Why We Love Film

[mindforge]

I have several antique cameras: a couple brownies (hawkeye and a starflash [with bulbs]), an Argus C3, my old high school pentax, a few more too. I just picked up a Leica R4 with a couple lenses. Don't get me wrong, film is cool. I can't develop my own film anymore. I don't have the equipment or access to the chemicals and it does get to be a little expensive - albeit fun hobby. I have never had a plate camera but might get one here in a few years for ****s and giggles. Film has its place -- I was disagreeing with all his positions on why film was better, save one... color. You can get a larger visual range with film. Color makes an image to me. This is the one and only reason I would say that film is better. The quality of the actual RAW image as far as detail cannot be seen with the human eye with two pics next to each other.

His other points, almost his entire post was invalid points was all. Now, I have to bring up some valid digital issues too... Nearly every single professional and professional firm uses digital. Not because of ease either. There are so many other benefits to digital. Quality is mute in this argument. Take a film camera. Take a shot. Take a digital camera. Take a shot. Now, develop them. You will not be able to tell what they came from if printed on the same paper... now, I love film because of paper. I have not had a lot of experience with different kinds, but I loved how paper could make a picture just a little warmer or cooler.

Landscapes = film. Yeah, I have to agree if I was just going to shoot great landscapes I would probably want to roll with a film camera with a single roll of film. But for just about everything else. I go digital.

How about kite photography? Impossible with film cameras.

HDR's? Impossible.

Both have their place in our bags and for their reasons.

Now, I have to bring up my true reason for bias. I am a graphic designer by trade. That just means people give me more money for design than photography. But, I take my own pictures for my designs. I need things yesterday, I need them to be of impeccable quality, and I need to be able to edit them on the fly. Enter digital.

I miss film. It was really fun. Sometimes, I say. I want to go back to that. Then I never do. I get my film developed down at the local camera shop, where I spend a few hours a month and they do a great job of it.

To me, it is like BMX bikes when I was a kid. They were cool. Now, I have a much better Trek, but that was a real fun time and I always say man, I wish I could just get back on my mongoose and jump some dirt hills because it really was fun, more fun than I have on my mountain bike now... but, why would I ever really go back to something that in the end is inferior (to me and what I do).

So, while I love my old cameras, especially my grandfather's Argus (you can get one for like $15 on ebay) this one was my grandfather's and was well cared for though, so I fire off some film now and again.

You know though, I wanted to start taking one picture each day with my old Pentax, but I think I will wait for the R4 to come in the mail. Load it up and fire a couple rolls and then take one a day. I read about it somewhere... maybe it was here, you know take one shot a day with film. I just want to keep it in the car in the bag, covered with a towel and stop each day on my travels and take a single shot.

Man, getting carried away on this post. Yeah, I miss film cameras like I miss my old Mongoose BMX. It sure was a lot more fun than the digital. I loved watching blank film becoming my shot. I was so much more proud of good film shots.

Some tips for new people with new digital SLR's though:

1, Get a cheap film camera. Really good ones are really cheap. Get some film and take film pictures... if you can afford or buy time at the local shop develop a few rolls, learn how. It is pretty easy to learn - impossible to master and a load of fun... hours pass and you don't even know it.

2. Print your pictures. Ok. Here is the great failure of the digital camera. You take all these pictures and you don't print a single one then complain that they had all these good pics... PRINT THEM! What good is taking pictures if you don't have the print. I think this is why I loved film. You had almost every picture that you took on paper.

3. If you have a film camera. Study colors. You will see that film has a higher range. Digital tends to get to a certain point and then blow the color out. If you use a digital and you have that problem you can use a histogram to help fix it. I see it with reds a lot on my camera.

Well, sorry for making it so long. I do think that digital is better 90% of the time. It cannot replace film but for me and everything I do, digital is almost always the better option, for me. I am going to get some more film for my brownies though... only one manufacturer left for my brownies though... sad.

[Marko]

I LOVE the passion for both sides here and like many things in life it might boil down to 'whatever works for you works'.

It's the image that counts in the end and you CAN produce exceptional photography with either film or digital.

At the end of the day though, film is dying and IMO nobody except artists and people that need it for technical reasons will be using it 5-10 years from now.

[mindforge]

Yeah. In the coming years the film for my Brownie Starflash will be gone. I picked up about 900 bulbs awhile back. You burn a flash every time you take a shot with the Starflash. Film is a dying industry but will probably always be available to the people that want it. I think as we get more green as a people the film will disappear even more. Film is very toxic, silver is used in its creation creating a hard metal by product. The argument about the carbon foot print of film vs. digital is also a huge one.

Over it's life, I believe the digital has a smaller footprint but the device itself, digital takes more resources to create and so the argument continues on the greener device. Batteries vs. film chemistry... etc, etc, etc.

In the end, I think we should do what is more fun. I have a blast with my vintage cameras. I even integrate it into my photography now. I just did a portrait shoot for an engagement and I shot around 200 shots with my digital and then I took a half roll of film with my Brownie Starflash, with a homemade diffuser over the flash. This gives them the good clean digitals but also gives them something unique and timeless; negatives and unique images. Too bad I am doing way more web design than photography these days -- it is almost depressing that people don't want pictures in my area right now. Employment is 10.2 percent and rising here in the Gateway to the Sequoia Forest. So, I just had to go global with my graphic design. That is depressing. I don't care - print or digital - let me back out.

I still like digital more. It serves my needs very well, but we have both because we all like different things.

[Gatepc]

Wow that was a very interesting article thinks for sharing i didint know amost any of that stuff about film. thanks