compleley against all the evidence does not change anything.

cheers Steve.

Hiya,

Matt..

"You should be able to get top notch quality from either film or digital - they are just different"

TOTALLY TOTALLY agree with this. They most certainly are quite different. What is interesting is how much different thet can be depending on who's doing the post processing of the digital. But I did think it quite interesting that putting aside all the possible variables of who is doing the printing etc, that as many as 63% of the 'voters' still had the perception that film had the edge. So even many digital users must have thought film had the edge also..

cheers Steve.

Hiya Matt,

I think you may be generalising a bit...let me explain why I think this..

"When people use film, they concentrate on the taking of the shot. The developing, the processing, and the printing is usually done by a lab (who generally know what they're doing)"

I would think this above applies mainly to 'snappers' rather than serious film workers. I am a member of a local camera club and I think I am right in saying that just about all the members, both digital and film produce their own prints. I would suggest that most of the people who would reply to an AP poll via the AP wesite would certainly be serious enthusiasts, so it would I think be fair to asume that actually a fair proportion of them actually do produce their own prints still, certainly the black & white workers would.

Also bear in mind that probably all the people who scan film will be producing their own prints at home.

I would assume the poll was responded to be serious amateurs & semi-pros and it was interesting that such a majority still thought film superior.

cheers Steve.

Hiya,

Amateur photographer ran a poll through their website and asked:

"what gives the best quality results?"

A: Film ...............49%
B: Digital.............37%
C: Scanned Film...14%

In other words, 63% thought film as the original source was best for the ultimate quality...so I guess it aint quite dead yet.

cheers Steve.