MINI COURSE TOPIC 2: Digital or film - the pros and cons
When it comes to the digital camera versus the film camera war in photography, digital is winning. It has gained wide acceptance and is the major seller for cameras today. Did you know the camera on your smartphone is probably better than the cameras that used to be used professionally? The technology has come a long way.
Digital Early Days Could Not Compete
The cameras available in the early days of digital photography did not have the resolution (usually expressed as MP for megapixel) to compete against film, and they were a bit clunky. The first truly digitally recording camera available to the public came out in 1990.
In 1992 Kodak came out with the DCS 200 which had a built-in hard drive which made the unit considerably bigger than a standard film camera of the time. It had a resolution of 1.2 megapixels and likely not priced well against standard film cameras of the day. By then film had more than a hundred-year advantage in development and cameras using film were very sophisticated.
Digital Got Better
It wasn’t until the last quarter of 2006 that the sales of digital cameras exceeded those of film. With the advent of cameras that can use small memory cards with enough memory to record video of considerable length along with hundreds to thousands of pictures, the final death knell of film has been rung. When it comes to today's resolution of digital cameras, digital today actually has an advantage over even slow ISO 50 film, which has an equivalent resolution of around 16 MP. Digital cameras are commonly being sold with 24 MP resolution.
Large Format Film Still Better with Resolution
The professional photographers that still opt to use film use large formats to gain the advantage. They can potentially create photos achieving resolutions of around 400 MP. But that is still using a large format film. The 35mm film you would typically pick up at the department store will not be able to compete with a decent digital camera.
You Get Instant Gratification with Digital
Another advantage with digital is the instant verification of the shot. You know if the picture was exposed correctly, the subject was in full frame, etc. Also, you have way more shots available to take than the longest available film rolls.
Cost is also a big advantage for digital. You can shoot as many images as you want to with digital with no penalty. As for film, costs are calculated per picture to develop. Because of their advantage in cost and convenience, digital is the popular choice today.
More than likely you're going to be more successful using digital images for your travel photography business. If you like using a film camera, still save that for your hobbies. Take it with you and go ahead and get some images using it, but donít rely on it for your business because the cost of film is really high.
You MUST Print your Photography!
Sadly with the advent of social media and the square format, and the relentless posting of images by anyone with a mobile phone, the meaning of photography got muddled up and blurred amongst the chaos.
True photographers and artists today PRINT their digital media, so as to bring to life the digital media they create. When is the last time you printed a photo? Why has it been that long? Do you truly understand how wonderful and tangible it is to PRINT a photo today?
It gives you a dopamine fix for as long as the photo is in print form and not just for 3 seconds. If you are truly to enjoy life, PRINT your photos.
