Welcome to TalkGraphics.com

View Poll Results: Is the film camera dead?

Voters
721. This poll is closed
  • Yes

    309 42.86%
  • No

    412 57.14%
Page 1 of 8 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 74
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    1,716

    Default Is the film camera dead? Discussion and poll.

    Recent years have seen the explosion of the digital camera and, arguably, the terminal decline of the film camera.

    Is the film camera dead?

    Do you use film cameras, if so why?

    Is there room for both and will the film camera be relegated to just dedicated users?

    What do you use your camera for (and why not share some of your best shots)?

    Anyone can post in this thread and vote in the poll, even if you're not registered. But registering is recommended.
    I'd start a revolution, if I could get up in the morning.
    IP

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Posts
    1,570

    Default Re: Is the film camera dead? Discussion and poll.

    I have both film and digital. Can't use either satisfactorily because I never took the time to use the tools properly.

    I still use film, because back in the 60s-70s when film was the only thing, I purchased camera equipment very inexpensively overseas. Lenses from fisheye to 1000mm zoom, macro, macro zooms of all sizes and etc. Those got stolen in a move from overseas and I replaced them with similar models, so can't bare to part with them.

    The nice thing about digital cameras is that a lot are point and shoot, no brainers, plus no film to develop and the film can be encrypted digitally which is kind of nice for some purposes.

    The sad thing is no longer can the photo hobbyist make a darkroom with the secret trap door to escape the visiting mother-in-law.
    IP

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Rocky Mountains, Colorado
    Posts
    95

    Default Re: Is the film camera dead? Discussion and poll.

    I voted for dead.

    It's not completely dead, only mostly dead, like Wesley in the Princess Bride.

    It's dead in the dentist's office. I had my annual x-ray exam yesterday, and the new equipment was filmless. The images popped up on an LCD monitor in front of me as soon as the technician let go of the button.

    "Isn't that great?" she said, "And if anyone needs copies you can just email them, and they can blow them up on screen and see everything!"

    I got my first digital camera in 1998. My wife didn't like it because she's the type that collects photos in albums, and digital albums didn't appeal to her. She wanted to turn the pages and see all of the pictures in book format. She was not used to the idea that only some of the pictures that she took were worth printing.

    But then she discovered some problems with film photography that she didn't notice before.

    She has to shoot a whole roll before she can see the pictures. Sometimes this takes a couple of months.

    She can share pictures if she gets "double prints" from the film service, but it's more trouble and expense if she wants additional copies.

    She gets double prints of the junk stuff too.

    She can't "fix" a good photo with one bad feature without scanning it to digital and using a graphics editor, which is cheating.

    Ditto emailing to friends, making windows wallpaper, posting on the web, etc. -- it takes another step (a scanner), so why not just shoot in digital and eliminate the hassles of film? Her film camera has been gathering dust for the last couple of years, and we've taken more photos (and printed fewer) than ever.

    Digital photography has changed the way we use cameras.

    My wife decorates for Christmas. Extensively. So extensively that it takes two or three weeks to complete, full time (she's retired). After she's done, she shoots low-res snapshots of everything (usually between 100 and 200 shots). Next year, she'll decorate again with those snapshots up on her laptop screen as a reference.

    We did our annual trip to SoCal last month, and I wanted a group portrait of my wife, her brother, and their father. With three heads in the picture, it's almost a cliche that one will blink, look sideways, or lick their lips at the exact moment the shutter clicks. So I told them to hold the pose until I finished, and I took a half-dozen shots in rapid succession. Later, I had a half-dozen versions of each face to choose from, and the final portrait had the best of each one, thanks to digital cloning.

    I expect that the other side of the argument would be from the purists standpoint, citing the quality of results possible with modern films, and this is a valid point, but meaningless in the long run. The market is the snapshot taking public, not the photographic artist, and the big companies won't produce film if there are only a handful of customers left.

    Technologies that I grew up with include manual typewriters, slide rules, rotary-dial telephones with party lines, fountain pens, skates with keys, and 8mm movie cameras. All dead in practical terms, but all still available on eBay (except for party lines).

    I wouldn't go back...
    IP

  4. #4
    graemethemiller Guest

    Default Re: Is the film camera dead? Discussion and poll.

    No, I still think film has the edge in resolution.
    There is less chance of losing your images when they are on slides rather than on a hard disc, even though I have scanned a large number of mine - but I stioll have the slides.
    I sometimes wonder about the number of images that will be lost as digital technology updates and you haven't kept up.
    Remenber the story (apocryphal?) about all the early NASA images that could not be read because the reading hardware had been superceded and then lost/destroyed!
    IP

  5. #5
    Unregistered Guest

    Default Re: Is the film camera dead? Discussion and poll.

    The manufacturers are not giving us much choice. Nikon is now making only 2 film cameras. Kodak is shutting down film and paper lines. I have done B&W photography for over 30 years and can no longer get the Agfa paper I love to use - they are bankrupt as well as Ilford. Kodak lost a ton of money on film products last year and made a ton on digital. We will not have much choice in the future. There may be some neich markets for B&W supplies for processing but it is not so easy to make reliable film. But all is not lost! Digital has brought tools that greatly enhance my creative expression. This is just a step to the next level.
    IP

  6. #6
    Unregistered Guest

    Default Re: Is the film camera dead? Discussion and poll.

    It can never die.
    Evidentiary documentation must be taken on film cameras due to the ease of manipulation of digital images so I think that film is here to stay.
    Anyway, I really like images taken on B&W film.

    emt29165
    IP

  7. #7
    Unregistered Guest

    Default Re: Is the film camera dead? Discussion and poll.

    I was a commercial photog for 30 years. Film is rapidly becoming a hobbiest medium. It can still do tricks a digital camera can't, but the gap is closing.

    Yes, equivalent resolution is better with film, but it's often resolution you don't need. Subjective resolution is more dependent on lighting and subject matter than objective resoltion anyway. (Tacks in sunlight will always "look" sharper than clouds on a hazy day, regardless of what you shoot with.)

    Digital doesnt' capture extra curve, so there's no detail in hilights or shadows that can be recovered in the "darkroom," as there is with film.

    Lastly, you still have to spend $1,000+ to get a digital camera that comes close to a $300 film camera.

    But as I said, the gap's closing.
    IP

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Varese - Italy
    Posts
    75

    Default Re: Is the film camera dead? Discussion and poll.

    I voted yes, but....
    I afraid that in 20 years we will have lost all our family heritage
    The issue is that there are currently NO DIGITAL SUPPORTS that last over 4/5 years.
    - Did you remember the 5" 1/4 Floppy ?
    >> No drives exist any more to read them
    - Did you remember the 3" 1/2 Floppy ?
    >> In my experience the 80% of mine are demagnetized!
    - Did you remember the CD ROM ?
    >> When SONY presented it to the world, they stated it would be last for 100 years. The reality is the now is "normal" to have a 6 months burned CD that is not readable any more....
    - Did you remember the DVD ROM ?
    >> Same issue of CD- ROM...

    Unless we continue to copy and copy and copy and copy all over new support forever in order to preserve them....
    I have still my old parents 1912 photos, that still exist, and survived to a world war...
    I wonder what will remain of our JPG photos, CD and HDs in year 2102.....

    Regards.
    Antimix
    IP

  9. #9
    Unregistered Guest

    Default Re: Is the film camera dead? Discussion and poll.

    No matter how neat and cool Digital photos are, nothing can beat the old fine grain 35 mm camera, After the power goes down and the disks crash and the batteries don't work a negative is still there to bring a photo to life.
    IP

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Kansas, USA
    Posts
    108

    Default Re: Is the film camera dead? Discussion and poll.

    In my early 20's, I purchased a set of studio lights (simple set)... I still have them and my 35mm camera. I bought a digital, which I love, but there's no connection on the camera to use for the studio lights. So, when I need to use the lights, I'll have to use film, though that doesn't happen often. If I figured out a way to use the lights with the digital camera (cuz I can't afford ANOTHER camera I'd probably fade completely out of using film. I do agree with much that has been written above, I'm spoiled rotten with being able to even lighten an image or some simple touchups quickly and easily digitally. And this is more so since I'm learning more about techniques to do this. Plus I can trial and error all day for no cost vs. trusting someone else to 'lighten' or 'darken' the picture at a lab, hoping they get it the way I want it. That's my story anyway.
    IP

 

 

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •