The problem with DSLRs

[tijean]

You have your camera. Now how do you do anything else?


This question is actually half serious. Let's take today for example:


The last two of my three morning classes were cancelled and I did not have to be at work until 1pm, so I took off down some back roads and filled a 512MB card with around 164 images. I spent the better part of 2.5 hours doing this and did not have time to pick up lunch on the way in to work. It's okay, I found a granola bar and bottles of water in the truck.

So I get to work and I can't concentrate. I have dpreview up before Outlook is open. I spend the next 3 hours obsessing over what I have to that SD card. So I look out the window and the sky has cleared (it was getting uniformly overcast when I came in) to a stunning blue.

I leave at 5 and have an hour of sun. 10 minutes out of town and I can start shooting. The problem is that I have to drive across town to pick up my paycheck. I am seriously considering skipping that stop, heading out, and collecting on Monday.

So you see, my new toy has become a bit of a problem. I'm wondering if this is common or I am just especially obsessive.

Oh, and I should probably mention that I am already trying to figure out how I will get my homework done for class tomorrow morning when I have 164 images to play with. I'm also wondering if the grocery shopping can wait until Sunday, dispite the fact that my fridge is occupied solely by misc odd beer has been left over from various vintages of 6 packs that nobody's ever goint to drink and outdated Mexican condaments.

Going out was not even considered.

[Chunk]

It's OK. You can survie on just 2 of the 4 food groups until Sunday. Then take the camera along to the grocery store - there are plenty of potential photos there. You should be able to take enough so that you won't have to worry about classes or work next week. HTH ;)

[Paul.S.]

Well lets start with the fact that originaly my wonderfull girl though she hated my pre-occupation with the automotive side of things, shes now torn between the camera and the car.

I've been late to work, meetings, dinners, dates, movies, birthdays and so on thanks to having the D70 safely tucked in the back of the car. 1 hour trips across town have turned, for my passangers at least, into 3 hour tours of stopping to take pics at every corner. I am convinced I will be late for my own wedding one day thanks to a case of.. OH OH OH STOP THE CAR I see a shot. Not to mention a 160GB hard drive that is filling up faster then I can burn them to CD for safe keeping. And if you do the math my 7000+ shutter executions in the past year works out to .. actualy don't do the math it depressing. I thought the charm would wear off but.. alas.. not the case..

But on a serious note I have two big time complaints about digital cameras. First, when you are photographing anyone less then a professional model you get to experience the "Oh DIGITIAL, Let me see" factor. When what ever moment you were capturing turns into people swarming around you to see the latest batch and effectively killing the whole process.

And, the dreaded dirty CCD Being a clean freak and always checking my glass and sorfaces for dust nothing can drive you up a wall more then shooting a beautifull blue sky and noticing that annoying blurred circle of dirt sitting somewhere on your CCD

[Lionheart]

Actually I had this problem before digital ;) If anything, I've actually been less driven about photography since I went digital. Maybe it's the magic of those little jewels of light as I stretched my freshly developed rolls of Provia and Velvia across the light box and started cutting and editing the keepers from the flotsam in the sea of my creative or not so creative vision Now I shoot more images per outing but have less passion to make time for my hobby.
On the plus side, photography's easier because I'm less encumbered without the extra ten rolls of slide film. Digital has definitely made photography more convenient, if less exciting for me.

[mdmc]

tijean, Ive had my dslr for 0.9549 weeks now, and I've been leaving it at home. I've wanted to kick myself so many times now. Maybe it's been the right thing to do. About ten times a day i'm thinking i should have put my camera in the car.
Chunk, if I took my camera to the grocery store I could photograph a thick juicy steak to look at while I ate my ham sandwhich. With horseradish of course!

[mdmc]

Wasen't finnished w/my post.
Paul S, So thats what it is, A dirty sensor. I bought mine used and thought it might have some bad pixels. I hope not! So how do you clean the sensor.

Lionhart, shoot some film once in a while so you can wonder why in the world you did that
Mark.

[opus]

And forget sleep. I've been known to stay up til 5 in the morning just gazing at the results of the previous day's shoot.

[almo]

Oh, and I should probably mention that I am already trying to figure out how I will get my homework done for class tomorrow morning when I have 164 images to play with. I'm also wondering if the grocery shopping can wait until Sunday, dispite the fact that my fridge is occupied solely by misc odd beer has been left over from various vintages of 6 packs that nobody's ever goint to drink and outdated Mexican condaments.

Going out was not even considered.

Why do you need more than beer? I mean seriously...

[adina]

I'm with Almo. Beer and Mexican condiments? Party at tijean's!

adina

[drg]

This is why its called Digital Work Flow! You watch the rest of your work flow right out the door or down something . . .

Seriously, the second good digital camera you get your hands on is WORSE. You know all these "things" that need to be checked out. You want to find out if the new one is better. Its got all these new features that you really need. Are your lenses fully compatible.

{Sigh} I shoot 500+ photos a day when working. Thats a lot of screen time. You may find you get brutal in editing, but DON'T throw anything out.

When I (we) get back from work (or just out playing around) everything gets unloaded and burned onto CD-R's or DVD's or both and two copies of everything. There's a cataloging and file number generation system thats been in use for years and so everything is in (suppose to be anyway) sequence and referencable. Then a quick viewing of all the photos via a slide show, a lot time on a Television just for quick picks and to get an idea of how many Good photos are actually going to come in to the final process.

Then the shoot gets broken down into pieces, (numeric or subject) for the next step of selection. Once the frisbees are chosen (frisbees from slide table editiors who flicked the bad slides off into a bin, and often they'd go soaring) then the editing and refinements comes into play.
[When film is involved it similar as all film get scanned and then just becomes more to sort, but of course it takes much more time to scan and then sort]

Total time to this point usually works out to 4+ seconds per image.That still 5-6 hours.
And that is often split across three people so its not to bad. But still! I know what you mean because when the photos are personal I do all the work.

That's what late at night for (unless your shooting something in the studio).

There's good news though, think of the hours in the darkroom you now have to make even more images. Oh, and when one is reviewing photos that are digital, you can drink beer! (or whatever) Slides and neg's are not liquid friendly.

-CDP

[natatbeach]

Sadly enough I could indentify with everything you experienced in your original post in some way...THAT just makes you normal;...

Here's a few ways to market yourself:

1. make at least 50 cents on any image taken in those three hour excursions and it can now be justified as a job.

2.your late to most events not because it's your fault ---really, people just have way too high an expectation when it comes to timeliness
People are selfish and don't understand a need...taking pictures is like peeing or eating or breathing---a necessity despite the time consumption

3.Beer is a food---you can now call yourself a vegetarian

4.Mexican condiments in large quantities make you an activist for people less fortunate than you(that have jobs where they ACTUALLY have to work)...without your previous consumption of mexcian food products someone might not have job to go to every day.

Please note that any bold faced letters are the actual word you need to say in order to make your self look better in a situation where you are simnply some digitally absorbed and obsessed freak.

Hope this helps...I have many other justifications please email me for any more.... ;)