dig slr over film

how many photographers out their who be comfortable and totally at home in 35mm format

do you really know photography or just shoot and hope.


if you had to go back to 35mm would you survive

James

this is just a question/poll

No.

a) It would be too expensive.
b) I wouldn't want to go back to having to wait so long before seeing the results.

Ditto.

c) If I was forced to return to film, It would be 6x6 only. Anything smaller is equalized by todays high end Dslr sensors.

Martin.

I would only shoot 35mm film if I had a need to use my 28mm Shift. I dont just shoot and hope, too much depends on it like the roof over my head.

I still shoot 120 but, as I have previously remarked, a K7 might change that.

My 14 year old daughter is doing a school art department photography project and doesn't want to use her Optio. No, she isn't getting a DSLR, she's getting an SFXn with 28-80 Pentax-F; my thinking is that she would be better honing her skills looking through the viewfinder rather than reviewing/giggling with her pals at an LCD screen. Oh, and its a boat trip and SFXns seem to be worth less than carrots.

I shoot the odd roll of film with one of my bodies from time to time.

It reminds me not to be shutter happy and compose my shots.

I've seen too many canon DSLR users shooting HUNDREDS of frames and not getting any thing usefull!

I've also started playing with 120, now that's different again...

I giggle over the question of film versus digital. A friend of mine to photos, professionally, for museum and gallery catalogues. He was quite successful. Medium format film cameras only. He made a lot of fun of those using digital. Fine.

But, once he had the film developed, he didn't do it himself, he ran the films through an $8,000 drum scanner and then used Photoshop to edit the photos. My question was, "And that's not digital?"

Then he took the files on a CD to a custom lab where they did the printing. Nope, no digital there.

So, could I go back to using a film DSLR? Other than the difficulty in getting proper film, sure. But why in the world would I? If I wanted, I could set my DSLR to fully manual, set white balance to only one option, set ISO to just one ISO, set my contrast and saturation to match as near as possible my favorite film and, bingo, I have the 35mm experience without having to buy the drum scanner.

I never used film to any degree, certainly didn't have an SLR...the advent of digital is the very thing that sparked my interest so have no real interest in film photography - I'm one for using the best technology available, digital it is !!

Simon

I shot with 35mm slide film until 18 months ago but my first DSLR has rekindled my interest in, and love of, photography. I could go back to film but really don't feel the need. I've hardly picked up my film slr in a year and a half.

Richard

I started with an ME Super back in the 70's and still shoot slide (and the odd print film now and again). It's a valuable tool - makes you spend a bit more time thinking about composition/DoF and one I'd be sorry to loose.


Steve

The last film I shot and scanned was for a Pentax User article on Images of England, a couple of years back now at least.

I was very glad to get back to digital. It's much cleaner and I think the results are better now than film. In 35mm anyway.

IMHO we need to go to 6x7 now to actually better digital.

True John, but I can't afford one!!

I have just developed 5 rolls of 35mm film using the Tamron 28-75 and the MZ-6. I used them all in one day at the Notting Hill Carnival in London last week as I decided it was a good place to train my skills and use film after recently purchasing the MZ-6. I also took pictures at the same even last year with the same lens but the camera then was my k10d.

The differences between film and digital according to moi:

1) I took a lot more pictures when digital, not just mire in general but also a lot more of the same scene. I essentially took as many as were necessary until I saw one I liked. I could not do thus with film and had to trust my composition.

2) Film is a lot more expensive! It cost me £8 for the film and £50 to have them developed. That expense is probably offset by post processing though. Although I have jpg files I habve not even though about any PP. In digital, I would have spent quite a lot of my time in Lightroom/Photoshop, probably more than £50 worth

3) I find the dynamic range on film much much better than with digital. This could just be due to the fact the different camera bodies are different. It could be the K10d has poor dynamic range and the K7 is much better.

Either way, the range from the pictures I developed was excellent, no blown out skys and the it was very overcast in the morning. No loss of detail in the shadows either and there were scenes with plenty of both and the camera exposed perfectly.

The lack of dynamic range in digital could also be down to my poor technique.

4) I found the colours on film a lot more vibrant and natural. Yes, you can achieve similar effects in PP but I have not been able to get the right balance in digital. In film, the colours were all very accurate the greens were not tending towards a florescent yellow as they do on my K10

5) The lack of RAW files was frustrating. I have some captures which are very well composed (in my opinion ) but there is a distracting arm arm, half a body in view or the background is distracting. I could PP the jpeg files but seems pointless as the loss in quality when printing the jpeg might not be worth the effort.

6) The depth of field is much narrower on film. I have some results at f2.8 and the background is gone and the bokeh is very nice. The narrow DOF also makes it very easy to have the subject out of focus especially when it is moving as it was at the carnival!

Edit: typo

No, I cannot envisage going back to 35mm film.

I still use film, and would do if digital was not available - the thing is, I like taking pictures. Now side by side, my K10D produces much sharper results than my MZ5n, but it is more than twice the weight!

I have taken shots using my DA*50-135 on the 5MZ, however they are still in the camera (note to self, must finish film!)

I don't earn a living with my camera, if I did, my answer would be very different.

My new Pentax 645N arrived today. What was the question again?