The second installment of the One Minute Rant. Each audio is one minute or less and focuses on a very specific topic to engage readers here on the FR to comment and start a dialog! Just click on the RANT logo to listen.
I completely agree with you on the issue of the camera industry encouraging an unsustainable feeding frenzy on its consumers to constantly purchase ever newer, ever more sophisticated, ever more complex, ever more fragile, ever more temperamental pieces of hardware..Even software..This includes everything from cameras to printers..
It is an absolute fact that the more any piece of equipment is designed to perform functions that previously had been accomplished manually by humans; the more complex it becomes, the more difficult to operate, the more likely it is to fail, and the harder and more expensive it is to repair if it does fail..This is true regardless of the field of endeavor that one is talking about..The more miniaturized the equipment is, the more complex the equipment is, the more electronics are packed into smaller and smaller spaces; the greater likelihood that the effective lifespan of the equipment will be compared to its less complex, more manual predecessors..
As you believe, I too feel that the entire digital camera industry has been heading down a non-sustainable road trying to better with each succeeding generation of digital cameras, the results that are achievable with film cameras..
The amount of money required so that a professional digital photographer can have total control over the entire process from capture to final large print, both in color, and black & white, is simply staggering..To purchase the best equipment that will give a photographer the best chances of obtaining the best prints requires an up front investment that far exceeds $100,000..Compared to the investment required to have the same level of control from capture to large print in a film / wet darkroom system; digital seems to me to be a very marginal, very difficult to sustain system..This is especially true from a time-invested-in-the-system-to-obtain-a-final-stunning-print-perspective..
And, as I have pointed out in previous posts in this and other photography forums; the film / wet darkroom equipment is far more robust, and requires far less in the way of maintenance or upgrades..A first class medium format film / wet darkroom system purchased new today in February 2009 should still be capable of producing first class results in the year 2059 with minimal maintenance and upgrades over that 50 year time period..A first class digital camera / light room system purchased in February 2009 would have very little chance of any of those components still being in first class functional condition a mere 20 years later in the year 2029..Regardless of how much time and money were spent on maintenance and upgrades..Period..
Figital Revolution 
I completely agree with you on the issue of the camera industry encouraging an unsustainable feeding frenzy on its consumers to constantly purchase ever newer, ever more sophisticated, ever more complex, ever more fragile, ever more temperamental pieces of hardware..Even software..This includes everything from cameras to printers..
It is an absolute fact that the more any piece of equipment is designed to perform functions that previously had been accomplished manually by humans; the more complex it becomes, the more difficult to operate, the more likely it is to fail, and the harder and more expensive it is to repair if it does fail..This is true regardless of the field of endeavor that one is talking about..The more miniaturized the equipment is, the more complex the equipment is, the more electronics are packed into smaller and smaller spaces; the greater likelihood that the effective lifespan of the equipment will be compared to its less complex, more manual predecessors..
As you believe, I too feel that the entire digital camera industry has been heading down a non-sustainable road trying to better with each succeeding generation of digital cameras, the results that are achievable with film cameras..
The amount of money required so that a professional digital photographer can have total control over the entire process from capture to final large print, both in color, and black & white, is simply staggering..To purchase the best equipment that will give a photographer the best chances of obtaining the best prints requires an up front investment that far exceeds $100,000..Compared to the investment required to have the same level of control from capture to large print in a film / wet darkroom system; digital seems to me to be a very marginal, very difficult to sustain system..This is especially true from a time-invested-in-the-system-to-obtain-a-final-stunning-print-perspective..
And, as I have pointed out in previous posts in this and other photography forums; the film / wet darkroom equipment is far more robust, and requires far less in the way of maintenance or upgrades..A first class medium format film / wet darkroom system purchased new today in February 2009 should still be capable of producing first class results in the year 2059 with minimal maintenance and upgrades over that 50 year time period..A first class digital camera / light room system purchased in February 2009 would have very little chance of any of those components still being in first class functional condition a mere 20 years later in the year 2029..Regardless of how much time and money were spent on maintenance and upgrades..Period..