[JACOBY]

I do agree that as soon as the new ones come out everybody jumps on the bandwagon to get one or can't wait for the next upgrade kinda makes me laugh but we are into material things. Still using my K100d no need to upgrade but I'm not a pro either. Did people hurry up and get film cameras back then like now.

[GeneV]

I do agree that as soon as the new ones come out everybody jumps on the bandwagon to get one or can't wait for the next upgrade kinda makes me laugh but we are into material things. Still using my K100d no need to upgrade but I'm not a pro either. Did people hurry up and get film cameras back then like now.

One of the big reasons for that is that the "film" upgrade comes with the camera. Imagine how many film bodies we would have purchased if every time Kodak or Fuji made a finer grain or faster film, we had to have a new body to use it.

[SpecialK]

Muse:

Digital photography seems to have taken the fun out of the process. When before it was ok dealing with the limitations of the film loaded, or on occasion changing rolls mid-use, we could still easily concentrate on taking good pictures. We used to know deep in our hearts, generally, what the finished picture would look like. Photography used to be simpler and more satisfying. But today it is different. More time is spent on the camera than the subject.

Film cameras do not intrude on the creative process. I have owned several cameras and in the many years of taking pictures never did I ever have a camera caused disaster. When once I could pick up any camera, even one never before used, load it and use it successfully, it is impossible to do today. When using a film camera, there were no double thoughts on whether we had correctly compensated for an individual camera’s shortcomings. Today, each individual digital camera needs to be tamed before use. Today, cameras are mere appliances to be thrown away as new and greater devices are manufactured. No longer will a camera last a lifetime. In fact, perusing this forum’s many posts, it is clear that one is lucky to have his DSLR last a few years before it becomes a worthless piece of plastic. The loss in dollars is ridiculous. On this forum alone, there seems to be more written concerning camera operation than producing accomplished photography. Today, a picture is not worth a thousand words. A picture is no longer the accurate record of a split-second in the life. Photography has been marginalized by complication. For the sake of taking 500 pictures a day, without cost, we have sold our souls to the digital false gods. We are no longer masters of our domain.

You aren't doing it right, sorry.

Going out to crank-start my car now...

[Pål Jensen]

Still, based on my OWN experience, I've found that unless I am shooting B&W my 1Ds II is putting out prints that are at least as good as anything I've managed with 6x4.5 -- wet prints or scan/digital prints. .

Thats very strange since the 645D blows any Canon into the water. I have compared the 645D images with the 645 film images after scanning, obviously not of the same subject, but theres no doubt that the film images have more resolution. Not much though. Digital is cleaner and sharper but has less texture (and I do not mean grain); this prettey much sums up digital in general.
The reason I'm using digital is that it has better dynamic range than film. I can include an overcast sky in the images without burning it out and still have details in the shadows. I can even shoot (muted) sunsets without grad filters.

[Muse]

I emphatically disagree. Unless one did one's own darkroom work, film photography was an exercise in futility as far as I'm concerned. Digital technology has made photography meaningfully accessible to the likes of me (but I can understand that that's not universally regarded as a welcome development ;~)

I used to do my own darkroom work, built a darkroom in a little used bathroom. Developed my own B&W film (good for me, because I'm colorblind), had a very fine 35mm and 2 1/4 enlarger (Omega), trays, developing tanks, the whole bit. What a thrill it was when my first picture showed up in the tray right before my eyes. It's been many decades, but I still recall. It was the image of a helicopter in the sky. There it was, nothing else (the surrounding sky was white), and it started very faint ...

But I wouldn't do it now. I just bought my first DSLR (K-x) and it will arrive in a couple of days. I still have all the negatives from my film days but nowadays I keep the photos I create and care about on my computers' HDs.

I have a friend who has worked in camera stores a lot and he still prefers film. I still have my Rolleiflex but I haven't used it in decades. I guess I'll sell it.

[penties rider]

Alright, for all you who feel digital has killed your creative process, I have thought up a solution!

Step 1: Acquire a single e-dial camera. A K-x will do nicely.

Step 2: Write down the correct sequence of button presses to change to a certain ISO on a piece of paper, so that you can do it blind. Write down 100, 400, 800, and 1600 only.

Step 3: Make sure that use aperture ring is enabled in the menus (you may want to write this down too, just in case), set your white balance to daylight, place the camera in RAW, and pick your favorite ISO.

Step 4: Break your rear LCD with a hammer.

Step 5: Put your camera into M and then superglue down the mode selection dial. Adorn the mode dial with either the top of a winder, or a faceplate showing shutter speeds.

Step 6: Place your AF/MF slider in the MF position and then superglue it down.

Step 7: Epoxy over the exposure comp, green, play, LV, and AF/AE-L buttons. You won't be needing these.

Step 8: Buy a whole bunch of A or FA glass.

Step 9: Throw away any of those fancy 1GB + SD cards you may have, and instead buy a handful of 32MB capacity cards. Bring only one or two extras with you when you decide to go shooting.

Step 10: Upon completion of a "roll," mail your card off to a stranger along with five bucks. Make sure the stranger batch-processes your RAW files with auto exposure settings, and sends you back a CD with poorly encoded JPGs. Make sure he also keeps the SD card.

And there you have it! The complete film experience for the digital age. Ah, I can feel the nostalgia coming already.

i can quite understand how it feels although i do love digital photography too, especially the Pentax K-x et al series!