Does anyone use film anymore?

[subijitsu]

Is everyone using digital now or are there some film users still out there?

I know that digital is better in pretty much every way. When I was heavy into photography, digital was still in its infant stages so film was still king. Now that I am getting back into it a little I was wondering if there are any purists out there still or if film users are a dead breed.

[jwedehase]

First of all, I've gone digital. I'm now shooting a Canon 20D, and the 35mm hasn't left the camera bag in well over a year. In my opinion, film still rules, actually. With the right equipment, I'm still convinced digital can't touch a high end slide, like Fuji Velvia, for example. However, 80% of what I shoot is my tank, and the harsh, high kelvin lighting in our tanks is pretty tough to shoot on film. In addition, my camera should have no problem putting out a nice 16x20" photo, which is larger than any photo I own, including wedding shots.

In the end, it's about cost and fun factor. I still believe there's some artistic capability lost in digital, but there's no way I could have learned as much as I have in the 8000 photos I've taken since I got the camera in June 2005. Even being conservative, at $6/roll for decent film and $10/roll for processing... digital has saved me many hundreds of dollars.

[subijitsu]

Originally posted by jwedehase

I still believe there's some artistic capability lost in digital,

Yes. There is just something about film photography that seems, to me anyway, to be more of an artistic (for lack of a better word) way of doing it. Maybe its because of the cost that a good film shot seems to be more masterful than a digi shot. Where you can get an awesome shot out of 1000 digital shots, getting a awesome shot on film would be harder due to cost.

I just love taking the shot, processing the film, printing the photo, and holding something that I made from start to finish. While it takes skill to take digi pics and to photoshop as nesessary, it seems almost too easy. I still love photoshop though.

[64Ivy]

I'll still shoot film occasionally, large format. I think it's good to run through the old manual skills (and equipment) every once and awhile. Plus, I STILL say there is no comparision between a properly exposed (large format) slide and...well, anything!

[CodeToad]

a 35mm film can be scanned about 4000px wide @ 300dpi --- Imagine what an 8x10 slide of film converts too in the digital world

[Jasonzo6]

I shoot film for everything but my tank, digital is a ton easier to use when trying to get pics of the fish or corals in the tank, easier to photoshop, and quicker to post online.

For my family though, I still use film/slides for everything... but I have WAY more invested in my film equipment than I do in digital. I still use a professional photographer on occassion and she has actually made the switch to digital. But then again, her camera body alone cost $3,500... so that's hard to compare.