The magic is in their heads, but it's film and the film process that puts it there. Perception is reality. As long as like-minded folk are simply supporting each other and no one is trying to forcefully brain-wash or convert others, then no harm - no foul. Kinda like religion.
If only the author had said that:
So who cares anymore? Digital is king now. I for one do care, immensely, about the differences between film and digital. Why? I want to make great photographs, that’s why.
Oh, so you can't make 'great' photographs with digital technology. I see. Yes, that's a 'live and let live' statement, huh?
And then:
And I started to get this slow realization that digital was making me lazy. Lazy, as in the opposite of what’s required to be great. No need to really worry about exposure, or to focus or anything. Just point and shoot–a monkey could do it! No need to think at all. This is so seductive and easy to rationalize. You tell yourself, “My eyes are getting bad” or “The auto everything makes me faster” and so on.
Ah, I see. No poke at digital here, but the statement that digital MAKES YOU LAZY is universally true. A monkey can take digital photos. I see. Sure, that's not a universal condemnation of photographers who use digital, right?
And as we see in this blindingly-brilliant insight:
But some things you don’t forget and after a day or so my mind razored up and I noticed I was again unconsciously adjusting f stops and pre-focusing while I was raising a camera in anticipation of a moment, just like in the old days. Soon these mechanical procedures happened automatically, unconsciously, naturally and in so doing I was changing. I was much more aware of light and therefore of the unforgiving nature of the film. I was bending my brain back into a film mindset. I could feel the difference and started to grasp the outline of a theory.
As has been stated here so many times it makes me want to puke, the oft-repeated statement that one CANNOT simply use manual controls on a digital camera. Manual focus? No, the camera won't! Manual f-stop? No, the camera refuses to permit it! And on and one. The fact that a digital SLR can be used JUST LIKE A FILM SLR if one wishes is seen as a complete impossibility. My digital SLRs have manual control. ALL of them have it. Easy to use. Just like the old days. But here the author instead pretends that it simply is not possible.
And the author's conclusion:
So my theory is simple: there is something really important, perhaps magical, about the fact that film is so unforgiving that it creates a special mindfulness in the photographer, which in turn increases the chances of making great pictures.
If the theory is that being fragile and unforgiving is what imparts a 'magical' quality on one's photos, the same gates can be put on digital. Instead of 'saving' a badly-exposed shot with Photoshop, let it go, delete it. Tah-dah.
Oh, but the limitations of film
"create a special mindfulness" in the mind of the photographer. What hogwash. What he's saying is that film is great because it is crap. Oh, I see.
As I've stated before, I continue to shoot a lot of film. And a lot of digital. They're tools. Religion is fine, and I get your point - but he's not telling us about his conversion and offering us a Watchtower, he's telling us that what some of US believe is a lie, because film is SO MUCH better than digital, mainly because it is crappier. Huh. Yeah, well, he's entitled to his religion - I'm entitled to say he's wearing a tinfoil helmet.
