52
votes
Accepted
Why is digital photography so expensive?
Digital photography is not expensive but buying into it is.
With film photography camera and lenses were a moderate investment but these lasted quite long. Even a battery in a film camera would last ...
- 102k
31
votes
Why is digital photography so expensive?
On the contrary, basic digital photography is essentially free nowadays, unlike any other time in history. When purchasing a phone (and everyone has a phone), you automatically get a camera, paying ...
- 5,005
24
votes
Accepted
Does aliasing occur in film photography?
No. Aliasing is result of sampling, taking discrete samples or readings of a signal, at a low enough frequency that the frequencies in the input signal are confused for other frequencies, such that ...
- 31.7k
17
votes
Help for a film shooter: how to cope with the paradox of choice?
There's no one way.
Personally I find digital frees me to defer choices until after the shot. Not only that but I can "discover" new interpretations of a scene with different crops, different toning,...
- 6,385
16
votes
Why is digital photography so expensive?
I disagree with it being expensive.
For a student, implying that they have to learn the craft, you don't need to buy the best and baddest D5 or D750 or 7d MkII. As they say in photography, what truly ...
- 161
14
votes
Why are these film photos brighter than digital photos taken at the same time with the same settings?
Film is not brighter, it has different tone curve. In your examples highlights and shadows from negative are translated differently to the print than digital.
With traditional films like the HP5 the ...
- 5,205
13
votes
What equipment did film photographers obsess over?
Oh, goodness — everything. Film, camera, lenses, lighting, style, fashions and trends, whether or not photography is art, everything we see today. But the "forums" were... more literal forums — people ...
- 142k
10
votes
Accepted
What is the best focal length for using a DSLR to digitize film negatives?
Assuming you're scanning 35mm or medium format negatives, and that you want to use the full resolution of your DSLR to digitize your negatives/slides, you can't do it with your setup (D750 + 24–85mm ...
- 31.7k
9
votes
Why are these film photos brighter than digital photos taken at the same time with the same settings?
There is the potential for variations in many of these steps, but the first one that jumps out at me is that you used the same ISO, aperture, and shutter speed for both exposures. Also, answering your ...
- 12.4k
9
votes
Help for a film shooter: how to cope with the paradox of choice?
I also came to digital from film. For me personalty I shoot only in RAW, when I post process I strive to achieve realistic colors and a true representation of the scene as I remember it.
My opinion ...
- 3,581
8
votes
Why is digital photography so expensive?
I think one of the first things I learned about photography was, it is not a cheap hobby.
It will eat all the spare income you have.
Cameras are pretty sophisticated bits of kit, whether to film or ...
- 22.1k
8
votes
Why is digital photography so expensive?
The cost stays high for new gear because it is new gear. The cameras you can buy today are much better than the cameras you could buy even 2-3 years ago. New technological development costs money ...
- 34.8k
8
votes
What equipment did film photographers obsess over?
Simple. Film shooter obsessed over...wait for it...film.
How different emulsions captured the same scene, which could be push or pulled, which reacted well to stand development and how each reacted ...
- 20.5k
7
votes
Why is digital photography so expensive?
The thing about digital cameras is that they were already so good ten years ago that even old, used equipment is more than adequate for students or even serious amateurs. I'm still using my Nikon D50 ...
- 381
6
votes
Accepted
How do depth of field and the circle of confusion relate to pixel size on the sensor?
To understand how a camera's pixel pitch may affect Depth of Field (DoF), you must first understand what DoF is as well as what it isn't.
Regardless of the aperture of a lens, there will only be one ...
- 173k
6
votes
Accepted
Is film better suited than digital for astrophotography?
The problem with film is that it's sensitivity reduces with the reduction of power of light source. This means that if you need exposure time x to get a satisfactory photograph, the light source with ...
- 4,159
6
votes
Why are these film photos brighter than digital photos taken at the same time with the same settings?
There is some latitude with regard to ISO sensitivity. Digital cameras often are less sensitive than the rated "base" sensitivity. The manufacturers tend to round up, possibly because it can make test ...
- 173k
6
votes
Accepted
How to get details from obscuring the composition in digital photography?
Your question seems to be based on the assumption that the problem is the digital camera. But it's not.
The key here is composition. When a shot, or, in fact, any image is properly composed, it looks ...
- 695
6
votes
Accepted
How to reproduce Velvia 50 appearance with RAW processing?
Note: Even the most accurate representation of the actual film will not be able to reproduce all its properties - film behaves very differently than sensors or digital images, so if you really want to ...
- 6,467
6
votes
Accepted
Equipment and Services that turns DIGITAL images into 35mm negatives
Every service I'm aware of that produces large format prints from film will initially scan your film into a digital file anyway. Cutting out the middle man will allow you to use a color-managed ...
- 3,053
5
votes
Is film better suited than digital for astrophotography?
No, digital will be still better than film, because of its higher sensitivity and ease of use. All serious astronomy work moved to digital even before amateur dslr cameras appeared.
Dead or hot ...
- 5,005
5
votes
Does aliasing occur in film photography?
For static images, the effects which would be described by the term "aliasing" won't occur in photographic film because there is no regular spacing or alignment of the photosensitive grains, so no co-...
- 151
5
votes
Does aliasing occur in film photography?
scottbb's answer is correct in that no aliasing occurs inside a film camera. However, some forms of aliasing occur outside the camera:
These Moiré patterns are visible to both film and digital ...
- 541
5
votes
Workflow for processing medium format film into digital form
Assuming your end product is a digital image (i.e. not a paper print) the steps of your workflow are simple:
develop the film
scan the images
As for developing: it is important to consider Black &...
- 5,990
5
votes
Why are my Portra 400 pictures darker than Portra 160? Shouldn't higher ISO result in brighter pictures?
ISO (derived from ASA), can be approximated as the reciprocal of the shutter speed which, at f/16, produces a satisfactory exposure in bright sunlight. E.G. old Kodachrome, ASA 10, required 1/10 ...
- 2,626
5
votes
What equipment did film photographers obsess over?
Online forums (even Web-based, and before that BBS/FIDO/Usenet) were already well developed before mass acceptance of digital photography.
From the memory, popular subjects included:
lens: fast/tele/...
- 181
5
votes
What is the best focal length for using a DSLR to digitize film negatives?
What's the preferred focal length to use (my 24-85mm lens) for this purpose?
It's not so much about focal length when using a general purpose zoom lens as it is about what type of lens design you ...
- 173k
4
votes
How do depth of field and the circle of confusion relate to pixel size on the sensor?
I think your reasoning is correct.
The problem comes from people mixing abstract terms with their experiences without actually understanding the terms mean.
circle-of-confusion (CoC) (in German: "...
- 852
4
votes
What is "ISO" on a digital camera?
Film speed
In analog photography, ISO measures the sensitivity of the film to the light. A film with higher speed will reach its saturation (or overexposure) point faster.
You can use a low-ISO film ...
4
votes
How does long exposure photography work on digital cameras?
As far as I know a sensor can't "be exposed" for a long period of time
That is wrong, you can't capture an image at an "exact monent". An image whether film or digital is formed by photons hitting a ...
- 753
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