*Shrug* Whatever suits the occasion. There are some areas film would excel in, and there's some things digital would excel in. Do what you think suits you best.
LittleWolf said:By you realize that, by touting your beloved silver-halide-in-gelatin-emulsions and related laboratory/darkroom processes, you are what was considered a technohead maybe in the 1890s?
LittleWolf said:I think the lesson is pretty obvious: whatever was common when one grew up/grew into the hobby (or even profession) is the best, and any change is seen with suspicion.
LittleWolf said:What I learn from looking at the history of photography is that people have produced great pictures whith whatever technology was available. In light of this, common sense would suggest that it's the image that matters, not the details of the recording technology - as suggested by someone else in this thread.
Littlewolf said:What the progress of technology has done for us to continuously remove technical limitations that prevented us from taking pictures in certain situations. When exposure times where a few minutes instead of an hour, the first portraits became possible; when it was reduced to seconds, it became possible to take the first street scenes with humans; when wet collodion was replaced with dry plates, photographers didn't have to carry a darkroom around with them. With each technological innovation, there was an outcry by traditionalists, but in the end everyone profited from it.
I still have a fondness for film, but I have to acknowledge that affordable electronic imaging technology has progressed to a point where it surpasses film in many aspects. (It is no coincidence that in science, where the cost of equipment is not the primary concern, electronic imagers have been continuously replacing photographic emulsions for many years - be it in astronomy, spectroscopy, remote imaging/sensing, or X-ray imaging/diffraction.) In particular, I'm still very fond of slides - but once there's similarly affordable high-quality projection technology for digitized images available, I will probably get a bit sentimental, but not get much gray hair if slide film disappears from the market. There's developments in the world that worry me more .
student said:I think you may need hearing aids.
Macky said:Ouch! I think someone's feelings and ego got hurt. :bsmilie: :bsmilie: :bsmilie:
Voigtlander said:I am still using 35mm film but only B&W for its tonality and grain.
fWord said:The debate between new and old will last forever because progress is always being made. And today, things are progressing at a very high speed. Yet, as they say, "the more things change, the more they remain the same". Ultimately the goal is to unite ourselves as 'photographers' and go after that image which we feel will best move our audience.
Macky said:Depending on the setup you're using, you can actually get quite good results on a digital workflow for B&W prints. I'm using a Epson 2200 with an ImagePrint RIP. Prints are very good with the usual tone and contrast you see in conventional B&W prints. Off the rack 2200 gave me B&W prints with varying colour casts. The RIP, to me, is essential.
Just thought you'd like to know.
Wisp said:In film, you worry about exposure, development and the copying and printing.
Plus we had to do things right the first time round. There's no way to know if we got it right, that's another thing.
In digital photography, we've cut the time factor as well as the non recovery rate.
Plus there's white balance and all those features besides aperture and shutter speed. Plus the post processing. Plus the limited dynamic range which to me is actually a little worse than slides.
Plus obsolence. Plus the heavy investment in equipment and software just to get things going.
So honestly, life hasn't gotten much easier. Digital seemed the easy way out but like anything in this world, there are other complexities to even things out.
The term "white balance" may come from the video world, but exactly the same functions had to be achieved in the colour darkroom using filters - in the absence of an expensive colour analyzer by expensive and time-consuming trial and error.
LittleWolf said:Apart from development, I'd say it is largely the same with electronic image capture/processing.
"Exposure bracketing" functions preceed the "digital" revolution by about 15 years or so, no? And without those, the universal advice was "film is cheap, take a lot of exposures, weed out later". With my dSLR, I won't know if it's "right" until I come home either - at least I cannot judge images by looking at a thumbnail of a mini-LCD. Plus, commonly available "digital" cameras are much less forgiving with respect to overexposure than film.
Have you ever printed in colour in the darkroom? The term "white balance" may come from the video world, but exactly the same functions had to be achieved in the colour darkroom using filters - in the absence of an expensive colour analyzer by expensive and time-consuming trial and error.
You can see my works at www.pbase.com/yeocolinthearttofeelme said:i agree with all of you.without film photgraphy everything would be too easy for everyone to enjoy photography.all of us would love challenges.i still use an film slr.
can i see anyone's film works here?do msg
Patryk said:Was it you Littlewolf (luv your avatar..so cute!) or student, who mentioned about Calotypes and wet plates? Any of you know anyone trying them out in singapore..read up on calotypes and daguerrotypes abit, and would really like to see one done..