I was thinking about why I have no problem giving up hardware and technologies, surrendering them to the sands of time without sentimentality. I had all kinds of computers before and I don’t care for them one bit. The same goes for cameras, lenses, film processes and emulsions. But they helped me make my favourite work. Why is it that I can give them up so easily?
I did give it some thought, and I came up with a very simple answer. I care for capability. If new technology can give me the same or better capability, I’m fine. Let’s take 35mm photography for example. Initially I shot negative film, then mostly slides, then Canon 5d digital, then Sony A7II digital, and currently Sony A7RV and A7CR digital. As you can see, what I’m preserving is the 35mm format. That’s the capability. I also want colours, dynamic range and resolution. That part is either staying the same or improving over generations of hardware. Every following generation of technology includes and exceeds the capability of the previous ones.
The colours of now.
Yes, film looked great when it was in its prime. Digital looks at least as good, if not better. You just need to know what you’re doing. Digital has greater resolution, less noise, and greater dynamic range, especially in the shadows. One of the greatest advantages of digital is in the deep tones with low light, and that’s something I do a lot.
So, the reason why I let go of film without hesitation when digital became good enough is because digital included and exceeded the capabilities of film to do what I wanted it to do. There’s no nostalgia because I don’t feel I lost capability. Whenever I felt I missed the aesthetics of a certain lens I used to own, I just bought it cheaply on ebay; I can mount it on the new camera via adapter and get the same look. There are, however, digital cameras and lenses I used to own, that produced great image quality, but I don’t feel the need to own them now; the Olympus four thirds system, for instance, or Sony R1. Why? Because I own parallel gear from Sony that makes the image with the same look. Zuiko Digital 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5, for instance, makes images that look almost identical to what my Sony FE 24-105mm f/4 G makes. The modern Sony sensors produce magnificent colours. Getting older gear that would produce an inferior version of the same image style would merely waste money and increase clutter.
You can’t replace people. They are actually unique, and if someone was lost to you nostalgia is justified. Also, if technological capability was lost forever and you can’t get it again with modern gear, the feeling of loss and nostalgia are justified. But with computers and cameras? I certainly don’t miss computers being big, loud, slow and shit. I don’t miss the 1024×768 resolution, and I don’t miss having to burn CDs for video because hard drives were small. I don’t miss connecting to the BBS with a 14400 modem. I’m glad stuff got better. I don’t miss the car in which I had to hand-crank the windows down and manually lock all four doors, and I certainly don’t miss it having 54hp. Did I do important things with it? Yes. Was I very glad I had it at the time? Yes. But all my cars since have been better. I never lost capability. Even the fuel consumption, which was the strong side of my first car – 6.5 litres of diesel per 100 km – is exceeded by my current car; 6.2l of diesel per 100km. The new car, however, actually has an engine, and it has dual zone climate control, satnav, electric windows and door locks and so on. It’s also much safer. Literally zero capability was lost, therefore zero nostalgia. But if technology degraded and I could no longer get the capability I once had, that would be a shame and I would feel that.