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Digital Photography Vs. Film Photography

Ever since the introduction of the digital camera, a war has raged within the photographer community. There are those that would claim 35mm film is the one true "professional" media, and digital its casual, amateur counterpart. Conversely, as costs decrease and quality increases, there is an ever-expanding group of working photographers that shoot and produce only in digital. So what is a consumer to think? Is 35mm still the way to go, or is it time to trade up for a new digital model? It's time to look at each format and decide once and for all which is better.

Digital Photography: Amateur?
It is true that there are many digital cameras on the market, and like their 35mm counterparts there is an endless supply of variables that can impact the images each one is capable of producing. Image quality (in terms of depth of field and color contrast) has always been a major concern for those that choose digital and is still one of the most common excuses heard from the opposition. Add to this the fact that finding a digital camera that could match the sheer raw data contained in a photograph on film was both arduous and incredibly expensive, and the 35mm enthusiast has a fairly solid argument.

Fortunately for the consumer, the price of an high quality digital camera has dropped sharply in the last few years. Canon's popular "Digital Rebel" line of SLRs has given people an affordable (under $1,000) entry-level camera that produces near professional results. And since Canon isn't the only camera company in the world, it's a safe bet consumers can look forward to even better cameras at even lower prices as manufacturers double their efforts to be first in line at the retail counter.

35mm:  Antiquated?
These days why use film at all? It's certainly no secret that film has an unforgiving and often expensive learning curve, and recent trends show professionals leaning heavily on digital for precisely those reasons. After all, when shooting a big event like a Super Bowl, would it be better to have the potential for thousands of shots, or just the film in the bag? Sports photographers answered that question by taking over 10,000 digital images in a single Super Bowl game.

However, just as some music enthusiasts claim that everything sounds better on a record, there are plenty of photographers who agree that there is no matching the warmth and familiarity of a fresh roll of film. In fact, developing film manually and printing photos in a darkroom is for some one of the most rewarding photographic experiences a photographer can have. Sure, photos can be powerfully edited using tools like Adobe Photoshop to remove almost any imperfection, but clicking a mouse is very different than the tactile sensations of a darkroom. And of course, having someone else print up a roll of film only takes an hour or so.

And the Winner Is..
Neither! Based on the accessibility of technology and the vast educational resources devoted to the topic, there's really no defining point that wins this battle one way or the other. As with many debates, the winner is going to be decided based upon the needs and desires of the individual photographer. Families wanting to shoot and share their holiday memories on the fly may choose digital due to its instant gratification and convenience, while others may stick to good old film so they can print up doubles and put them into family photo albums. Thanks to powerful yet affordable innovations in digital and the classic, "do it yourself familiarity of film" the choice is now directly in the hands of the consumer- right where it belongs.

About the Author

Autumn Lockwood is a writer for Your Picture Frames and loves photography. Your Picture Frames offers a large online selection of different shaped frames like our wooden oval picture frames and round photo frames. See our selection of wood photo frames by visiting our website or calling 1-800-780-0699.

Darkroom $19.95 Darkroom: A Memoir in Black and White is an arresting and moving personal story about childhood, race, and identity in the American South, rendered in stunning illustrations by the author, Lila Quintero Weaver.   In 1961, when Lila was five, she and her family emigrated from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Marion, Alabama, in the heart of Alabama’s Black Belt. As educated, middle-class Latino immigrants in a region that was defined by segregation, the Quinteros occupied a privileged vantage from which to view the racially charged culture they inhabited. Weaver and her family were firsthand witnesses to key moments in the civil rights movement.  But Darkroom is her personal story as well: chronicling what it was like being a Latina girl in the Jim Crow South, struggling to understand both a foreign country and the horrors of our nation’s race relations. Weaver, who was neither black nor white, observed very early on the inequalities in the American culture, with its blonde and blue-eyed feminine ideal. Throughout her life, Lila has struggled to find her place in this society and fought against the discrimination around her.

The Darkroom Cookbook $39.95 The art of darkroom developing and printing will never go out of style. Master darkroom specialist Steve Anchell is back to prove it in this long-awaited third edition of his enormously successful Darkroom Cookbook. Packed with over 200 "recipes," some common and others rare gems, you'll discover something new every time you open this guide, whether you're new to the darkroom or have been making your own prints for years. In addition to the formulas, you'll find tons of useful information on developers, push-processing, where to get darkroom equipment, how to set up your own darkroom, how to work and play in your darkroom safely, and much more. This handy guide will become a constant companion for every darkroom enthusiast creating prints at home or in the studio. In addition to complete updates throughout to reflect changes in the availability of chemicals and equipment, this third edition contains all new information on: *Reversal processing *Enlarged negatives *Pyro formulas *Plus expanded sections on printing, pyro, and toning prints Also included for the first time are special technique contributions as well as stunning black and white imagery by Bruce Barnbaum, Rod Dresser, Jay Dusard, Patrick Gainer, Richard Garrod, Henry Gilpin, Gordon Hutchings, Sandy King, Les McLean, Sa?d Nuseibeh, France Scully Osterman, Mark Osterman, Tim Rudman, Ryuijie, John Sexton, and John Wimberly. Be sure to visit www.darkroomcookbook.com to find useful links, an interactive user forum, and more! Steve Anchell is a photographer and author of The Variable Contrast Printing Manual, and co-author of The Film Developing Cookbook. He has been teaching darkroom and photography workshops since 1979. Steve is a member of the Freestyle Advisory Board of Photographic Professionals. "With its unrivalled collection of photographic formulae and easy to understand explanations of photographic processes, The Darkroom Cookbook has long been a favorite with darkroom workers everywhere. Now, with further additions to its formulary, more topics, and contributions by renowned darkroom experts, this new edition promises to be an indispensable Aladdin's Cave resource to darkroom enthusiasts of all levels." -Tim Rudman, photographer and author "The Darkroom Cookbook is an essential compendium of photographic information for anyone interested in high-quality darkroom work." -John Sexton, photographer *Packed with rare techniques for silver-based processing clearly explained by a darkroom master so you can create your own stunning prints at home or in the studio *Contains over 200 formulas - follow along step-by-step, or experiment with your own variations to develop new recipes! *Includes a brand-new chapter on analog variable contrast printing *Visit the new supplemental website to find useful links and an interactive user forum

Early Darkroom Equipment $79.99 Early Darkroom Equipment - Premium Photographic Print

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The Photoshop Darkroom $39.95 The Photoshop Darkroom offers limitless possibilities for photographers looking for jaw-dropping results, using powerful and innovative creative post-processing techniques. If you want folks to ask "How did you do that?" then this is the book for you! The images in The Photoshop Darkroom will inspire you and help you unleash your creative potential. You'll learn to view your own digital photography with new eyes. Step-by-step directions show you real-world examples of how to achieve the results you want from your photography and post-processing. *Learn how to work with RAW image files *Understand the Photoshop darkroom workflow *Multi-process RAW files *Extend the dynamic range of your photographs *Create High Dynamic Range (HDR) images by hand *Create stunning black and white imagery with Photoshop *Use layers and masking for compositing *Create striking color effects using LAB color

Darkroom (Paperback) $33.51 In the aftermath of her mother`s suicide, one young woman recognizes the malleability of her reality. From her adolescence in the flat, hot Floridian landscape to a tectonic Missouri adulthood, a girl shaped by grief is compelled to create and manipulate her image of the world. As her dreams become indistinguishable from daily life, she begins to question memory, identity, and the function of love. Employing photography as its central metaphor, Darkroom tackles the tangled relationship between memory and mourning by exploring an artist`s impossible attempt to re-create the object of loss.

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The New Darkroom Handbook $52.95 The Darkroom Handbook, Second Edition, is a completely revised and updated version of a classic guide to the best design, construction, and equipment to use when setting up a darkroom. This book features ideas and money-saving tips on how to put a darkroom almost anywhere in your home or apartment. It takes you inside darkrooms of photographers around the world including those of famous photographers such as, Harry Callahan, Aaron Siskind, Berenice Abbott, and W. Eugene Smith. In addition, it contains detailed do-it-yourself plans for the most essential darkroom components, cutouts and design grids to plan that "dream" darkroom, and special sections on the color darkroom and the digital darkroom. The most comprehensive book on the darkroom. A step-by-step guide to help anyone plan and build a photo lab. Illustrated with an abundance of photos and sketches.

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Darkroom (DVD) $36.49 A married couple that develops crime scene photos for the Salt Lake Police Department gradually finds the psychic toll of their job becoming too much to bear as the disturbing content of the pictures begins to weigh heavily on their morale and cast a suffocating blanket of melancholy over their very existence. Every day, David and Coy are reminded just how badly life can end. When David suffers a devastating disconnect from reality and Coy experiences serious complications while attempting to get pregnant, both of their lives begin spiraling down the same dark and dangerous path.

Darkroom (Hardcover) $128.93 Description not available.

Darkroom Cookbook $35.66 No Synopsis Available