Why Film?

Three years ago I picked up my first real film camera and became completely seduced by the medium. I would often come under scrutiny for my use of film over digital and though lately there is an increase in film users, I still often get asked why. Why, in the midst of a digital revolution, do I still hold on to film? These are the three questions I'd say I get asked the most.



Where's the screen?

It's always funny when people want to see the image you just shot and they are very confused when you tell them you can't. "But how do you know you got the shot?" I don't, but that's a good thing, for two specific reasons.

First, I'm pushing myself to understand my camera, my subject and the lighting. Photography at it's simplest is the capture of light photons on a medium, that's it. How you capture those photons is what separates the amateurs (me) from the pros. If you understand how the light will reflect off your subject and through your lens before you even press the shutter, you don't need a screen.

The second is that while everyone else is staring at a little screen that doesn't even come close to representing the final image they are missing a lot of good images. The best photos are the candid ones, the ones where you happen to catch the right moment at the exact right time. Those don't happen very often (and sometimes not at all) and to catch as many as you can you have to constantly observe and wait. Life is fluid, just like a river you can't just stop and rewind it, you just have to go with it.

Aren't you limited to one speed?

With the newer SLR bodies that were built just before camera makers cut film from their product lines, you can easily change ISO. It takes a bit more time, and you waste a shot or two, but almost every prosumer body has the ability to program it to leave the leader out of the canister when it rewinds. This can also be done on older analog cameras, but it's a bit more difficult and takes a good hand to recognize when to stop winding the crank. From there, just mark down the last shot frame number and switch to a new roll. When you want to go back, bump the shutter speed as high as it'll go, close up the aperture and cover the lens. Fire away until you get to the frame and give it an extra or two, job done, multiple ISO's at your fingertips.

Isn't it expensive?

In today's world of bigger, better products with short shelf lives, digital, over a lifetime, is actually more expensive. Just like computers, that brand new Canon 7d will be replaced with a new model in a about two years. Sure the megapixel war is just about over, but I'm sure Canon will continue to come up with faster processors, shorter noise reduction times or faster frame rates that you just have to have, and you just lost $1500 or so over the 2 year life of your camera, if you resell it. On the other hand most of today's bodies claim a 100,000 life span (compared to 150,000 of the later film models). Unlike film cameras, it's a lot harder and expensive to replace the guts of a digital SLR and those trigger happy shooters out there will burn through 100,000 actuations long before I will. So at best a good digital SLR costs about $750 a year and has 1/8 the lifespan as mine. I can buy, develop and scan quite a bit of color slides and a hell of a lot of black and white negatives and I'll still be saving money.

These aren't the only reasons I shoot film though, there's also it's longevity. A negative can't be out-pixeled (did I just make up a word?) by a newer negative, though a negative can deteriorate if not stored properly. As digital bodies get more and more resolution so do the scanners. Sure a 120 negative will always have a better resolution than a 35mm, just as a 4x5 negative will be better than the 120, but the 35mm shot today will scan the same as the one shot ten years from now.

There are some downsides to sticking with film unfortunately. Since 2007 the only bodies being produced are the top of the line (read $4,000 plus) products, but hopefully with a growing following producers will see an opportunity to reopen their film lines. Another problem is that unlike digital bodies, film bodies will never be able to capture video. As commercial photography moves toward a joint venture with video production, film cameras will be left behind.

In today's world of everything that is great is digital most people assume film has gone the way of the cassette (both audio and video) but the truth is there's a revival right now. Some people find film photography through classes (that's how I started), some want to explore new formats (whether medium or large formats), some feel it's the way of the hipster (which is fine with me, demand ensures production and decreases cost), and some just want to go back to the way it used to be before digital. Before thousands of photos on an 8 gig card, before constantly tweaking your settings to get the "perfect shot", before hours of sitting at a computer screen staring at almost identical images trying to decide which had the best lighting. Me, I just love it.

I love the sense of security of having a tangible image, not just a bunch of bytes on a failure prone disk drive. I love that I'm limited, it helps control my ADHD brain from running 100mph and second guessing every decision. I love looking a scene over, trying to understand the components that make it up, the way the lighting interacts with them, and the way the final image will be viewed. I love the smell of a dark room, even if that room is my cramped 4'x8' bathroom. I love actually handling my images, running my hands over a negative or print, drawing the sense of feeling it gives me. In the end, like my favorite pair of pants, I love that it just fits me.

Jimmy