Digital Outsells Film, But Film Still King to Some

[James Fee]

http://www.macworld.com/news/2004/09/23/digitalfilm/index.php/?lsrc=mcrss-0904

"Over a decade later, many professional photographers have followed their lead, although others still hold out against the inevitable advance of digital technology, and few have been as quick to discard the old ways as Opus and company. In fact, some, such as Eric Welch, photo editor for the Gemological Institute of America, believe film could still be a viable alternative, but they're frustrated with what they see as Kodak's abandonment of the market. "I was a strong proponent of film for a long time," Welch said. "I argued that film would always be better than digital and would continue to improve. In fact, film could be ten times better than it is now, but Kodak threw their research out the window."

Interesting thoughts, are we seeing film die because it is being ignored by Kodak and Fuji or has digital just gotten so much better so quickly that it seems like traditional film is stuck in the 1980's. Honestly, not too many people these days have even know what Kodachrome is.

Could film cameras such as the Nikon F6 be the limit of film camera development?

[James Fee]

http://www.macworld.com/news/2004/09/23/digitalfilm/index.php/?lsrc=mcrss-0904

"Over a decade later, many professional photographers have followed their lead, although others still hold out against the inevitable advance of digital technology, and few have been as quick to discard the old ways as Opus and company. In fact, some, such as Eric Welch, photo editor for the Gemological Institute of America, believe film could still be a viable alternative, but they're frustrated with what they see as Kodak's abandonment of the market. "I was a strong proponent of film for a long time," Welch said. "I argued that film would always be better than digital and would continue to improve. In fact, film could be ten times better than it is now, but Kodak threw their research out the window."

Interesting thoughts, are we seeing film die because it is being ignored by Kodak and Fuji or has digital just gotten so much better so quickly that it seems like traditional film is stuck in the 1980's. Honestly, not too many people these days have even know what Kodachrome is.

Could film cameras such as the Nikon F6 be the limit of film camera development?

[Neil Enns]

I haven't touched my film cameras in more than a year. But there's still something about taking a Kodachrome slide and holding it up to the light that makes me grin. When I go home for Christmas I'm taking my film body specifically so I can shoot some Kodachrome pics of winter.

Neil

[James Fee]

I think you've hit on why film is still popular with some people. Digital photos are sometimes just too perfect, film can capture parts of a photograph that you miss while staring at your digital images in photoshop.

[Montego]

My best friend is a pro photographer in Lexington, KY. HE shoots stuff for the city and does wedding photography on the side. He uses Nikon equipment for both film and digital. He shoots everything for the city in digital, but still shoots weddings on film because he thinks the digital quality is too different.

Interestingly, he also owns a fairly inexpensive Olympus D-580 4MP camera and says that for the print sizes he shoots for the city the Olympus looks as good as his Nikon 6MP. However, he takes the Nikon because he says people expect to see his "pro" equipment.

[dean_shan]

I havn't used film in years. Could be that up until now (college) I was over 100 miles from the closest film developer. With digital I could see the results that day not a week or month later. There is somthing to be said about developing your own photographs. I find that to be quite fun.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Originally Posted by James Fee

I think you've hit on why film is still popular with some people. Digital photos are sometimes just too perfect, film can capture parts of a photograph that you miss while staring at your digital images in photoshop.

Ok, I didn't quite get the logic behind this one. :silly:

Film has about hit the limit, compared to digital. Fact is that in 20 years digital has surpassed what film has done in about 100 years. I don't doubt that digital will continue to improve, and while film can still be improved on, I don't think it'll be at the rate at which digital is improving.

I still like my chromes, but it's a matter of time before I go to digital. Increasing film prices doesn't help.

[James Fee]

Originally Posted by Lee Yuan Sheng

Ok, I didn't quite get the logic behind this one. :silly:

Well it didn't come out how I was thinking it.

Basically there is something about film that I just don't see in digital photos. Maybe it is something I can't quantify, but its there.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by James Fee

Basically there is something about film that I just don't see in digital photos. Maybe it is something I can't quantify, but its there.

The problem with digital is that it's too perfect. Film has a sort of vagueness about the images that digital does away with. Digital captures the world as it is, whereas film in many ways captures the world the way our eyes see it. My 2 cents. ;-)

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Hmm, I never saw it that way. There's a film look and a digital look, but it's more due to contrast and tonal curve differences. Never saw it as too perfect.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Lee Yuan Sheng

Hmm, I never saw it that way. There's a film look and a digital look, but it's more due to contrast and tonal curve differences. Never saw it as too perfect.

I'd say that your eyes, and the film you shoot, are quite different from most. I was talking more about the regular, point and shoot cameras that the Average Joe has. It you look at the results from one of those pictures, and compare that to even an entry-level point and shoot digital camera, the most striking difference to me is that digital simply picks up more detail. Quite a few people just starting out in digital don't like it because of that...but they usually get over it quickly. ;-)