In a nutshell, neither film nor digital is better.
Each is best depending on what you are going to be using the image for afterwards.
If you are not going to be enlarging your photos that much then even the cheapest digital camera will suffice. It is more than you need especially if you are after a small image for a webpage.
If you want to print out an image larger than 20” x 30” it’s best you invest in a medium or large format film camera. Basically film has a higher number of pixels. And the more pixels you have the greater your quality of print will be – especially when you are enlarging your images. Also if you are going to be doing significant cropping, you’ll have more flexibility.
I’ve discussed 5 different categories below, to help you decide whether a film or digital camera is best for you…
Immediate Feedback
With a film camera you don’t know how good your images are until you get them back from the lab. You have no chance to re-shoot on the spot like you do with a digital camera.
Wherever you are, a digital camera gives you immediate feedback. If you took a bad photo you can easily reshoot. Best of all most digital cameras have a histogram display. This tells you whether your image is exposed properly or not. If you see if has not been exposed correctly, you can adjust your camera settings and try again.
Cost
Digital cameras win in this area. Once you have purchased your equipment there are no film costs. You are limited only by the space on your memory card. The lower the resolution you need, the more images you can fit on.
With film, you have to pay for every image you shoot (whether it is good or not). You will also need on-going access to a chemical dark room. It costs money to touch up an image.
Technique
It all depends what you are familiar with. With film you simply remove your film and take it to your lab.
With a digital camera you need to transfer your images onto a computer or laptop. You can take your images to a photo lab or print them out on yo
ur own printer yourself. You then have to physically store your images on high quality CDs and back up your images on-line.
ISO (film speed) Control
With digital cameras all you have to do is change a setting, and then continue shooting. Many digital cameras, especially the newer models give you a wide range.
On the other hand, with film you need to decide your film speed depending on the conditions. If however your shooting conditions change you will need a different ISO film. You can manually replace one roll of film with another or have a second camera already loaded with different film.
Creative Freedom
Whether you have more creative freedom with film or digital is a matter of perspective.
Some say you have more creative freedom if the conditions are right with a film camera.
Others say there is more spontaneity and therefore a greater chance of capturing images with a digital camera than a film camera.
There is a lot of photo-editing software out there. If you learn how to use it you can easily improve and manipulate your image – making it something quite different to the original image.
