Are you a Die-Hard when it comes to film?

agianelo

agianelo

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I think that digital cameras will someday be able to imitate all the visual magic that we love about the film image. Image sensors are becoming more sensitive and able to meet or surpass the dynamic range of film. Processing software is becoming more sophisticated in it's ability to imitate the look
of different film types. All in all, we will be able to do anything with a digital camera that we used to do with a film camera! We can even learn the art quicker and easier with digital. I dare say, we may also be able to enjoy photography with a digital camera!

My question is why do we love film and dread it's passing? I have been buying film processing equipment on Ebay to take over when my favorite lab gets out of the business. (By the way, good time to buy mini-lab processors. My favorites are the Photo-therm Super Sidekicks, which are much more of a
bargain than any of the Jobo processors.) Do I sound like a nut or are there others out there willing to spend several hundred dollars to process their own film?

P.S. I love my digital cameras: Leica M8 and Canon 40D
 
All in all, we will be able to do anything with a digital camera that we used to do with a film camera!
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What, we'll be able to put digital images away somewhere on some kind of medium for 100 years and still be able to view them afterwards?
 
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As my teacher usually puts it, and he is mighty tired of the whole digital vs film-debate:

"In the 60's they constructed the first keyboard and it was revolutionary to music. But I never saw anyone throwing their grand piano out the window after buying an electric keyboard.
They are different tools, for different sounds and different feelings.
Its the same with film and digital photography.
You must master them both to be a good photographer!"
 
It's not me...it's my cameras...they love eating film and they have a healthy appetite...some like color some mostly B&W...some are big and fat some fairly thin...

I love photography and at this time, since I can still get it, film...
I love to shoot it, develop it and then I also enjoy wet printing...
I'm a Die-Hard fan of film because film has been a great friend to me...
Digital may become my friend in the future (I'll never say never) but right now I still enjoy the whole, be it slow, process of film...I'm in no hurry and don't need the instant gratification that digital allows...I can wait to enjoy the fruits of my labor...
 
They're not different tools, they work for the same purpose, capturing light.

At present comparing the two and costs not a problem, film provides a more organic, aesthetically pleasing and authenticate representation of the light it was exposed to.

Show me a single masterpiece shot with digital?



/I have two DSLRs and I shoot 95% digital but that might change and one of those DSLRs could be funding my film supply.
 
Someday practically indestructible TeraByte SD cards which will retain images without power will exist (and not that long into the future). They will be absolutely stable and you will be able to insert them into any digital device (the specs stable and universal) to view them. Will some fail? Sure. But millions of photos and negatives each year are surely lost because of flood, fire, neglect or family members who throw them into the trash after the photographer dies.

The argument for film's archival superiority is a red herring now. It will surely be even more so in the future.
 
I used to be but the inevitable has happened and the case for digital has won me over. Its just so damn CONVENIENT. I take lots of shots, I get immediate feedback and this makes me a better photographer. In fact I would go so far as to say that I now get doxens more keepers than ever I did with film, although admittedly in part this is due to the ability to readily tweak results in Photoshop. I still have film cameras - I love my leicas and take them out regularly to fondle and stroke. But I no longer use them very much. That is the hard reality.

And as others have pointed out, the technology is just getting better. The best of breed cameras are now getting great photographic results at ISO 1000 or more. That kind of technological development will continue and digital will further overtake any abilities film had.
 
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agianelo said:
I think that digital cameras will someday be able to imitate all the visual magic that we love about the film image. Image sensors are becoming more sensitive and able to meet or surpass the dynamic range of film. Processing software is becoming more sophisticated in it's ability to imitate the look
of different film types. All in all, we will be able to do anything with a digital camera that we used to do with a film camera! We can even learn the art quicker and easier with digital. I dare say, we may also be able to enjoy photography with a digital camera!
Click to expand...

We've beat the digital v film debate to death. Now let's bury it and be on the what we love doing.......taking photographs.....

agianelo said:
My question is why do we love film and dread it's passing?
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Film will still be around long after many of us are dead and gone.

As for me I don't dread its passing..
 
Funny this should come out now. I am scanning my archive of negatives (to make them digital, WTF??) and I can tell the difference right off the bat between a digital image and a film one. Not that one is better than the other, just different and I like that difference. But I am odd, I have often said I like film for what it can't do, not what it can do!
 
Ray Nalley said:
Someday practically indestructible TeraByte SD cards which will retain images without power will exist (and not that long into the future). They will be absolutely stable and you will be able to insert them into any digital device (the specs stable and universal) to view them. Will some fail? Sure. But millions of photos and negatives each year are surely lost because of flood, fire, neglect or family members who throw them into the trash after the photographer dies.

The argument for film's archival superiority is a red herring now. It will surely be even more so in the future.
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....yawn..........off to process some TriX. If they ever make scratch ans sniff cards that smell like fresh developer or a wet print still dripping with fixer I might consider digital.

......nah! Not even then!
 
I am a die-hard film user but it doesn't have much to do with image "quality". I accept, and am comfortable with, the fact that most of today's DSLRs offer superior enlargement capabilities than color 35mm film. i understand the convenience factor, especially for working photographers.
For me it comes down to this: I like to shoot Leica rangefinders. I can't afford the M8 and I've used one enough to realize it's "not quite there" for me.
I have a really nice slide projector and I enjoy projecting my slides. Digital projection can't touch this yet.
I am no longer a working photographer and don't need the speed of digital. I prefer my workflow of getting my films processed at the lab, looking at slides/negs on my light table and choosing the ones I want to scan and/or print. Then everything goes back in their sleeves until I want to revisit the shoot.
That sums up digital vs film for me.
 
Absolutely!!!!
I enjoy the darkroom/lab work as much as taking the photo.
I spent the largest part of my working life in front of a computer screen.
It is a huge relief to get away from one.
I also still enjoy watercolour painting. A skill which, despite claims over a 100 years ago, photography did not kill off!!!!:p
Thankfully "ready meals" and microwave ovens have not killed off the skill and art of cooking either, but they are still there for those who just can't be ar**d!!
 
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Photography for me is both a serious hobby and an art form, like painting. I don't earn a living from photography anymore so I can choose my tools.

If I were earning my living from photography I may think differently but the way it is now I vastly prefer the simple basic utility of film cameras.

The wife and I are considering a trip to Europe, perhaps next year. At that time I may add nice digital something or other to my kit, just to make a few things easy.

Having used both I can safely say I'll always use film.
 
Yes, regarding film, I am hardcore, all the way, nothing watered-down, high octane, with a raging full-on commitment.
 
I just like photography. Film offers a rich tradition of photography and helps learning, but digital... it's all about sharpness and grainlessness.

In the end, I'm not so much a film die-hard as I am a film equipment whore. Digital... feels too much like a computer to me. Thank goodness I'm not a pro; I wouldn't have the choice I have now. :eek:
 
The term 'die hard to' me suggests a slightly closed mind and an inability to move on from familiarity. I personally prefer the look of film but I wouldn't consider myself locked into it and I've spoken to several people who encountered health problems associated with endless hours spent in poorly ventilated darkrooms.

Digital is in it's infancy compared to how long photographers have been using silver and it's inability to mimick film perfectly is not coincidental ... the majority of the population don't want it to! They want sharp oversaturated images like the ones they see on their flat screen plasmas or LCD's ... film's dead! :p (there I said it)
 
A little off topic

A little off topic

I use my film and digital about equally.Is digital faster?As per the original comment.You take a photograph you see it on your cameras screen.You load it on your computer.Heres the kicker.You shot in RAW like most of us do or should be doing.Now comes the tweaking.How many of use sit in front of the computer tweaking that image or images for hours with your photoshop or aperture software.Even using the these software programs to there full potential is a feat in it self with the huge learning curve involved.Faster I think not.
 
Keith said:
I've spoken to several people who encountered health problems associated with endless hours spent in poorly ventilated darkrooms.
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i hate to say it, but they should have known better than to work in darkrooms with no ventilation.
 
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