Turmoil in Transition

My trip to Alaska showed me a few things that I'd forgotten. First, a halibut charter in heavy rains in the Gulf of Alaska means you get really wet, and I brought my 1Ds because it was supposed to be ok getting wet. It was. I got a lot of pictures in the pouring rain without worrying about the rain and sea spray. However, it was a dark dreary day, and the higher iso speeds and poor lighting mean that normally unnoticable noise has crept up into my images. Noise, in my opinion, looks much worse than apparent grain. Grain is the correct color, just apparent. Noise looks like crap, its the wrong color often, it destroys any hope of a black shadow, and it reminds me of how much money I put into a camera with a bigger sensor to avoid it. Noise was one of the main reasons why I started flirting with film. Also, I don't often get into horrible weather like I was in, and so I rarely need that extra weather proofing. My camera of choice still remains medium format anything, whether its a fully mechanical Hassy or Mamiya, or my fully automated Mamiya. The discontinuation of Kodachrome announced on Tuesday has certainly changed my expectations of film availability a slight bit. Kodachrome hasn't been offered for medium format, which I normally shoot, for some time, and rolls for $9.00 and another $9 for processing means that my budget never offered me the opportunity to shoot it. But for Kodak to lay to rest an icon of the film era means something. I'm still digesting what. The trip also showed me why many people rejoice at not going through an airport with film. Security will still be a hassle, as they remove my lenses and camera bodies from my bag everytime, which is all thats in my bag, and put them through a second time. I am unsure of where the industry is going, and I know that ultimately if it goes too far I will have to follow. And the uncertainty is killing me.