There are many differences between film and digital photography. To most amateur photographers they do not matter much. They prefer the convenience, ease of use and lower cost ofdigital cameras and are not going to revert to the film age. However understanding the differences can help taking even better photos and can also help when debating with friends about the future of film.
Following is a list of differences that are importnt to understand. The differences are listed in no particular order.
Understanding Camera Lenses
The sensor: The most obvious difference between film and digital is the sensor used to take the photo. With film cameras film sensitive to light is placed behind thand lens. When a photo is taken, the shutter opens fora predetermined period of time and light hits the film. The result is a photo "printed" on the film. To take a new photo the film has to be rolled and a fresh "clean" movie is place behind thand lens. Withdigital cameras to fixed electronic sensor (sometimes known as CCD) is situated behind thand lens. The sensor is built from tiny light sensitive sensors each representing a pixel. When the shutter opens light hits the sensor and each pixel gets its "value". Put together all the pixels comprise one photograph. To take a new photo the photo is saved on a digital media and the CCD is electronically emptied.
What does a different sensor mean? The main difference is in the Depth of Field. Since digital sensors are smaller in size than a 35 mm film the depth of field will bemuch higher and in fact in most compactdigital cameras almost endless. The result is that blur backgrounds can not be created.
The cost of a photo: Photos taken with adigital camera by literally cost nothing. The photos are kept in erasable memory and thus can always be discarded at no cost. Also the photos you would like to keep can be copied to digital media such as a computer's hard disk. With storage prices going down the cost of saving a photo on disk is practically zero. Film does cost money. With a film camera you have to pay for the roll of film, for developing the negative and for printing the photo. Every time you press the shutter button you spend money.
The capacity: With ever growing storage capacities ofdigital cameras today > can hold hundreds and sometimes thousands of photos on a single media. You can always have a few more in your pocket and changing is very fast. The result is that adigital camera has practically infinite capacity. You can shoot as many photos as you want and at the end of the day just dump them on your computer's disk.Films cameras ' capacity is very limited. A roll of 36 photos can only hold 36 photos. After a roll is used changing to a new roll can take time and is not easy to do in scenarios such as darkness or a harsh environment. For that reason many professional journalists carry a few cameras on them and instead of changing rolls they turn and use another room just so that they do not miss in shootingopportunity.
The feedback: One of the most important features of thedigital camera is instant feedback. Almost all ofdigital cameras includes a small LCD screen. Once a photo is shot you can go back and watch it on that screen. The ability to see how the photo looks like results in better photos. If the photo is not good you can take another one. Being able to see the photos on the spot results in an educated decision how to fix a photo or how to better compose it. It takes a lot of the guessing away from photography. With film cameras there is no way to know how the photo on the film will look like when printed.
New shooting angles: Just a few days ago I took a photo with mydigital camera's that I would havenever taken with my movie one. I shot a cat that was resting on little rock. The held the camera in my hand and positioned it down where it almost touched the ground and I started shooting. I probably took 50 or more photos. I immediately looked tot the camera's LCD to review my photos and make sure they were focused and had the cat in them. The result was one great photo looking at the cat from the ground. I can not imagine myself just lying down on the dirty ground with a film camera looking through the viewfinder and perfecting that one shot.
Withdigital cameras you can actually take photos without having your eye glued to the viewfinder. Overhead shots where you raisand the camera over your head are much easier to do since you can still seewhat the camera is shooting by just looking up at its LCD screen.
Correcting photos: Withdigital cameras photos can be corrected using photo editing software. Some correction abilities are built-in to the cameras but many more are available as software packages for your PC. With film cameras what you get is what you get. After the film is developed it is very hard to make any corrections. Usually if corrections are absolutely needed the negative or the printed photo will be scanned (i.e. converted to digital) corrected and then printed again (in a long and costly process).
Changing conditions: Every roll of film is designed for best results in a specific environment. For example there are indoor and outdoorfilms or films with different light sensitivity. If conditions change rapidly to film camera user will have to either shoot with the wrong movie, change the roll (and usually lose photos that were not used in the current roll) or use another room with a different film in it. The results of shooting with the wrong movie can be distorted colors (reddish photos for example), a grainy photo and more.
Withdigital cameras the characteristics of the sensor can be changed instantly for each photo taken. With a click of a button the room can be put in an indoor or outdoor mode, low light, night photography etc.Some cameras will automatically sense the scenario and set the sensor mode accordingly.
The aberration amid blur and calendar photography