A Morning Of Fun and Film At Valley Forge

Every once in a while I feel compelled to go out and shoot the old fashioned way. With film! Today was one of those days. Actually I have been wanting to fire up my Nikon N80 for a while but it needed batteries and I just always seemed to forget to pick some up. I finally remembered yesterday.

I got up and out early today and headed to Valley Forge Park with both my Nikon N80 35mm SLR film camera and my Canon Rebel T3 DSLR. 

Nikon N80 Circa 2006 (Stock Photo)

Canon Rebel T3/1100D 2014 (Stock Photo)

Right off the bat I was reminded of something that I have mentioned here before. When shooting film you have to be more "frugal". Every frame costs money. And these days it is a lot of money. It cost me $11.99 to get a roll of 24 exposures developed. That is on top of the price of film too. I figured that if I shoot 200 frames on film like I often do with digital that between film and processing it would cost me approximately $122.00. Wow! That is a lot of cash! Now think about this. I purchased my Canon DSLR about 6 months ago and yesterday I passed 10,000 frames shot. That would be more than 416 rolls of film at an average of $12.99 per 4 pack. Add to that the developing cost of about $4,987 and we are at a grand total of $6,337.00.

Now I realize that I could save money by purchasing film online and sending the film out for development. But I am trying to compare digital photography with film based on the fasted possible turnaround. The local lab I use is 1 hour which is rare nowadays. At least around here. On top of the hour it takes to receive my photos there is also time involved to scan each photo I want to use online.

Okay, money and time aside what really matters is results. here are similar photos from each camera. I shot these at Valley Forge this morning. Each is presented after post processing in Photoshop. Take a look.

Nikon N80 35mm SLR Using Kodak Ultramax 400 Speed Film

Canon Rebel T3 DSLR Using 100 Film Speed Equivalent

Nikon N80 35mm SLR Using Kodak Ultramax 400 Speed Film

Canon Rebel T3 DSLR Using 200 Film Speed Equivalent

 

Nikon N80 35mm SLR Using Kodak Ultramax 400 Speed Film

Canon Rebel T3 DSLR Using 100 Film Speed Equivalent

What are your thoughts? To me there is no clear winner based on quality. First of all comes the film. I had Kodak 400 speed film on hand and was not going to spend money on more. I would have preferred 100 speed to help with the bright sunshine. Second I had no control over the developing of the film. When I shoot digital I generally save my images in RAW format so in a sense I actually control how the photo comes out even before processing in Photoshop. The machines used for film at any local lab use a default setting to get "average" results. And third when I shoot with film I can't check to see how an image looks and adjust accordingly to get a better result.

All I can really say is that I am so glad I grew up with film. Now, I am by no means a pro photographer and don't claim to be. I am continually learning. That is what makes it fun. I can't imagine "knowing it all" and having nothing new to look forward to learning. I do however think that film made be a better photographer than if I learned strictly on digital. I am usually (but not always) more careful in composing a shot. But the big difference with digital is that after composing I can shoot using different settings such as a larger or smaller aperture or perhaps a different film speed. I also bracket a lot more now than I used to. I do this because it is now "free" to do so.

How about you? Are you all digital or a film purist? Or are you like me and use digital 99% of the time but every now and then shoot film for the sake of nostalgia and for a reminder of why digital is so great? 

Thanks as always for your time and I do hope you come back soon. I should have my "Photo Of The Day" posted a little later in the day.

Until next time...