3) Camera for Photographing Sculpture & Crafts – Digital or SLR?

With consumer grade digital cameras with 6 or more MP sensors now hovering around $1,000 (as of February, 2004) it’s possible to "go digital" and avoid film altogether. Right now I’d guess that either the Canon digital rebel or the forthcoming Canon Pro-1 will take photo files that can be converted into fine slides. However, I haven’t tested it myself yet. I hesitated to buy the digital SLR because I knew I wanted to take videos to show my sculptures from all sides. A digital SLR can’t do this. And there could be problems with getting digital slides made that look the way the same files look on my monitor. I’m hesitant about investing in monitor calibration software. Since I had a film SLR, I decided to stick with film for the time being.

I had hoped to convince myself that going digital would save money in the long run. However, when I projected costs, comparing film plus film duplicates, with digital plus slides from digital, it came out to about the same. If I had to buy the film SLR, the digital might win.

If you don’t have a film SLR camera, then a high resolution digital camera is a good possibility. It’s more expensive in the short run, but you’ll use it for many other studio purposes. Research the options and buy with care.