Who still uses film cameras?

you dont get that wi' digital

To answer yr questions directly, TSD, she would buy a Pentax digital SLR if the spare cash was available (but keep her 35mm SLR too). I'd also still buy a Pentax 35mm SLR if only to be able to use her lenses!

There's certainly something special about the tactile nature of film, and having prints in yr hand will always beat seeing them on a monitor IMO. I figure the film market may go the way of vinyl and end up with keen enthusiasts and collectors, but a shadow of its former self.

The thought that makes me saddest is that future generations will not be able to see old photos of their relatives in the way we have - so many pictures will be lost on dead dead hard-drives, broken CDs etc. Or maybe that's just a Luddite's view?

I am gonna buy a decent scanner shortly and scan in all my film photos, so there you go. Conversely I've been printing out some of my better digital pics, haha.

(xpost)

(that said, I think I already have one HDD thats died that I had images on.. oh the pain).

Also, I like arranging prints into an album. Digital pix most often seem to end up only on the computer, which is boring. I want pictures to be the kind of thing that takes up space in my house.

Film vs Digital: FITE! (again!)

I've had this argument about music. "Why do you buy so many CDs?" say the cow-orkers. "Why don't you just download them and play the MP3s? Or burn them for the car?" Because there's nothing like having the actual CD and packaging on your shelves.

(and I think the same applies to photos too)

I'm very aware of the perservation issue of film v digital, and make a point of printing out onto proper photographic paper all the photos I want to keep, via photobox. Interestingly, if a digital image is kept properly with long term preservation in mind (i.e. refresh the format every couple of years and store it in two different formats, e.g. hard drive and cd), then it will be a more accurate picture in 50 years time than a print - the print industry still haven't resolved the issue of the stability of the chemicals used in colour printing. The following example is probably pretty unfair, as the original photo was taken in the early 80s and colour film printing has come a long way since then, but the principle is still there...

The original print scanned (and honestly, it's true to the original print, not affected by the calibration of the scanner)

http://photos16.flickr.com/22807806_ce798f47d6.jpg

And photoshopped to how I remember it

http://photos17.flickr.com/22807807_8ef018cc60.jpg

I have no intention of getting rid of my slr, and will bring it out for special occassions, but the digital is so much easier for quick candid shots, but however the photo is taken I print out the ones I want to keep - nothing beats flicking through a photo album with your friends and family, crowding round the computer screen just doesn't cut it.

Lot's of people still use film. At my sister-in-law's bday party last week there was a constant whirring of film rewinding devices. Made me quite nostalgic. None of them were photography enthusiasts. In fact their only enthusiasm seemed to be for squawking at the top of their voices.

Film is better, I think. You tend to think about firing the picrtures off a bit more. And the time lapse Suggs mentions above really annoys me.

I got a proper photo printer and good paper and Ive been getting pretty good results. And of course you can touch them up before you commit them to paper, so you dont waste duds like when you run off a roll of 24 and half of them have redeye or whatever.

That is the same with autofocus film SLRs, of course. It is quicker than manual focus *if* you are focusing on centre-of-frame. I'm not yet really used to autofocusing then recomposing.

The only sticking point is the lack of reasonably-sized, reasonably-priced high-speed lenses for my D70. I've got a 50/1.4 for my Canon SLR and a 35/1.4 for my Leica, but the closest I have for digital is a 20/2.8 (35/2.8 equivalent). If Nikon would drop the equivalent of a 35 or 50/1.4 sized only for the digital sensor, I'd sell my 35mm gear in a heartbeat.