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Why I don’t miss film

Film fans love to talk about how great film photography was or is but I don’t miss it at all.

There is something magical about analog photography. Chemical based photography using photosensitive materials such as film and paper feels like your an alchemist.  If you’ve ever developed a print in the darkroom, it is a bit like baking.  Careful measurements of chemicals, strict adherence to the “recipe” and procedures, consistent, repeatable actions were required.

Working in the dark and breathing in smelly and probably dangerous chemicals were par for the course but watching the print appear on a blank piece of paper in the developer bath was a magical experience.

Unfortunately unless you have a professionally managed darkroom setup with a staff to prepare fresh chemicals so they are ready to go, you probably end up like I did with a basic enlarger in a spare closet.  The darkroom experience was an all day event, cleaning out the closet of old clothes, shoes and Christmas ornaments, mixing up the chemicals and setting up the enlarger on a rickety chair and trying to produce consistent results.

Reasons I don’t Shoot Film

  • Film is expensive.
  • A professional darkroom set up is expensive.
  • Film is wasteful.
  • Film requires smelly and probably dangerous chemicals.
  • Film requires a CSI lab technician type mentality of consistency, practice and repeatable results.
  • The wait factor.  With digital I get instant feedback.
  • Color is really hard to achieve in a home darkroom set up. 

I don’t feel like I’m missing anything by going digital.  I can get quicker, more consistent results with digital.  I can choose to spend a random hour processing an image rather then having to devote an entire day to setting up the darkroom.

I can get repeatable results.  I don’t have to take detailed notes on how to develop and dodge and burn a negative.  With digital I can post-process an image in Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Photoshop once and then offer it in a range of sizes.

With film you basically work on a specific size print and have to go through an entire song and dance routine with each prints to get consistent results. With digital you work on the digital negative, get it how you want it and then it’s always available for printing to various sizes. 

With digital you can even create multiple versions from the same RAW digital file.  You can change the White set up at will rather than having to purchase various color all-day films and you create a color or black and white image from the same digital file.

With film so many decisions have to be made when you load the film into the camera.  How many shots do you want to take? 12, 24, 36?  Do you want color or black and white?  Indoor or outdoor lighting?  How fast does the ISO or ASA rating need to be?

With digital you don’t have any of these constraints.  You can change the ISO and white balance at will and make other choices like Black and White vs. Color later on.

And you don’t have to wait until the roll is finished before developing the photographs.  Plus with a large SD card, you have virtually an unlimited “roll of film” in the camera.  No need to worry about packing a pocket full of film rolls.

Plus the feedback loop is so quick.  In the old days of film you might send the film off for processing and get it back a few weeks later.  Some of the shots on the roll might have been months old.  So old that you forgot you even took them.  Hard to improve your photography with such a disconnect between the moment and the results.

With digital photography, the results are basically instant.  You can learn from your composition and exposure and re-shoot in the moment.