Film vs. Digital capture

By Steven Holmes

 I thought I would never get involved in the discussion of film vs. digital capture.  The reason for this is I too was reluctant to change.  Starting  to work for Lori Studio’s as a  professional photographer assigned to cover high school sporting events on Friday nights and weddings on Saturday night my 1976 main tools of the trade was a medium format camera for posed portraits and 35mm for photojournalism.  And I continued using that type of equipment until a recently.

Why did I change to digital capture?

The reason I now use digital capture is technology has advanced our industry with new equipment that is light-years ahead of what was once considered modern equipment.  A prime example of this is my current 35mm camera is a Nikon F5. In the hands of a professional photographer, this is and probably will always be the best 35mm camera ever made.  With it, I’ve shot hundreds of wedding as well as untold numbers of assignments for magazines.   Prior to that, I used a Nikon F100 and F3, along with a Bronica ETRSI medium format camera. All of these film cameras well renown, for producing  high quality dependable results

Concerns with digital capture

 The main problem I think some people have with digital capture is “that” when they think of a digital camera they think of the $150 cameras they purchased at one of the “Marts”. Sure, the little digital cameras are convenient, but there picture quality is somewhat lacking. However, if you where to compare that camera with a  suitable $150 point and shoot 35mm camera you would not see any significant difference in it’s results.

The other drawback is some old geezers are afraid of the delete button, or accidentally destroying the flash card memory.  First of all, flash memory technology has been with us a long, long time. Military and civilian aviation use similar technology to store navigational as well as key system information on. And other equipment you use everyday like TV’s VCR, even your microwave also use similar memory.  

Film on the other hand is heat and light sensitive and even processing can destroy the film if done incorrectly.  As to the delete button, it takes three steps before you can delete an image from the camera. So accidentally deleting an image is just as impossible as a professional photographer  accidentally opening the camera before rewinding the film.  

 Nikon makes three levels of equipment 

Nikon only sells professional level equipment at professional shops and they don’t come cheep, with lens alone costing over a thousand dollars each.

Advantages of digital capture:

I have shot over one hundred weddings, school football games and numerous magazine assignments with Nikon’s professional digital cameras.  Nikon professional digital cameras feature technological advancement that allows a professional photographer to capture images that would have been imposable just 10-years ago. 

Another advantage of digital capture is it allows the professional photographer to take more pictures than the package allotment.  A good example of this is my Silver wedding package allows for 300 proofs delivered to the Bride and Groom.  If I was shooting film and having to pay for professional processing of each and every shot, I would shoot about 325 images, and pick out the best 300 to place in the Bride and Groom proof album.  Digital capture allows me to only process the best of the best images. Therefore, on a typical Silver wedding package my assistant and I will normally shoot about 450-550 images, and later pick out the best 330 to be processed for the B&G proof album. (Still leaving 10% for error after printing).

Another example is, have you ever looked at a magazine? Do you think that the pictures you see were the result of only one or two frames being shot?

At least 50-frames where shot for each picture appearing. And I am sure that is an understatement.  Further, with digital you can enhance the pictures in postproduction. Portrait imperfections like minor blemishes, zits removed, wrinkles and face lines softened with digital brushing, teeth whiten etc. I think you get the point. Do you think people in magazines really look that good? Sure maybe one in a thousand does, but how about the rest of us.

Quality of Image:

First of all, have you ever seen the billboards along the highway featuring Players of the Players Golf Association (PGA) those images where captured on a professional digital camera.

While most B&G are not going to want a billboard, it’s nice to know that there is enough information captured to easily print 11x14 and 16x20’s that are sharp, color rich and have a dynamic range to capture the different shades of white in the brides dress and various textures of black in the grooms tux.

 Final thoughts:

Sure, spending thousands of dollars on new equipment was not an easy decision, and spending hours practicing and attending schools to learn how to use the new equipment was time consuming and expensive, but the end results are worth it… 

The main point is professional equipment in the hands of professional photographers with a God given talent along with years of experience will  produce results that are keepsakes for a lifetime. Film or digital. It makes no difference.

"I never think of the future. It comes soon enough.". 

Albert Einstein

About the author

Steven Holmes is the owner and Sr. Photographer of SouthWind Photography. With over 30 years of professional photography experience he has been credited with numerous awards, in both photojournalism, and other photography