The thought of digital film becoming the norm terrifies me. Polaroid 100 instant film almost went extinct, or at least, did for a short while, last year until the company switched hands. Digital film is fast, convenient. But we've had film for over a century, the way the camera is set up so that it mimics the way the human eye sees it, those fuzzy light early morning shots, there's something humble and beautiful about film, something digital could never mimic.
For me, it's a lot more fun and challenging to use film, even more so with instant film. You can get better quality from the negatives of 35 mm film than you can with any other cheap point-and-shoot digital camera. Also, there is something special about the sound of a REAL, mechanical shutter on an all-metal film camera. When you fire the shutter, you know that you have permanently captured a moment...you've burned an image onto film. There is no delete, it's there forever. I'll take the sound of a real mechanical shutter over the wimpy beep of a digital camera any day.
It's sad that as technology advances and the digital imaging becomes more malleable through programs on the computer, film becomes more and more obsolete. But digital film will never have that real nostalgic quality. It'll never have that same excitement and suspense build up as you drive to the local 1-hour-photo to pick up your pictures. Just that instant little preview, a few seconds of debating and a pressing of a delete button.
-P.
The thought of digital film becoming the norm terrifies me. Polaroid 100 instant film almost went extinct, or at least, did for a short while, last year until the company switched hands. Digital film is fast, convenient. But we've had film for over a century, the way the camera is set up so that it mimics the way the human eye sees it, those fuzzy light early morning shots, there's something humble and beautiful about film, something digital could never mimic.
For me, it's a lot more fun and challenging to use film, even more so with instant film. You can get better quality from the negatives of 35 mm film than you can with any other cheap point-and-shoot digital camera. Also, there is something special about the sound of a REAL, mechanical shutter on an all-metal film camera. When you fire the shutter, you know that you have permanently captured a moment...you've burned an image onto film. There is no delete, it's there forever. I'll take the sound of a real mechanical shutter over the wimpy beep of a digital camera any day.
It's sad that as technology advances and the digital imaging becomes more malleable through programs on the computer, film becomes more and more obsolete. But digital film will never have that real nostalgic quality. It'll never have that same excitement and suspense build up as you drive to the local 1-hour-photo to pick up your pictures. Just that instant little preview, a few seconds of debating and a pressing of a delete button.
-P.
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