Digital cameras are generally superior to film cameras for learning photography.

severoon said – Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:02:01 -0000 ( Edit Link )

Not too many years ago, digital cameras produced images that were inferior to film in many ways. With the advent of the latest digital models, however, the tables have turned. In fact, the most expensive dSLR models aimed at professionals today are so good, they must be shot with high-quality lenses lest the lens be the limiting factor on the final image quality.

For all but professionals that have specific requirements accessible only through film, choosing digital has many benefits that are lacking in film cameras.

- immediate feedback allows for quick correction and technique adjustment

There are many aspects of an image that can benefit from a fast feedback cycle: use of color, line, form, focus, etc. To pick an example, one of the most difficult aspects of photography to understand and improve is exposure. With a film camera, a student must develop film before the results can be seen. A digital camera closes the feedback loop immediately after the shot is taken, providing information critical to the learning process such as an exposure histogram.

- photos are automatically annotated with EXIF data (aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc)

In this way, a digital camera is like an assistant, recording the exposure details of each image, freeing the student from distraction. The student can consult this information immediately if needed, or focus on other aspects of improving and use this information for later review.

- more flexible

Shooting film requires understanding characteristics of the particular film type such as grain, reciprocity failure, color sensitivity, etc. Furthermore, when using a film camera the student may not change any aspects tied to that roll of film until the roll is changed, such as ISO or white balance. Having the ability to vary these things from image to image allows for more experimentation.

- digital allows the student to take many more pictures without increasing cost

When buying a camera, it may initially seem like film has a distinct advantage when it comes to cost. The very best of film cameras usually top out in the $300 range, whereas dSLRs start at around three times that much and beyond. However, judging based on the cost of a camera body alone does not take the cost of ownership into account.

The cost of buying and developing film is proportional to the number of frames exposed. Digital does away with this restriction, allowing a student to take thousands of images without substantially increasing cost. Practicing by taking many photos is perhaps the single most important thing any photographer can do to improve, so removing concerns about cost is a major stride forward.

- digital allows the student to post-process many more pictures without increasing cost

Just as developing more film increases cost, so does post-processing film, as the number of chemicals and the amount of lab time necessary increases proportionally. With digital, the costs associated with post-processing are fixed and do not vary based on the number of images to be processed. Once the software and computer peripherals are present, the student may post-process as many images as time allows.

- digital allows selective printing

In order to assess film images, they must be developed and printed (or made into slides) before the best images can be selected. Because printing every image is costly, it is common in the film world to make “contact sheets”, a single large sheet of photographic paper on which a large number of thumbnail images are exposed. But from those thumbnails, it is often hard to judge certain aspects of the image such as sharpness and grain. Digital allows detailed inspection of images with no such restriction, allowing only the best images to be selected for final printing. Because the best images can more readily be identified, digital saves resources associated with creating prints over film.

- digital is better for the environment

Because digital uses resources more conservatively, less waste is generated around printing faulty images. Additionally, developing film requires chemicals that require a significant investment of energy to create and dispose of.

Film can be right choice for specific requirements. In the vast majority of situations, for most photographers (particularly those interested in practicing and improving their photography skills) digital photography is the superior choice.

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Author: severoon; Authority 199

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raju said – Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:24:21 -0000 ( Flag Edit Mark / Unmark Best Link )

The very feature of the digital photography that, the wrongly taken photos can be disposed off without much concern, can go against the process of learning photography. Once one knows that if he/she can make mistakes that doesn’t matter much and can be overlooked, one will not eagerly try for correcting the mistakes. But when one realizes that with each mistakes in taking good and correct photograph he is wasting expensive photo materials like film, developer, printing papers, he will be much aware to make less mistakes. A small story can be interesting here; when I was taking typing lessons in my early 20s (around 1991), my instructor told me “when you make typing mistakes go back and ‘x-out’ them, until and unless you do this you will not be able to increase your accuracy and speed”. This is because every time I go back to x-out the mistakes, my rhythm of typing is broken which in turn can be very annoying, so just to avoid this kind of situation I tried to make fewer mistakes which helped me much. I didn’t realize these things then and simply tried to obey my Instructor. It is only now when I compare the aspects of learning photography using analog(film) cameras vs. that using digital cameras, I felt that using analog cameras make someone to make fewer mistakes and force him to take the best photos possible at the first go. Although there is enough scope of experimentation in digital photography with almost no recurring expense, one’s knowledge of simple photographic rules like composition, exposure etc. can only be grown with very systematic experimentation which in fact is not the matter of automatic choice of the common people. It is the task of only experts and specialists and from their experiences we the common man can be benefited.

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