Why film is here to stay...


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nickpower

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Feb 1, 2004
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read an article in a photogrpahy magazine on why film won't die.. share wif u guys..

1) Film SLR camera are much cheaper.
2) Film are Fast, wif ISO 800 and ISO 1600. Digital camera seldom have such high speed.
3)Film can be enlarged.. alot. To blow up digital image, u need very expensive camera, but not for a normal ISO 100 negative with can be enlarge wif decent sharp image.
4)Film is Power-Stingy. Batteries last much longer in a film SLR camera.
5)Film doesn't crash. Images store in harddisk and flash memory are subject to virus and other attacks. Film can be stored for a long time.
6)Film doesn't required infrastructure. After snapping a few hundred digital images u need to find a online system to store and show case ur pictures. Films juz need an album.
7)Film is the orginal Photoshop.Special effects are achieved not through photographic software but at the time of exposure.
8)Film is RAW. in film all the "data" is on the negative, and can be accessed with proper printing techiques, unlike digital where the images are larges and difficult to process.
9)Film does not preclude digital. U can easily convert film to digital. .

Juz some sharing wif u guys.. feel free to give ur views..
 

yep, read this article in popular photography & imaging january 2004 issue...
 

zaren said:
yep, read this article in popular photography & imaging january 2004 issue...

I use both film and digital SLRs. I think both have their own unique advantages. I would be very glad if both are sticking around for the next 100 years :p
 

Film is here to stay for the foreseeable future because there are MILLIONS of film cameras in use in the world EVERY day, people still buy a LOT of film, and it is too big a market to ignore or abandon (even if Kodak can't seem to figure out which way is up ). ;)

Digital is also here to stay.

I am quite certain that both formats will continue to co-exist for at least my lifetime (I am 42). I shoot film exclusively and am not at all worried (and slightly amused) when I see a report/article etc. about the imminent "death of film".

In the end it is the image, not the format, that matters.

Mike
 

i probably can give a rebuttal or at least a few counter-thots to the above list, but it'll just get technical. Most of the points above apply more to the casual shooter or hobbyist than to the pro or the serious amateur.

i think while the pivotal point used to be quality, it has now shifted to budget.
 

nickpower said:
9)Film does not preclude digital. U can easily convert film to digital.
In North America at least, many FILM prints nowadays are actually DIGITAL. For that I am grateful, as high quality enlargements from slides have never been easier.
 

Reminds me of HiFi.

When CD came out and flourished, pple tot Vinyl is at the end of its days.

Suprising, Vinyl users are picking up, and there are more and more turntables churning up.

Long Live Analog!! :D
 

Those arguments are mostly pointless - i can give counter argument for each one and many more pros for digital. But no one has ever made the statement that all film cameras in the world will disappear and digital will take over. Fact - The digitial market is on the rise and another fact - the film market is contracting. Anyway, who the hell cares? Why is there a need for film shooters to defend film and digital to defend digital? Use what you wanna use. Just use it to take good pictures! ;)
 

Royce said:
Those arguments are mostly pointless - i can give counter argument for each one and many more pros for digital. But no one has ever made the statement that all film cameras in the world will disappear and digital will take over. Fact - The digitial market is on the rise and another fact - the film market is contracting. Anyway, who the hell cares? Why is there a need for film shooters to defend film and digital to defend digital? Use what you wanna use. Just use it to take good pictures! ;)


these arguement are not pointless. as for you being able to give counter arguement for each. so can we rebutt you point by point similarly.

marketing managers from all the major retailer, camera maker, lens maker have to evaluate these issues on a regular basis.

While it may seem pointless to you, they very process of debating these issues gives the manufacturers a better idea of what to do during their design cycles.

it is similar to scientist conducting study with results that overturn currrent norm. then another research comes up proving the previous study wrong. can we ask them to shut up and make up their mind before release their finding.
well we cannot do that. progress is made on their differences.
 

Film (both positives and negatives) would stay but I think APS could be nearing it's end or at least there is unlikely to be major improvement. The main advantage of APS is the flexibility to design smaller camera bodies but with digital technologies, cameras get even smaller.
 

FIlms and digital debates exist to make our lives more interesting with lots of flames and arguments hurled at one another. :p At the end of the day, I would think film will not die just as much as b/w films don't when colour came. But we can't deny that digital is gaining a much quicker popularity over films.

Think about it.. these days, people are willing to fork out $500 or more for an entry level but feature-packed digital cam. In the past, with compact film cameras, $200+ seems to be the budget. $500 for a film camera was considered way too much for a beginner. As long as computers are more and more affordable and everyone's getting IT savvy (20 years ago, how many 10 year olds can say they've used a computer?), digital photography will be more popular than films.

It's just a matter of time when technology improves so much that digital photography becomes very sophisticated. As it is now, I think we are there already... just that the future will become more exciting with digital!
 

zekai said:
these arguement are not pointless. as for you being able to give counter arguement for each. so can we rebutt you point by point similarly.

marketing managers from all the major retailer, camera maker, lens maker have to evaluate these issues on a regular basis.

While it may seem pointless to you, they very process of debating these issues gives the manufacturers a better idea of what to do during their design cycles.

it is similar to scientist conducting study with results that overturn currrent norm. then another research comes up proving the previous study wrong. can we ask them to shut up and make up their mind before release their finding.
well we cannot do that. progress is made on their differences.
Sorry... not inderested to get into debate about the merits of either. A good photog will know and make their own choice. Point is, film market is contracting, digitial is expanding. Film technology is stagnant (relative to digital), digital is growing (in leaps and bounds). The price differential will continue to decline as well. Keep shooting film if it makes you happy.... :)
 

I agree totally with Mike "In the end it is the image, not the format, that matters."

whenever i look back at those old photos, it never fails to bring back many sweet memories :)

IMHO, think on the long run, digital will be more popular than film, can see the trend is developing now coz almost all my friends have a digital camera now, the main reason cited by most of them is the lower recurrent cost of printing, most of them are casual photographers, even for the more serious one, they will have both SLR (manual) and digitcam.
 

Royce said:
Sorry... not inderested to get into debate about the merits of either. A good photog will know and make their own choice. Point is, film market is contracting, digitial is expanding. Film technology is stagnant (relative to digital), digital is growing (in leaps and bounds). The price differential will continue to decline as well. Keep shooting film if it makes you happy.... :)

well if you notice i was not making any inference to which side is better or worse. the point i was making was that you should not brush off other people opinion as pointless.
 

i think this thread of whether film or digital is better will never end. At the end, it's the camera companies reaping profits from all consumers in the market whether pro or newbies. I think the person who wrote this article has some close relations with some camera companies.

Hyping which camera or technology is better will certainly never end. Unless they can produce a camera which has both functions. Combination of Film and Digital working together in one camera.

If the manufaturers ever come produce this kind of camera, then there will be another debate on which camera is better again. Hiya....this will never end as we know.

So some members who posted saying that it's not the camera/function/lens/ is good will churn out beautiful photos. It's true. It's the person behind the camera...............
 

Godzilla Invades said:
Hyping which camera or technology is better will certainly never end. Unless they can produce a camera which has both functions. Combination of Film and Digital working together in one camera.

Got got, MF with digital backs. :p
 

zekai said:
well if you notice i was not making any inference to which side is better or worse. the point i was making was that you should not brush off other people opinion as pointless.
Why not? Some of his arguments are weak.
 

well, i enjoyed reading the article, and to me most of it made sense. i shoot both film and digital, and am not about to give up either one.
 

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