Film or Digital

[Paleosuchus]

I have always been for digital, on the spot refrence to how your picture turned out, very neat and very handy. I have been looking for a new camera and talked to quite a few camera sellers and the more i think about it, film is the way to go. Digital takes up so much space on the computer, being clumsy and careless like i am..putting them on discs they just get broken or lost. An all the pictures are lost. With film you always have a sheet of your pictures to go back on, an choose the ones to be enlarged etc.. Just wanted everyone elses thoughts on digital or film. thanks, jason

[Jeff_Favelle]

Digital takes up so much space on the computer

The ABSOLUTE CHEAPEST area of computer technology right now is hard drive space. 200 gig hard drives for like $110. Keep in mind, that ONE gig will hold 2,000+ PHOTO quality images, and ONE blank DVD holds 4.7 gigs. SO you could fit 10,000 images on a blank DVD. If you're taking more than 10,000 images, damn, you are professional photographer and this post is moot, LOL!

Digital all the way. I can print ANY picture I want on my printer and it looks the SAME as a photograph. Conversely, if I didn't have a printer, FutureSHop and WalMart and Best Buy all do photo prints from digital pics for 25 cents each Canadian (20 cents US). And you only have to print the ones you like. Given that maybe 20 out of a 100 pictures are actually worthwhile, a digital camera will pay for itself within a YEAR under moderate use.

[Big Mike]

Film still has some advantages...greater dynamic range, better resolving power, cheaper initial costs etc.

but Jeff is exactly right, you need not be worried about storage space...it's cheap and easy.

Go Digital

[Vengeance]

What kind of pronter do you have jeff that it prints out photo shop quality photos? I know a few people that have them, but I find them very slow and the quality isn't as good as getting them done by say Blacks or Future shop.

[tonyj]

A middle of the road 35mm film camera will handle just about anything that comes its way, including fast moving sports shots.
With some competitively priced accesories. wide angle, macro and telephoto photography is readily available. There are almost no limits.
A good digital camera will cover much of this however, except perhaps the fast moving sports shots or the instantanious shots of the grandchildren at play.
With a digital, many shots can be wasted, thus turning a poor photographer into a decent photographer by selective editing.
A normal film photographer, unless he is a photo-journalist for instance, and is having his or her film paid for, must excercise a little more patience in composition, lighting, subject matter etc., otherwise his or her film costs can be excessive.
On the plus side, most photo processors such as Super Store will provide a CD of the films results for only three or four dollars extra, which allows the photographer to send or manipulate the images at will.
Digital PC storage is cheap. Some cameras will also shoot decent quality but relatively short movie images, but additional memory cards will have to be purchased, whatever the use. Unfortunately the ones supplied with most cameras are only good for less than one film's worth of shots. These are not cheap, costing from $60- 150 depending on size of memory. At least one extra memory card is recommended.
The discussions are endless. Quality or convenience? Fun or semi serious photography? Which camera provides all this? The choice
is yours.
Incidentally I use an older metal bodied 35mm Nikon FM with interchangeable lenses. I also own a much newer Canon S1SI digital camera. They are both excellent cameras, but I suspect I will be using the Nikon long after the Canon has been replaced. My family, however likes to use the digital Canon. It's more fun!

[sweet]

canon i960 gives excellent prints

[concept3]

I have the EPSON stylus Photo R300 and I dont think very many people could tell the diffrence between its prints and one from a 35mm and a photo shop

[Paleosuchus]

I have decided to upgrade to a higher digital instead of going film. Will probably get either a coolpix 8800, or a 5700. Thans=ks for the replies and comments, jason