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 of digital 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.

1. The Difference Between Film And Digital Photography
There are many differences between film and digital photography. To most
amateur photographers they do not matter much. They prefer the convenience,
ease of useand lower costof digital cameras and are not going to revertto the
film age. However understanding the differences can help taking even better
photos and can also help when debating with friends about the futureof film.
Following is a list of differences that are important to understand. The differences
are listed in no particular order.
The Sensor
The most obvious differencebetween film and digital is the sensor used to take
the photo. With film cameras a film sensitive to light is placed behind the lens.
When a photo is taken the shutter opens for a 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 film is place behind the lens. With digital cameras a fixed
electronic sensor (sometimes known as CCD) is situated behind the lens. The
sensor is built fromtiny light sensitivesensors each representing a pixel.

2. When the shutter opens light hits the sensor and each pixel gets its value. Put
together all the pixels compriseone photo. 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 aresmaller in sizethan a 35mmfilm the depth of field will be
much higher and in fact in mostcompact digital cameras almost infinite. The
result is that blur backgrounds can notbe created.
The Cost Of A Photo
Photos taken with a digital camera 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 storageprices going down the cost of saving a photo on disk is practically
zero. Film does costmoney. 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.

3. The Capacity
With ever growing storagecapacities digital cameras today can hold hundreds
and sometimes thousands of photos on a single media. You can always havea few
more in your pocket and changing is very fast. The result is that a digital camera
has practically infinite capacity.
You can shootas many photos as you wantand at the end of the day justdump
them on your computers disk. Film 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
professionaljournalists carry a few cameras on them and instead of changing rolls
they turn and use another camera justso that they do not miss a shooting
opportunity.

4. The Feedback
One of the most importantfeatures of the digital camera is instantfeedback.
Almost all digital cameras include a small LCD screen. Once a photo is shotyou
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
composeit.
Ittakes a lot of the guessing away fromphotography. 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 great photo with my digital camera that I would have
never taken with my film one. I shot a cat that was resting on little rock. I held the
camera in my hand and positioned it down whereit almost touched the ground
and I started shooting.
I probably took 50 or more photos. I immediately looked at the cameras LCD to
review my photos and make surethey were focused and had the cat in them. The
result was one great photo looking at the cat from the ground.
I cannot imagine myself just lying down on the dirty ground with a film camera
looking through the viewfinder and perfecting that one shot.
With digital cameras you can actually take photos without having your eye glued
to the viewfinder. Overhead shots whereyou raisethe camera over your head are
much easier to do since you can still see whatthe camera is shooting by just
looking up at its LCD screen.

5. Correcting Photos
With digital cameras photos can be corrected using photo editing software. Some
correction abilities are built-in to the cameras but many more are available as
softwarepackages for your PC.
With film cameras whatyou get is what you get. After the film is developed it is
very hard to makeany corrections. Usually if corrections areabsolutely 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 outdoor films or films with different light
sensitivity.
If conditions change rapidly a film camera user will have to either shootwith the
wrong film, changethe roll (and usually lose photos that were not used in the
currentroll) or useanother camera with a different film in it. The results of
shooting with the wrong film can be distorted colors (reddish photos for
example), a grainy photo and more.
With digital cameras the characteristics of the sensor can be changed instantly for
each photo taken. With a click of a button the camera can be put in an indoor or
outdoor mode, low light, night photography etc. Somecameras will automatically
sensethe scenario and set the sensor mode accordingly.
The MythOf Quality
While it is true that film photography has its advantages the claim for superior
quality is no longer true. As digital camera evolved the quality of high end digital
SLR cameras is superb and in many ways even better than film. When considering
quality you should also consider the quality in terms of composition and the
scenario caught in the photo.

6. With digital cameras high capacity, zero photo cost and instant adaptability to
changing conditions photographers can producebetter compositions and
experiment more to get the best photo possible.
Longevity:
We have also paged through old photo albums of our grandparents. Thephoto
looked a a bit yellow, scratched and justplain old. Storage of printed film photos
or even negatives results in quality deterioration.
Digital photos on the other hand never lose their quality. A digital photo will be
identical today and 500 years fromnow. As long as we remember to refresh the
digital media every now and then and to back it up our photos can literally list
forever and not lose their quality.
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