Digital vs. film cameras

Entertaining conversations, but I think I will try to stick to the question. Film vs digital cameras?

Really, the cameras operate very similarly if you have a modern film camera. Older film cameras can go so far as to lose the exposure meter and require a hand held light meter. Many of us old folks came through film to digital. Some stayed with film.

Shutter speed, aperture, and exposure are the same. Iso in film is set by the film you buy. Digital cameras set "iso" in the camera. Dynamic range of film is much lower than digital camera dynamic range of the sensor. Maybe black and white film is different in that regard? Never shot black and white.

So the act of shooting a picture is pretty much the same. THEN it gets very different. Film goes off to be developed. Digital files go in the computer for "developing" and polishing.

To each his own.

Edited November 21, 2020 by rconey

I'm guilty as charged, but only when the original cover has failed in some fashion. Then I figure they're fair game:

[ATTACH=full]1365495[/ATTACH]

The original 'cover' had completely stripped off down to the crappy felt layer. Nah, nah

 

Normally I'm a conservationist, but ...

 

Oh, yes, that is fair enough, counts as protection in my book (101 things a boy can do).

One thing for sure, film has gotten way more expensive than digital. I love shooting film, but I just finished paying about $100 on 7 rolls of film. That means that I got to make every single frame count. Of course that doesn't include development... Edited November 25, 2020 by hjoseph7

One thing for sure, film has gotten way more expensive than digital. I love shooting film, but I just finished paying about $100 on 7 rolls of film. That means that I got to make every single frame count. Of course that doesn't include development...

I find that I slow down and try harder with film. It pays off with better results.

That means that I got to make every single frame count. Of course that doesn't include development...

There's also a lot to be said for 'working the subject' - trying different points of view and angles. That takes time too.

 

Of course, some of this can be done 'dry' by just looking through the viewfinder, but not with a dynamic subject like breaking waves, changing light or an expression in a portrait.

 

Personally, I find the imaginary 'kerching!' of a cash-register every time I press the shutter button to be very distracting.:eek:

Film cameras expose film. Digital cameras create digital files.

Digital photography also begins with an exposure. A digital camera can produce an equivalent to a Polaroid, so I'm still not seeing your point.

Personally, I find the imaginary 'kerching!' of a cash-register every time I press the shutter button to be very distracting.:eek:

Worse still, inhibiting.

I find that I slow down and try harder with film. It pays off with better results.

 

I too slow down and try harder with film. As to the "It pays off with better results"....for me that's not always the case. Sometimes for me the result is "it mocks me with poorer results" and, film being what it is, it's then too late for a re-do. Nevertheless I still like to shoot film every now and then, whenever money starts burning a hole in my pocket ;)

 

Oh and when it does work out I do get more satisfaction from the process than I do from digital capture.

Digital vs Film cameras?

 

*With digital, it's a whole lot easier to over shoot, or "spray & pray"- that is to shoot many many photos and hope something comes out of it. Film and processing is expensive, so you won't be shooting hundreds of photos using film.

*Digital cameras can be super complicated, many film cameras are a lot less complex. Honestly, for me, having an older manual camera slowed me down and actually I used mine to learn the mechanics of setting my camera and shooting a photograph- something I still haven't been able to learn to do with my digital Olympus.

*The three film cameras I use are mechanical. Both my 35mm cameras have an in-camera metering system and I can put batteries in them and use their meters, OR forgo the batteries and meter as I would normally do (app or handheld meter) anyway. My Hasselblad 500c & 500cm are fully mechanical- no meter, no nothing. So a dead battery will never ever kill a shoot.

This is an ancient question that has been answered long ago. But I'll repeat it. There is no longer any advantage to using film and it is obsolete. Having said that, some of us old timers do enjoy the process of shooting film, developing and making wet prints. It's fun. Even view cameras with full adjustments can be adapted to digital. Now, some prefer the analog look of irregular film grain vs the sterile and consistent look of sensor pixels. That's a matter of taste, much like some prefer their music on vinyl.