Film is more fun than digital (as if we needed convincing)

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walbergb

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Pete Meyers (I think he is an APUG member) wrote this article that appeared recently on the photo.net website State of the ART: Enough Already! Revisited. By sharing the article I know I am preaching to the choir, but it does present one person's reason(s) for preferring film over digital. Perhaps some of you, like me, can relate to some or all of his message.
 

Jaf-Photo

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While I wholeheathedly agree with Pete Meyer's decision, I think that the arguments put forward won't seem very convincing to someone who's only experienced digital photography.

For instance, I hink that the removal of aa-filtering coupled with better "digital" lenses is the most important development in digital cameras. Instead of mandatory blur, you get the option to apply your own level of noise reduction and sharpness. Tools like DxO Optics are excellent for this. The draw-back is that many consumers won't invest in lenses that are good enough for, say, a 36Mp sensor with no aa.

I think one of the major advantages of film, which digital can't match is the 3-dimensional effect caused by the emulsion layers. This is actually visible even to non-photographers. When people with no interest in photography see my images captured on film, they often comment on the depth effect.

The main way to increase depth in a digital image is to increase contrast. But that also kills the tones to some degree. With film you can have both.

This is especially true of colour film, I think. While it's possible to mock the look of B&W film digitally to a reasonable degree, I have yet to see a convincing colour film mock-up on digital.
 
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pdeeh

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Oh look, a film vs digital thread.
I expect this'll produce some new and useful views and information
 

Rlibersky

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While I wholeheathedly agree with Pete Meyer's decision, I think that the arguments put forward won't seem very convincing to someone who's only experienced digital photography.

For instance, I hink that the removal of aa-filtering coupled with better "digital" lenses is the most important development in digital cameras. Instead of mandatory blur, you get the option to apply your own level of noise reduction and sharpness. Tools like DxO Optics are excellent for this. The draw-back is that many consumers won't invest in lenses that are good enough for, say, a 36Mp sensor with no aa.

I think one of the major advantages of film, which digital can't match is the 3-dimensional effect caused by the emulsion layers. This is actually visible even to non-photographers. When people with no interest in photography see my images captured on film, they often comment on the depth effect.

The main way to increase depth in a digital image is to increase contrast. But that also kills the tones to some degree. With film you can have both.

This is especially true of colour film, I think. While it's possible to mock the look of B&W film digitally to a reasonable degree, I have yet to see a convincing colour film mock-up on digital.

That is funny, I agree except I would say the that BW is the picture with more depth. Although it probably its because I do not print my own color so everything is scanned in and the printed.
 

trythis

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there is a "ignore thread" option in thread tools. I use it a lot.

I did learn something from the article.

sent from phone. excuse my typing.
 

Chan Tran

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Definitely but the digital shooters collasped the film industry so now it's not as much fun as before. Not to many film choices. Film is getting quite expensive and hard to get. Hard to get good processing or supply to DIY.
 

Prof_Pixel

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"What ever floats your boat."

Personally, I find there are things that are better done with digital capture. I enjoy shooting ultra wide panoramas (up to 360 degrees) and getting quality results requires planning and skill. I also enjoy shooting low light level 'available light' shots under varying lighting conditions and I'm amazed at the performance (sharpness and low noise) of my Nikon D-5200 at ISO 6400. There have been major advance in digital image quality in the past year or so; many comments I see on APUG seem to refer to cameras of 8 to 10 years ago,

Like I said: "What ever floats your boat." There are many things that I find 'more fun' with digital. Your milage may vary.
 

Kitschretro

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Definitely but the digital shooters collasped the film industry so now it's not as much fun as before. Not to many film choices. Film is getting quite expensive and hard to get. Hard to get good processing or supply to DIY.


I have tonnes of film for sale ranging from £1.80 upwards
 
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