The widening gap

Staff · Issue 150, May/Jun 2026 · pp. 4

Editorial The widening gap In the old days (here we go again!) whenever there were competitions, there was always requests for categories for those who couldn’t afford/justify the latest bells and whistles. The answer then was always “It’s not the equipment, it’s the finger on the trigger” but now I’m not so sure. In the days of film you had very little control over the final image. Correct aperture, shutter speed and focus were about it. The artistic side was up to the operator so the have and have nots argument was not really justifiable. Fast forward 25 years (which is the comparatively short space of time since the birth of digital photography underwater) and we have a totally new, unprecedented level of capability. 25 frames per second RAW plus 1 second pre record buffer means that, if you can afford it, you have no excuse for not getting the shot (assuming your strobes can keep up)…