Re: [photo-3d] No it won't

[Peter Davis <pd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 01:11 AM 09/08/2000, you wrote:
> >
> > Not to keep beating a dead horse here, but... all things being equal, a CD
> > will sound
> > better than an LP.
>
>Oh, the dead horse can take it I guess.  The reason this issue is relevant
>is that it brings up an important point.  When you convert something analog
>to something digital, whether it's an image or a sound, you are changing it
>significantly.  Sure, the CD won't have as much noise as the LP and you'll
>get pretty nice playback in a $70 portable disk player,  (is that what "all
>things being equal refers to?)  but the fact is you're listening to a sound
>that has been put through a brick wall filter, converted to numbers and then
>converted back.  There is a reason why classical music fans haven't thrown
>out their turntables.  They're not all crazy.  In the coming years we'll be
>asked to embrace "perfect" digital imaging technology.  I'm the Fuji 370's
>biggest fan, but I'll be using slide film in an old fashioned SLR for a long
>time to come.  Jim Harp

I think there's a pretty good argument for the case that CD audio is of 
only mediocre quality (16 bit samples, 44.1KHz sampling rate) because it 
was aimed only at the average consumer, and not at the high-end 
audiophile.  Probably Sony and other developers of the standard figured 
rightly that audiophiles would cling to their analog equipment anyway, so 
there was no point in trying to satisfy their more demanding needs.  In 
other words, the reason CDs are mediocre is because the market accepted that.

Now the same thing is happening with digital photography.  Millions of 
snapshot takers are rushing out to buy the $400 and $500 consumer-grade 
cameras, while real "photo-philes" are clinging to their film-based 
equipment.  The difference is that there's no "digital photo" standard the 
way their was for CDs.  Manufacturers are still free to come up with 
higher-quality capture and record technologies.  This is happening, and 
there is high-end digital equipment for the more demanding users.

Still, there's no reason to believe we won't see the same phenomenon happen 
again.  High-end photo-philes will shun all the digital gear, so the market 
for anything but consumer grade stuff will remain small.  Film will become 
more and more of a specialty item, and film processing will become 
extremely uncommon and expensive.  You'll still be able to use film, but it 
will be much more expensive and much more difficult.

I don't know how quickly this will happen, but it *will* happen.  I'm 
guessing no more than 5 to 10 years.

-pd


--------
                                 Peter Davis
                  Funny stuff at http://www.pfdstudio.com
                  "The artwork formerly shown as prints."