A whole lot has been made of this question, film vs. digital, and it all brings me back to my days studying Philosophy, when Steve Weber said that the essence of Philosophy, the “Study of Wisdom”, was in asking a good question- not necessarily finding the “right” answer.  Whether film or digital is better is a bad question, because it doesn’t lead to understanding either medium.  The question really is, “How does digital photography change how we see, and create, as artists?” 

This certainly is the question of the day, as photographers, but really, has significance in any medium that allows digital, or non-linear editing as part of the creative process.  The process itself, whether photography, music or film/video, has changed profoundly from a sequence that limits the artist to what was captured (with film, in photography), processed, and then interpreted in a print, to a process that allows the artist to combine and recombine elements at will, limiting the editing process only by the elements collected- either at the original capture, or afterwards. 

The medium has moved, by virtue of digital editing, from a characteristic limitation of a particular tool (think pencils, charcoal, watercolor or black and white film, for example), to a virtually unlimited characteristic- you could say there is any characteristic, or no particular characteristic at all- of digital photography and Photoshop. 

How many times have we seen the phrase “…limited only by your imagination” in digital product advertising?  This is precisely the point.

Just for fun...  shot at 8 fps, played back at 1. 
 

OK, let’s get this out of the way at the outset.  Why make a digital Holga?  Because we can, it’s that simple.  I started this project back in my days working at EP Levine, and when the Imacon 96 back was released they talked a lot about how it was adaptable to any camera, even a pinhole.
 

That’s all I needed. 
 

I’ve often told the story about selling the Holga modification.  We joked, Steve Brettler (owner of EPL and my boss) and me, about doing a Holga mod package and selling it online, to sell digital backs as accessories.  It wasn’t until I joined the Imacon user group on Yahoo and in my biography listed myself as the first in history to shoot with a digital Holga with an Imacon back, that Imacon owners started contacting me about selling them one.  I learned an important lesson- know who your customers are.  It’s easier to sell a Holga to a guy who’s already bought the digital back, than the other way around.   I think, all told, we sold about 50 of these kits, and had a blast doing it. 
 

Chances are, you’re going to use a digital back available to you, and you don’t have much choice what the specs are, but in case you have a couple kicking around, this is what will work best... or work at all, for that matter. 
 

An interesting three-year look at the DSLR market showing share, and change, since 2006, from the German online magazine PhotoScala, link here. 
 

Note from the site-  any "system camera", or, as they describe, a camera with interchangeable lenses, is included- thus, the mico 4/3, Leica...

In the words of Nick Wheeler, if you keep at this digital thing, it’ll make an ass out of you sooner or later.  In my words, “I’ll have a little salt with my crow, thanks…”.  But ever since the gloss displays came out, I’ve been raving up and down about how they are the best thing since sliced bread, and far better than the matte displays. 
 

In my defense, the first thing I did when I got my hands on one was to run out and look at it in the sun, next to a Powerbook matte screen.  Well, it was awesome.  If you’ve ever looked at a Powerbook outside, you know what I mean- they’re all but unusable.  My big mistake was to not revisit that comparison with a new Macbook Pro display, and this past weekend I got the chance to do just that. 
 

See my "Shoot Diary” piece on the D3X for the whole story, but the basic idea is this: we’re shooting outside, with a black “floppy” so we can see our workstations.  Here’s Lucia Prosperi in the work area, with her Macbook Pro with a new matte screen, and my slightly older Macbook, with a gloss screen.  Once again, I’m eating my words.