[Jon L]

Wow... those are massive!  Even the T2i is big compared to my DSLRs.  But I don't live in a BIG house, so my cameras have to be small.

And they are even heavier than they look!  At any rate, I hope I'm not doing something horribly wrong shooting with these because I loaded them up with the nice Fuji Reala 100 films, which I probably should't have done since I haven't shot film in ages 

Will find out when they finally get processed.

[Wind Chaser]

Lightweight digital bodies and compact primes have turned a lot of men into boys.

[Jon L]

OK. So I just got back my first roll of film in more than 10 years, developed and scanned by Target.  Several things struck me.

Perhaps I shouldn't have used that nice Fuji Reala 100 film as my first roll, since most sunset/dusk shots came out hopelessly blurry and muted.  My digital camera takes these scenes no problem, albeit at high ISO.  ISO 100 film just doesn't do dusk; I hope to try ISO 400 film next for these sunset/dusk conditions.   

Scenes in daylight came out pretty well, though the scans don't seem to have advantage over shots taken with digital camera.  In not-so-perfect lighting, digital seems to yield sharper, cleaner images. 

Thirdly, I really miss having the large 3" LCD screen with histogram right there.  I also miss the instantaneous preview of the photo I just took.  I guess this is why digital is winning big time. 

Lastly, I wonder if I need to go with slide films, sent out for developing, etc, in order to gain edge over digital.  Or is that the limitation of 35mm, and does film really need to be medium-format in right lighting to significantly outshine digital?  Or does none of it matter unless large prints are involved?








 

[Mag]

Good pictures!

I read that for digital to duplicate film, it would have to be at least 24 mega-pixels. But with compression methods 18 mega-pixels of say the Canon T2i for most of us our eyes can't tell the difference.

I think with film you really have to understand photography a whole lot and know how the camera works, to get the correct lighting. I use to know that stuff but have forgotten which is why I presently shoot in auto mode which is a lot better than I can do manually since I don't know my camera yet.

That was always my objective with film was to eventually have everything in slides. With projector and all.

I'm basically doing that with digital photos now that I can view photos in HD on 46" HDTV. However my laptop has a better picture, so I'll have to spend some time adjusting the 46" picture to be as good as the laptop, its pretty close.

With digital I will shoot like 50 photos in an outing. I figure I should get at least one good picture. No way I'd do that with film, as I was much more conscience of the cost of developing film.

[SET Man]

Hey!

   Very nice first roll man!

   It is a very different feel shooting film now right?

   Did you get prints also? How the prints look compare to the scans? The problem with scans is that you need a pretty good scanner to take the advantage of film wide latitude. As for sharpness check the film with loupe and see if it is sharp.... no pixels peeping here!

   I do have a handful of old color and B&W negs that I want to scan but my cheap scanner just couldn't cut it.

   Film limitation of film? Well, lately digital is getting much better. Today DSLRs at ISO800 can actually outperform ISO800 film in sharpness and finer grain or should I say pixel. But there is one thing that I think film still got an edge and this is with high contrast scene. Film have a very wide exposure latitude so it still preserve detail in highlight/high key and can be pull out when printing or scanning with good scanner. As for large prints size.... well with stationary subject you can stitch couple of frames from your DSLR together and this will outperform 35mm films. But with a single shot medium and large format that is another story.

   Man! Now I have to figure it out of how to get my B&W negs scan right so I could do some film talk here.

Take care,
Buddy

[dB Cooper]

SET man sums it up. The biggest difference is in workflow management- digital is much easier to manage, track, and organize your photos. The second big difference is in dynamic (brightness) range. Digital records about a five stop range (2⁵)with detail- about the same as color slide film. Black and white film can record about eight stops (2⁸)... about eight times as much expressed in linear terms. As a workaround, so-called HDR (High Dynamic Range) imagery has been developed, involving multiple exposures, morphing them together to get the same range that I can get easily with B&W film in a single exposure. Only problems are, because you are combining two exposures, neither the camera or subject can move, which means a tripod mounted camera, and forget about catching Johnny's game winning pass in HDR.

There is still a case to be made for film. Some photographers, like Annie Liebowitz, actually shoot film and then scan it in to their imaging application of choice.

[thunderbrick]

Pixels just don't sing like silver!

[Jon L]

   Man! Now I have to figure it out of how to get my B&W negs scan right so I could do some film talk here.

Take care,
Buddy

It looks like the Target scan was done at 256 dpi with file size 1500 x 1000 pixels.  Surely, one can do better than this at a local store?  I wonder what Costco scan's resolution is...

[AK]

try to use film to photograph people.
results are fantastic. there is no way I can get anything similar with digital. digital is too clean and contrasty, it's just boring.

[low.pfile]

Yeah, I'm with Buddy...."Film didn't need no stinkin' HDR!"

Have fun Jon!

(just don't expect perfection)

[nathanm]

Those scans are not very good at all in my opinion.  Hard to say without seeing the film, but I'm quite certain that a better result is possible.

[Jon L]

Those scans are not very good at all in my opinion.  Hard to say without seeing the film, but I'm quite certain that a better result is possible.

Yup, I definitely need to find a better scanning place. 

On the positive note, Adorama just notified me the (backordered) Fuji Velvia 50 film just shipped, and my dream-lens, the Canon 85mm F/1.2L just arrived today.  Time to get out there and take some outdoor photos; I'm thinking a trip to Laguna Beach near dusk