Musings in Search of a Muse

During my last visit to the doctor he told me "Now you are getting to the age ..." and suggested a few things that make most men cringe. Not that anything is wrong. The only physical changes I've noticed in the last decade are a decreased metabolism, hair choosing new places to grow, skin texture changing, and a few memory problems. Most of these can actually be explained by the lack of good health from my total abhorrence of exercise and proper diet.

But Nikon's recent departure from the film camera made me feel old. Now Konica-Minolta is following suit and going further by ceasing production of film and processing labs.

Japan's Konica Minolta Holdings Inc. (4902.T) said on Thursday it would withdraw from the camera and color film businesses, marking the end to one of the best known brands in the photography world.

As part of the surprise move, Konica Minolta said it would sell a portion of its digital single lens reflex (SLR) camera assets to Sony Corp. (6758.T) for an undisclosed sum and cease production of compact cameras by March.

The company said it would stop making photographic film and color paper by March 2007, pulling out of a market shrinking more than 20 percent a year due to the spread of digital cameras, which don't use film to store images (Yahoo! News).

It seems like just the other day all the guys at the camera shop were wishing each other a "Merry Christmas and Happy Konica" as we did every year during the annual crass commercialization of the Messiah's birth. And us Canon users would regularly band together to pick on the one Minolta guy while we all secretly envied the cache of Nikon. Hard to think that's been about over for about a decade now.

Jimminy Crickets! I miss the old days of photography. Rock-solid Canon F-1 bodies that could be used to pound nails into boards, the elegant and nearly flawless Nikon FE, and drooling over esoteric cameras specially engineered to do things that only Sci-Fi authors could imagine that electronic cameras would one day do at the touch of a button. Each shutterbug had their own specialized formula list for matching films with conditions, filters, and the print paper to eventually be used. Any shooter worth their silver halides knew when to trust the Zone system, Sunny 16, or dumb luck over any instrument reading. Just holding a camera was a thrill because it was a partnership between man and machine.

When auto-focus first hit from Olympus and Pentax I could feel the change start. Multi-pattern meters were quickly outstripping all but the most experienced eye in quality. More plastics were used in everything so only high-end products retained the old-school feel. Program modes promised professional results without thinking -- and truth be told, the Action program and the Portrait program were really the same settings but the public couldn't be trusted to remember that. Zoom lenses boomed such that companies were offering choices like 80mm-200mm or 70mm-210mm when the actual bench mark measurements could be off by as much as 10mm either way. But it was possible so they did it!

And now we have digital because it is possible. But it feels as if we have lost the heart and soul of photography. Now that "anybody" can do it relatively well without knowledge or effort have we gained anything? The world's best images are more than pixels or even grains of silver in film. They are composed of creative needs, conscious choices, mastery of skills, timing, awareness of the situation, and above all, passion. Something made the shooter press the button. A good photographer will be able to tell you what and know all the elements that must come together for the shot to work. Quality images are not easy. I fear the digital age despoils our photographic heritage as much as the technology enables the past to be better preserved and the future to grow. You can give a man a picture and he'll be amused for a day. Teach a man to be a photographer and he'll be creative for generations.