Big World Picture: Digital or Analogue ?

Digital

Analogue

As we all know, digital photography is taking over analogue photography with analogue now used by film enthusiasts and Lomographers etc. There is nothing wrong with using digital as it does offer many more pros than cons the use of digital. My only worry is that photographers, and people how like to take snapshot, are just bypassing the whole analogue side to photography. Many high end professional photographers still use Polaroid type instant film and medium format film. Digital is just the next step in the capturing of light and the making of a photograph. First we had wet glass plates then dry plates, then moving to capturing light to film, then instant film and now onto a light reading sensor. It’s all just a logical and natural progression.

Personally I really like digital photography and the many possibilities it presents, but for me it lacks the true film of seeing a moment in time, loading and setting up my camera and making the photograph with a real mechanical clunk click. But then this is just my opinion.

So what are the many pros and cons to using analogue to that of digital?

Pros and cons of analogue photography.

Photo/Negative scanner

Negative scanner

Film cameras are usually inexpensive to buy as compared to that of an equivalent digital camera. Then on the other hand buying and developing film can get quite expensive. I get around some of these costs, or at least cut some of the costs, by searching for expired film in charity shops and places such as Ebay and I also buy film from budget shop for £1. Secondly I pay for process only and scan the negatives at home. This home scanning method also allows me to make any processing changes to suit each frame in its own right.

Most film cameras that you can buy on the cheap, take 35mm film. To get a digital camera with a sensor of the same size would come at a large price. These digital cameras are called full frame cameras, but I will go more into sensors and films in a later post. I could buy say a analogue SLR for around £30 and a Digital would cost me around £200.

Digital cameras can be very beneficial to a newcomer to photography. A beginner can easily find out what settings they used to make a certain photograph without having to make notes on each frame, notes including ISO, shutter speed, aperture. All these are automatically saved in-camera with each frame you take.

I think digital appeals to most photographers in this fast paced world and it’s want of immediate images with their ease of storage, sharing and ability to edit without the next for photo labs and dark rooms and all the gear that goes with it. Processing with digital is to plug in, load into photo editing software, edit, save and then share to the world.

When actually taking the photograph using either digital or analogue, the techniques are the same as it is just the way the light is recorded.

CCD sensor

Digital is recorded on CCD (charged coupled devise) which contains millions of photosensitive elements in a grid. When a picture is clicked, a ray of light falls on the photosensitive elements, which then registers a specific intensity of light, as an electrical charge. The electrical charges are then passed onto an analogue-to-digital converter that transforms them into digital data. To determine the actual colour value of any one pixel, the camera’s software makes a calculated guess based on the values registered by three neighbouring photosensitive elements. This is the reason which accounts for the reduction the image’s level of detail, and eventually translates into the quality of image.

35mm film in camera

The picture quality that can be achieved with a film camera is very high and the images turn out extremely sharp. The reason behind this is the chemical reaction which takes place when light from the shutter falls on the film, and as a result an exact, crisp and inverted i.e. negative representation of the object is obtained. This is not possible with a digital camera.

I feel what gives digital the slight edge over analogue is that there is no chance of light leaks and the waste of frames. I would advise a beginner to start with digital even if the camera is more expensive as this will save you money in the long run as you they won’t lose frames and can learn on the spot and make any adjustments needed to make their photo a great photo.

I will always still use film as well as digital as it holds something precious about each photo that I make. I make myself think more about the shot as I may only have 32 frames to capture my surroundings. It feels a bit more “real” to me when I click the shutter and wind on to the next frame. I feel it is a shame that some photographers shun film and replace it totally with digital and new photographers that won’t use or try film and don’t seem to care about the wonderful legacy that is analogue photography.

Below are a few examples of my analogue and digital photographs.