Which one of these 2 images were shot on a film camera? They were taken one after the other, just a few seconds apart. So the lighting, the aperture, and even the ISO are the same. One with a Nikon D5300 and the other with a Yashika 120mm film camera.
I wouldn't be surprised if you guess it wrong, the pictures look almost identical as the settings were exactly the same. If the output is the same why are the professional photographers these days using Digital cameras by spending thousands of dollars on it?
Some of the few reasons are :
- Speed - One can shoot thousands of images before a battery dies and one doesn't have to think too much before shooting.
- Portability- You do not have to carry a 100 rolls or large plates to shoot everywhere you go.
- Replacement - If you do not have enough space you can always delete bad pictures and take a few more shots
- Cost - Even though the initial cost of a digital camera is more the, developing negatives, enlarging pictures on a photosensitive paper with the cost of chemicals will be much more over a period of time.
- Time - From the time you click the picture to - developing negatives - to making test prints - to the time of enlargement it takes you at least 30 mins for a photograph if you are really good at it.
- Risk - Since films are light sensitive, if there is a small leakage in your camera even a small dot where light can pass through or you expose the roll somehow to light the entire strip goes to waste.
- Preview - You get to see what you just shot and click again if you made some kinda fault.
So it is very clear that digital cameras are way more efficient than a film camera. But the actual question is does it make it better because it makes it easy? In my opinion, Film Photography is under rated and truly amazing. In spite of all its cons, I still prefer shooting in film for the sole reason that it carries mystery within it, as you do not know what you have photographed and how it will look till the end of developing.
When you learn to shoot in film cameras you learn how every small manual setting works and what makes a camera a camera. You learn to look for things before you shoot, you pre-visualize the frame in your head before you click. The very nature of film photography is so delicate that till you make a final print and preserve the negatives your work is not done. It makes you rethink the way you look at photography and for me, that's absolutely amazing!
And in case you are still curious,
Comment below if you got it right!
If you are planning on starting film photography I highly recommend Diana F+ . This is more like a toy camera but gives you wonderful results and it costs just 35 bucks!!!