I have 2.4ghz CPU, 6Gb of main memory and the 5400rpm 200gb disk. My next MBP (Geezz Apple please release it) will have at least 8Gb and at least 1 SSD drive. Just hoping they will get a good GPU.
This is why I mention the video.
I know it sounds silly, but there is nothing that will send clients, photographers, crew and talent crazier than standing around waiting to get a computer up and running;
I have heard a lot of client stories where they say they will never use a photographer again because the camera/computer went down every so many frames and took 30 minutes each time to get running.
I started digital capture with Brand C shooting to cards and downloading every 50 frames or so and this went along well, actually bulletproof, until clients felt they had to see each frame as they were shot.
Moved to Brand L and V8 software good, Brand L and 10 software bad, Brand P and 3 software good, brand p and 4 software bad, now brand c and it's included software very good.
I'm not nervous about this business anymore, since I've done it all of my adult life, but like most live in fear of the dreaded blank screen. or "it's not connecting" words.
Today, especially in today's economy, everybody on set is under a huge volume of pressure to produce quickly, cleanly and on budget and nothing is allowed to slow it down.
So with that in mind nothing tells me more than working real world, though nothing tells me more than clarity from a manufacturer.
if a camera and it's required software really needs a new powerbook with an SSD card a second drive installed and maxed on ram just say it (I think David did), but also show it.
Showing it in the real world covers a lot of territory. Look at the positive response from Dave's real world un retouched, un tripodded, shot of smoggy/foggy Hong Kong at 800 iso.
Compare this response to the Leica release of the S-2 with those over retouched, cuban photographs in the boxing ring. The Leica images told us nothing, Dave's 10 minutes leaning on a pillar in Hong Kong speaks volumes.
To put a positive spin on it, for the last few years professional photography is an industry in change, to put a negative spin on it some think it's a dying industry, I'm kind of in between those two thoughts because as
much as I'd like to think it's just about change, I know the realities of the monetary and creative challenges that are put in front of us daily and it's a much different world in 2009/2010 than it was in 2006.
Regardless of what you think of the future of this industry the very hard reality is nobody is going to buy anything anymore that is problematic and nothing speaks louder than real world use.
I know a lot of photographers that have had a lot of different relationships with various makers. The makers seem happy as a bowl of punch as long as the photographer says brand whatever is the easiest, best in the world, glossing over the issues and God forbid a photographer says actually brand whatever is pretty good, but we did have 4 crashes a day with the system. The relationship gets strained at that point which is kind of dumb because nobody believes the world is always rosy type of comments.
Selling is all about believability. Nobody believes the NASCAR driver after they've turned their car into a smoking ball of muck when they say the "Gatorjuice 500 special was just great today and I want to thank Gatorjuice and my great team for almost killing me".
If I was in the camera selling business I'd show two sessions. One . . . the standard shot on white studio session with the stanard 20 people standing around a monitor saying stuff like look at the eyelash detail (I just fell asleep) and the other, showing a very small crew walking through the streets of Paris at night, shooting a model with maybe one small continuous light and using a table and a pile of cloth napkins as a tripod. Then I'd show those images from un retouched through the whole process of post production and finish out.
The first session I would show as all business, the second session I would show as fun, cause God knows we all gotta have a little fun when we've spend money.
I think Hasselblad is in a good position because their name has a bling factor, their cameras have been in the market for a long time and now it seems (I say the word seems with a cautious tiny voice) that their software and workflow is catching up to the rest of the world.
If all of this is true they are worth a look, but once again, it better be bulletproof and reliable and as far as waiting on apple to make a faster powerbook, well that's just not the case anymore, it's up to the camera and software to work off the shelf today, not hoping for it to work tomorrow.
IMO
BC