I just came back from a trip to Alaska. I decided not to bring my 35mm
camera and to use my Hasselblad 553ELX. It was heavier than heavy, but
I figured I wanted to use what I have and get the quality I want. My
traveling companion used a tiny Canon P/S digital camera with a
capacity of 2000 shots (wow!). She would complain about how big and
heavy my camera bag was and how tiny her camera was and the fact that
she could put it in her purse and not carry some huge bag around. One
of the kids that was with us decided that he wanted to take pictures
with the digital camera every single day of the trip. So the day before
he got the digital camera and proceeded to shoot 300 shots in a span of
20 minutes. He's 6 years old, mind you, so he shot everything under the
sun, including his shoes and a bunch of other insignificant things. In
fact, he was using the camera in ways that's normally fit for movie or
video cameras. I took some shots, very careful not to use up all my
film.

The day after the boy takes more pictures. My traveling companion
bought the digital camera, large SD card, and extra battery for this
particular boat trip. We took a boat on a 9 hour tour to the glaciers
and on our way we saw the sea animals that inhabit the place. I had a
limited amount of film (very, very poor planning on my part) with 8
rolls of b/w (3 400-speed and 5 100-speed) and 4 rolls of 100-speed
slide film. So what happens? It rains (dark skies demanded fast film or
slow shutter speeds with 100 speed film). I ended up wanting maximum
quality so I used 100 speed film as much as I could. The shutter speeds
were very slow, especially with my f/4 lenses with a 2x teleconverter
(yes, f/8!). Needless to say a few of my shots I was hoping to get were
blurry when I finally developed the film (sigh). So, we start getting
close to our main destination with the glaciers. My traveling companion
with at least 1500 shots left in her camera gets her camera, holds it
up and suddenly...beep, nothing. Battery dead. She left the spare in
the hotel room and she's left with nothing to take pictures with. I, on
the other hand, was still shooting. My ELX battery still winding away.
If my batteries had died I would have reached in my bag and pulled out
my spare 500C/M and continued on. On the boat I heard repeated whispers
from one passenger to the another when we finally got the glaciers
"...I can't. My batteries are dead" or "I'm out of room on my camera."
Thunk...whirrrr....went my camera. So, I got the shots that mattered
whereas they didn't (poor planning on their part). Unfortunately there
was a shot I wanted and should have had if I had bothered to wait 2
minutes, but I moved away so others could take pictures. When I saw
what was unfolding before me I was too late to get in position. That
one untaken picture, unfortunately, is the one I keep going back to in
my mind.

I got home and developed all 12 rolls of film. Some pictures I expected
to be blurry were, but the ones that did come out the way I wanted were
nothing short of spectacular. I also love the fact that if I wanted to
enlarge them to 30"x30" I'd have no problems doing so, whereas a 6 or
7MP camera might. So, overall I'm really, really glad I lugged my 15
pound camera bag around. My traveling companion has over 1000 pictures
taken by her little movie camera-like son. She's happy with her
pictures and that's all that count.

So, I'm sure I'll continue to use my ancient Hasselblad since it brings
me satisfaction when I get the slides and negatives developed. I don't
need instant gratification and I know that I like the fact that I
already own my equipment. I don't need to shell out $8000 and up for a
new 16MP camera that will give results "superior" to medium format when
in reality their cameras will be "obsolete" and "inferior" to other
cameras just 2 or 3 years from now. They may be "better" than medium
format but I don't care. I get the tonal range and sharpness that I
need with what I have. As long as there's film available I'll continue
to use my medium format camera.