In the Field

Short-eared Owl on Frozen Prairie. Indus, AB, Canada. February, 1982.

An ancient image from the archives, shot with Kodachrome 64 (remember this goldie-oldie?). How does it compare to images shot with today's state-of-the-art digital cameras? While some of the "imperfections" in this image are partly a result of the slide-scanning process, some of the differences reflect the difference between film and digital technologies. To begin with, the contrast of the image is higher than it would be if it were captured as a RAW digital file. Overall, this isn't necessarily visually displeasing, but because the "darks are darker" than they should be, so are the shadows and some important detail (like much of the owl's right eye) is lost.

But, all-in-all, the image isn't so bad. And, it does makes me wonder how far we've really come with photographic technology over the last 25 years!

Behind the Camera

Short-eared Owl on Frozen Prairie. Indus, AB, Canada. February, 1982.

Film Capture; Kodachrome 64; ISO 64.

Minolta film SLR (likely an XD-11) with 300 mm Rokkor-X F4.5 lens - handheld.

1/125s @ f4.5; exposure compensation (if any) not recorded.

At the Computer

Short-eared Owl on Frozen Prairie. Indus, AB, Canada. February, 1982.

Details to follow.

Conservation

Short-eared Owl on Frozen Prairie. Indus, AB, Canada. February, 1982.

Information to follow.