Digital vs. Film

When it comes to digital vs. film, it seems everyone has an opinion. Depending in the subject and the customer I have found advantages and disadvantages to both formats. I will work closely with you to discuss the options so that you can make an informed decision and choose what is best for you.

Here are a few of the pros and cons of each:

Digital Pros:

• I quote, “Prints captured on digital cameras are wonderful-- subtle or vivid, as appropriate. They have a three-dimensional quality rarely seen in prints from film originals.”
• Instant gratification - Able to see and correct problems immediately, focus, lighting, etc.
• More control in the developing process. Can create black and white, sepia, split black and white and color on the same print
• No film to buy
• Better quality for online use and printing
• Storage – You can store digital files in much less space compared to files of film negatives. Plus, by backing up your images files, if the original is destroyed you have a back up

Digital Cons:

• Most advances in digital black and white developing has overcome this
• Organizing and editing film takes far less time than organizing and editing digital photos
• Sitting in front of a computer for hours editing prints can get monotonous
• Storage – I know, I had this as one of my pros but it can be a con as well. Since I usually shoot in a RAW format file sizes are large taking a decent amount of drive space and requires backing up
• Equipment cost – digital technology is constantly changing. Most digital cameras are only useful for a few years before something better comes along that requires upgrading. Professional digital cameras are not cheep plus accessories

Film Pros:

• Black and white in my opinions has look I find more enjoyable in film.
• Dark room work has a certain level of nostalgic joy to it
• Of course I normally just send my film out for developing. Quicker and cost effective
• If given the choice between sitting at my computer or hanging out in a darkroom developing film, I’d probably choose the darkroom 
• Cost – once you buy a good camera it will last for years. Lenses may also need to be purchases but if you take care of them they will also last for a long, long time
• Medium large format film in my opinion still has a nicer look to it, especially when it comes to scenery and landscape photography

Film Cons:

• Can’t be sure the picture turned out till you see the final print
• Tend to be stingier when shooting. If I’m not sure it’s a worthwhile good shot, I might not take it
• Have to change rolls while shooting which could result in missing a good shot
• Film – It’s relatively cheep per roll but it’s still something that needs to be bought on a regular bases and can add up
• Scanning film for online use might result in some quality loss, depending on scanner used
• Storage – Negative storage space takes up space and you only have one negative, if it gets ruined it’s gone forever

 

Questions and Answers:
Q.     How many pixels does a digital sensor need to outperform 35mm film?
A.     A high quality 11+ megapixel camera will generally outperform 35mm. A medium format camera will still take better qualiy images compared to digital.

Q.     How many mega pixels is your camera?
A.    A guy by the name of Vincent Strangio gives a great explanation. “Many people think that more mega pixels, translates into a better picture. More mega pixels will just allow you to print your image larger. If you are taking bad photos, go out and buy an expensive camera with 8 or 9 mega pixels and expect your photos to look better, you will, again, be very disappointed. You will still take bad pictures but you will now be able to blow those bad pictures up bigger! Most people will not print their photos at more than 5×7 size. For this size picture a 3 mega pixel camera is fine. With 4 mega pixels, you can print your favorite shots as an 8×10. Unless you are going to print photos larger than an 8×10, taking photos greater than 4 mega pixels is a waste and will just use up your memory.”
A.    And just to answer the question, my primary camera is a Canon 5D which is a 12.8 mega pixel camera.

Q.   What’s the difference in developing and printing times between film and digital.
A.   A guy by the name of Norman Koren did a comparison, 290 shots digital vs film. This is what he found:
        Digital - “upload, to sort through, to organize and to print proof sheets for the 290 digital frames took about six hours of my time on the computers, and about another four hours of time for the computer to run batch processes on the photo files (and I have pretty good computers). That's about ten hours to edit that shoot.”
        Film – “edit my eight rolls of film, to enter the photo info into my computer database and assign each photo a file number, and to label the slides ... that all took a grand total of two hours.”

Additional Information:
http://www.normankoren.com
http://www.nicholsonprints.com/Articles/digital.htm
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/filmdig.htm
http://www.petlvr.com/blog/2006/08/pet-photography-101-how-to-photograph-your-pet-like-a-professional/