Is film photography dead?

[c.cloudwalker]

IMO, film will only die if there's a comparable replacement for it.
If digital eventually achieves film resolution, affordably, then film should start worrying.

Then I guess you should start worrying because digital has passed film resolution.

skieur

Really?

 

[TheGenericusername]

film is dead, wanna know why? cause camera companies arent running ads for them on tv or in internet flash ads..also film is way less functional than digital...i used to be a film die hard but now ive been changed

 

[tran_ng]

I really don't know what will happen to film photography but i hope it will stay because it's an other side of the Art of photography. Shooting films gives you different feeling and a different approach. When you shoot film you have to assume what you do wich can make you progress a lot. Maybe not the best to perfect the technical side but if you want to be a better photographer, you have to progress in every aspect of the art. If film dissapear, it won't be evolution, it would be destruction.
Films will not stay because they have better image quality than digital...it's so much more than image quality itself...it's kinda indescriptible. So stop saying I have a 24 MP camera...it's just not what we're fighting for.(At least for me)
I have a digital camera and i mostly shoot with it but I'm learning so much from my good old film camera. It's one of the best way to perfect your artistical approach, something we frogot to oftenly.

 

[DennyCrane]

There's nothing more "artistic" to film than digital. That's like a painter saying acrylic is more artistic than water colors. Art is something that can be achieved in any medium.

 

[tran_ng]

Yeah but it's an other tool with different aspects. I'm not sayin digital is not artistic...they're both photography but with new tool you can acheive new things and some people juste have more ease with different tools. How bad would be for painting if we'd take off either waters colors or acrylic.
I hope film will stay

 

[skieur]

I completely disagree with the ones saying that film is dead in commercial applications. That is just plain incorrect. There are quite a few major magazines that expect a 4x5 trans and wouldn't want a digital image. It all depends on what area of photography you are working in. Film is not dead and probably will never die. I still shoot quite a bit of film, all large format.

I suppose it depends on the term "major magazines" but I find that a lot prefer digital. The ones that are really picky about quality will certainly accept 24mp full frame, medium format digital or large format digital. There are also of course, some magazines that don't want to pay for digital medium or large format quality and asking for 4X5 trans is a way of keeping costs down.

skieur

 

[dxqcanada]

Film will only die once the Motion Picture and Medical industry stop using it.

Standard camera film may live on but probably supported by smaller companies such as Ilford or Fotokemika.

 

[Retro_10s]

Film is far from dead - Lots of people using film, lots of people Whooping DSLR butt with it too - the reverse of this is also true.

I'm not digital hater (infact i've been looking at D40's for a while) but I have lost count of the amount of people I know that have moved to DSLR because it's shiny and convenient, only to come back to film because It's cheaper, less expensive to fix should it go wrong, and the most important thing - they ENJOY it more. I love film, and the closest i come to digital now is a quick snap with my phone.

I get stopped by people in the street when I'm using my Canon AV-1 to talk about it, saying it's a lovely looking thing, and they used to have one etc etc... not so with digital.

There is NOTHING quite like waiting for those photos to develop in front of you, or picking them up from the developing shop. Certainly more fun than staring at a USB cable.

Long live film, If it was dead - people wouldn't use it, sell it, love it and preserve it. But they do, and 'lo, it's still here. peace.

 

[Actor]

Film will only die once the Motion Picture and Medical industry stop using it.

Quite a few movies are originated 100% digital and are printed on film only because some exhibitors don't yet have digital projectors. This is particularly true of movies that use a lot of CGI. I don't have any figures but I bet more that half the movies produced world wide are 100% digital origination.

As for the medicals, all the x-rays taken of me in recent years have been digital. A major impetus here is that getting the picture to the doc quickly can be a life or death matter.

 

[PJL]

I'm a pure novice, but I love shooting film. There's just something about looking at a negative-produced print to me that's more appealing than looking at shots on a computer screen. That being said, I'm not anti-digital. I hope to one day drop $2,300 on a Nikon D700 (or its equivalent); until then, I'll keep taking shots with the Elan 7 I picked up with a battery pack in like new condition for $75.

 

[djacobox372]

IMO, film will only die if there's a comparable replacement for it.
If digital eventually achieves film resolution, affordably, then film should start worrying.

Then I guess you should start worrying because digital has passed film resolution.

skieur

'

True, but unfortunately they can't figure out how to make digital work well small format. Slightly higher resolution doesn't matter when your sensors are so tiny.

 

[skieur]

IMO, film will only die if there's a comparable replacement for it.
If digital eventually achieves film resolution, affordably, then film should start worrying.

Then I guess you should start worrying because digital has passed film resolution.

skieur

'

True, but unfortunately they can't figure out how to make digital work well small format. Slightly higher resolution doesn't matter when your sensors are so tiny.

Sorry, but I am not getting your point. What do you mean "they can't figure out how to make digital work well small format"? Slightly higher resolution may be true at 10 megapixels but at 24mp. and 37mp. it is much more than SLIGHTLY higher resolution. It is even considerably more with the large 12mp chips, labelled as ultra high resolution in medium format.

skieur

 

[compur]

And, another pixel war is underway.

 

[skieur]

And, another pixel war is underway.

Pixels equate to resolution. If you want to talk resolution instead then it is 2,000 to 3,000 lines.

skieur

 

[compur]

See what I mean?