One of the perennial themes in the history of photography the introduction, application and reception of new technology. He it the dry plate or the Polaroid, upon introduction, the practical and aesthetic potential of every innovation has been vigorously debated by photographers, journalists and critics. It is not surprising, then, that the emergence of digital photography has generated fraught proclamations, each announcing the dire effect of electronic imaging upon the practice and understanding of still photograpy, as we have known it. The current dialogue is often framed in terms that historians of photography have long applied in other contexts: truth and primacy. The first discussion explores the impact of the digitally mediated image on our perception of the âtruth valueâ of photography. The second discussion, regarding âprimacycâ, compares the influence of photography on existing modes of visual representation (print-making, painting) in the mid-nineteenth century, with the forecasted effect of digital media on photography in the early twenty-first century. The contention, in this case, is that as photography toppled the representational pre-eminence of painting, so too digital picture-making will undermine and, eventually, supplant the chemically produced image. A critical examination of the ideas surrounding these discussions leads to a wider and richer understanding of digital imaging, its artistic possibilities and its place in the ongoing history of photography.