 Bobby R. Strange |
Situations for film or digital? Hi all. Not sure this is the place for this question, so bear with me. I have been shooting film for a long time and currently have a Canon Elan 7n. I am thinking of maybe going digital and getting a Canon Rebel XT (yes, I'm a Canon fan), but I don't want to scrap my film camera (I love my 7n). My question is, are there situations in which you would choose film over digital and vice versa? My apologies if this question has been asked, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Thanks in advance :)
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Slim Brady |
I use to just shoot film, now I only shoot digital and its all because of PS. If you're good on the computer then there is no reason to shoot film anymore, unless you really enjoy it.
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Michele N. Yamrick |
Well, I'm like you, only I'm a dyed in the wool Nikon girl. Been shooting with them for over 25 years.....me, I like BOTH, film for when I want to seriously enlarge something special, and digital for that instant gratification. For me, film still is too much fun. And when it comes to black and white NOTHING beats film.
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A C |
keep your film camera. I agree with Michele, film is terrific for enlarging and you can't beat black and white when it comes to film!!! Before any one else writes anything .... there are advantages to BOTH, BOTH are good, and we can celebrate the fact that we can use BOTH!
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A C |
Oh, and to answer part of your question --- One advantage to shooting digital besides PS is RAW. I love shooting in RAW when the subject matter is important because I can post process. And, in digital, I can take a picture outside in the sun and then go inside and adjust white balance and ISO without even having to worry about having the right kind of film for the right situation.
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Sharon Day |
I would choose film over digital if I wanted to shoot double exposures and I still enjoy using slides to create special effects that I shoot with digital. I like digital better for enlarging, but I don't generally go larger than an 8x10. I had a couple of 8x10s done around Christmas and I felt the detail and clarity was much nicer with digital than film. Also my film enlargements are full of grain while the enlargements of the same size from digital have much less noise than my film photos. To me digital is equal to 35mm film, but I wouldn't try to compare it to a MF film camera. I'm sure they still rule unless you can afford a digital back which I know nothing about.
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Irene Troy |
I am a fan of digital for most situations; however in low light conditons or when I want a long exposure - say trying to photograph star trails - film beats digital all the way - IMHO. As others have written - both are good and there is no reason to limit yourself to just one method of capturing your images.
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Sharon Day |
Good point, Irene! I had forgotten about light trails which are impossible with digital or at least the D70. It only goes to 30 minutes on bulb.
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Bobby R. Strange |
Thanks for all the responses all. It's been very helpful. I will definitely be keeping my film camera, and I should have my new digital by the end of the week. I'm excited. Can't wait to try it out :) I've seen your galleries and you all take wonderful photos :)
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Bob Chance |
Digital is great in that you get almost instant results. Also, as one of the responses suggested, the things you can do in editing programs like Photoshop is mind boggling. If there is anything in the way of drawbacks to digital it's the fact that it doesn't have the tonal range of film. But with a minimum of 8 megapixels, so long as you aren't looking to do billboard size prints, you should be please with the results. I've gotten some wonderful 13X19" prints from my 20D. Anyhow, congradulations and best of luck. Bob
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Slim Brady |
Did you know at the last WPPI a digital B&W got the highest prize, second place also. The composition was better in the 3rd place shot (film), but people really liked the effect(I'm sure they did lot of actions to it) and photoshop'd the heck out of it.
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Peter K. Burian |
Bobby: At one time, I felt the same as you do. So, I kept my film camera (EOS 1n.) When I bought my first digital SLR. At that time, I had 75 rolls of film in the freezer. Five years later, I still have 70 rolls of film. (My daughter used five rolls before she bought a compact digital camera.) You may be different; you may continue to shoot a lot of film. My only suggestion is, don't buy too many rolls of film at one time. The Rebel XT is so good that I doubt you will use the 35mm Elan much. Peter
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Bobby R. Strange |
Thanks for all the comments. So far I am loving my Rebel XT. I think the first day I used it I shot 50-60 shots before I even realized it. I never really bought a lot of film to begin with, maybe 3 or 4 rolls at a time. I think I'll still shoot film on occasion though. Probably when I do black & whites since a lot of people seem to favor film over digital when it comes to b&w.
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Peter K. Burian |
Bobby: Yes, they favor film over digital for black & white because they have not figured out how to make gorgeous monochrome images. It does require some skill in Photoshop, with the Channel Mixer and a few other Photoshop tools. But anyone who gets the hang of those rarely every shoots another roll of film for black & white. Peter
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Slim Brady |
I just bought 150 actions and tweak those , people can't tell the difference.
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Peter K. Burian |
That's a good point, Brady. Photoshop plug-ins are available for converting color images to black & white - and also tweaking the effects. My own favorite add-on software is inexpensive ($30) but versatile. BW WORKFLOW PRO from http://www.fredmiranda.com/software/ Compatible with most versions of Photoshop but NOT with Elements. BW WORKFLOW PRO has far more options than I will ever use, but the basic features are valuable and not difficult to use. A Photoshop plug-in of this type can short-circuit the learning curve that would be required otherwise in order to produce beautiful monochrome images with exactly the desired effect. Peter
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