Digital VS Analog 

VS is the wrong choice of words

-  I took my first pictures in 1980 and was hooked.                                                                                                               -  In 1982 I saved my money for first camera a Minolta X700.

From then on I spent the next few years taking pictures for the photo club for the school paper for the year book for a local paper and most of all for me. My X700 was a true companion and teacher.

-  In 1998 I finally realized a dream and bought a Nikon F5.

The F5 was and still is a dream of a camera and in my opinion one of the best cameras ever made.

-  The F5 was then followed by a Mamiya 645 middle format camera. Although it is not a vaunted Hasselblad it was an excellent camera. With the 645 I first learned real studio photography and the value of taking ones time to plan a picture in every detail. (The film and development for the 645 forces one to think about what one is doing)

- In 2003 I bought my first digital camera a Nikon DX1. This camera was the digital pendant to the F5 and a dream in its own right.

This camera taught me the work with digital cameras and finally allowed me to take many many new pictures without constantly having to think of the costs of development. Finally I was able to take as many pictures

The DX1 was a true companion and accompanied me on many trips and took I am sure more than 20,000 pictures.

An anecdote from its long life. One day in the Alps it decided to go repelling without a rope and bounced ca 30 meters down a granite slope. 200 Euros later Nikon had it back to life. The Titanium body is worth its money.

- In 2010 my DX1 died and it was not worth repairing since modern mobile phones had better chips in them. So it was time for a new camera.

The choice was between the D3, the D700 and the D300.

At that time 6000€ just seemed a bit much for a hobby photographer and the D700 with its full sized chip would have meant buying some new lenses, so I went with the D300 combined with the battery pack giving me the feeling of the D3, D1, F5 with the advantages of the addition release and battery power.

The D300 has been a true companion on many trips and has taken its fair share of pictures.

So in the end I have fond memories of all of these great cameras and would not trade any of them.

These days I take mostly digital pictures due to the easy handling, low costs and excellent quality but I do also every so often pull out my old F5 and take some old fashion pictures.

Mark