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That first lab experience, helped me see photography differently than many people, and everything I learned applies, in its own way, to the current digital photography.
I embraced digital in 2005, getting a Canon Digital Rebel, the only really affordable camera with interchangeable lenses. I was immediately rewarded with instant gratification, not having to go to the store, get a couple rolls of Velvia, shooting 72 frames, and fire up the color processor. Later at night, we were gathered around the slide projector.
Now I could shoot all the time, only worrying for battery and card capacity. Download everything to the PC, and I'm good to go again.
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In my personal opinion, instant gratification with digital photography is both a blessing and a curse. If you don't restrain yourself to shoot like shooting film, waiting for the right moment, studying the viewfinder before squeezing the shutter button, you will end up with tons of images, way too large to sit and review them, get rid of the bad ones, and keep the good ones.
In a phrase, your photography my be crippled by mediocrity.
But, sadly, is a vice. Once you get bitten by the digital bug, you only want to shoot everything that crosses before you. It took me really a while to overcome this behavior.
Fast forwarding to 2012, I was lugging around a Canon DSLR kit, with 5 big lenses, weighting a ton, and really hurting my shoulder. Specially in my daily bus commute.
I've always seen the Micro 4/3rds standard as a crippled sensor, and odd size, not matching the current APS-C sensors of the rest. I longed for full frame, but just imagining I would need even larger and heavier lenses, it made my stomach a bit sick.
Then the Olympus OM-D came. And it immediately hooked up my attention. Then I started researching and studying about the format, and I was amazed that the sensor is actually not much dissimilar from APS-C, and the reason why cameras and lenses were so small and light was because of the distance between the lens and the sensor, and not by the size of the sensor itself.
Then I made the decision. I sold all my Canon equipment and got a Panasonic Lumix G3. The OM-D is already having availability issues, and it actually is double the price I paid for the G3. Having a similarly specd sensor, I felt I won't be loosing much.
To my amazement, the G3 images have better quality than APS-C images from my former Canon 60D. Both in dynamic range and noise. With the added bonus of a small and light package that will fit in my belt bag, and I can carry it literally everywhere I go.
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