Film camera: Taking pictures using a film camera vs. digital camera

Are you still using film? Maybe you are thinking of going digital but aren’t sure what you’ll gain or lose. There are more differences between film and digital cameras to consider then just the medium, though the basic operation of both are very similar.

The first stage in taking pictures with film is the film itself. Loading film into a modern camera isn’t as tricky as it used to be, but it’s still harder then simply sliding in a memory chip. What type of film you use, however, can be a hard decision.

More than most people realize, there are a lot of different films available. Not only is the colour and black and white but also portrait films, tungsten films, daylight films and so on. What a lot of us are used to is consumer grade film that tries to balance all of these in to one. From there the photographer has to decide what film speed is needed. 100iso for sunlight and 400iso for indoors, perhaps. In contrast, a digital camera is capable of making all of these decisions for you.

Once the film’s in, taking the picture is similar in all camera types. Choose an automatic or manual setting then point and shoot. With the film camera, of course, the viewfinder is needed for composition. On most film cameras—those that aren’t SLR—what you see in the viewfinder isn’t exactly what is seen by the lens. The photographer must take extra care to make sure the subject is properly framed within the guidelines. Digital cameras are wonderful because of the monitor that shows the photographer exactly what’s being taken.

Film cameras win out on most digital cameras when it comes to speed of picture taking. With a digital camera there is a lot of stuff that goes on from the time you push the button until the time you can push the button again. The image has to be translated into something the processor can understand, then focused, captured, colour balanced and finally transferred to the memory chip. This causes delays before the picture can be taken and after it’s been taken. The resulting shutter lag is a common complaint. A film camera only has to focus before the shot is captured and advance the film afterwards.

When taking pictures on film the photographer always has to be more careful. There isn’t a limitless chip at their disposal and each shot costs money. Also, the quality of the picture can’t be previewed on a screen so it is very important for film users to plan ahead.

Film and digital cameras both offer a wide variety of similar accessories to help with photography. Flashes and lenses are commonly interchanged but filters are also important. Film users need to have physical filters available to help block out different kinds of light or to highlight parts of a scene. While these can be used on a digital camera, it’s less necessary because of already built in filters. Digital shots can also be taken RAW allowing the photographer to add filters and such later on. The film user doesn’t have this luxury, again bringing us back to planning ahead.

Both types of cameras are good and both offer their own benefits. A lot of professionals are still choosing to use both, digital for some things and film for another. For people just learning about photography and how film works the digital camera is often a great accessory to film in that it can be used to preview an idea before capturing it on celluloid.

Phil Pivnick