Some time ago, I wrote my first thoughts about the advantages of using film photography.
Personally, I have never had extreme opinions on something: I love to watch MotoGP races; nevertheless, I never had a rider whom I chose as my favorite, and therefore, I was mostly happy after every race, as all of them were working hard to win, and I always thought that they all deserved to win.
For this reason, I would like to highlight some advantages of digital cameras and show you that nothing is clearly black or white – except for our beloved film rolls!
With digital photography, your cost per picture can be incredibly low – close to zero. I took my first pictures with a reflex using my mother’s Nikon D40. With that camera, I shot thousands of pictures, learned how the exposure triangle works… all the basics! A quick check online confirmed to me that a camera like that can cost around 60-70 EUR today, and maybe there are also other better cameras you can find.
The point is that if you want to learn, you have to shoot pictures.
For most of us, the costs related to film photography are a barrier, and we won’t be able to shoot hundreds of pictures just to play with the settings and learn the basics.
Result: Having the possibility of immediate feedback by inserting an SD card into a PC or seeing them already on the camera screen immediately is really helpful, much better than having to wait weeks and realize that you messed up everything with the settings. This can be especially sad if you won’t have the possibility to take that pic a second time! The speed and immediate result of a digital camera can definitely help you to increase the velocity of your learning curve.
Postproduction: It’s not about creating artificial pictures, but it’s about learning also after the click. Playing with all those settings will definitely build up and improve your photography skills also before you shoot. Analyzing a picture on a screen is a great instrument for you as a photographer. Post-production is not an easy task, and you will learn that the best way to avoid it is to think in advance about what you’re doing to avoid errors.
ISO: You can define them; the ISO is finally not based on the film anymore. You can simply set it, and this unlocks so many possibilities.
I personally started with film photography but mainly as a child – I grew up definitely with digital cameras, and that helped me a lot, trying all the settings and noting them down, and finally checking the pictures on the screen immediately! The world is not black or white, and I suggest you embrace both technologies and their advantages!
And you? What do you think about this topic?