The Difference Between Film and Digital Cameras
There are a number of differences including; The sensor, The Capacity, The Feedback, Shooting Angles, Correcting photos, Changing conditions and The quality.
The Sensor
Film camera’s, A film sensitive to light is placed behind the lens. When a photo is taken the shutter opens for a certain amount of time and light hits the film. The result is the photo “printed” on the film. The film has to be rolled to take a new picture and a fresh new film is placed behind the lens. Whereas digital cameras a fixed electronic sensor is (CCD) is situated behind the lens. The sensor is built from little light sensitive sensors each representing a pixels. All the pixels create one photo, to take a new photo the photo is saved on to a digital media and the CCD is electronically emptied. The main difference is the depth of the field, Digital sensors are smaller in size, than a 35mm film, the depth of the field will be much higher.
Shooting angles
With digital cameras you can take photos without having your eye glued to the viewfinder. Overhead shots where you raise the camers above your head are much easier to do since you can still see what the camera is shooting by looking up at its LCD screen.
You might have to take about 20 photos to get one exact if you done it like that, so for film you would have to take ages looking through the viewfinder perfecting that one shot which would probs take much longer to do than to take about 20 photos using the digital camera.
The Capcity
Digital cameras can hold hundreds and sometimes thousands of photos on a single media, changing the memory card is quick and easy, which means a digital cameras have infiite capacity. Unlinke film cameras as they are very limited, For exapmle a roll of 36 can only hold 36 photos, and changing the film takes time and is not easy to in certain situations, so therefore professional journalists carry a few cameras and change camera, so they dont miss a shooting opportunity.
The Feedback
Digital cameras have instant feedback, almost all digital cameras include a small LCD screen, once you have taken a photo you can go back and look at it on the screen, which results in better photos as you can see what has been taken, if it is not good you can take another one, being able to look at the photo on the spot allows the photographer the decide how to fix the photo, or how to better compose it. With film cameras, there is no way of knowing how the picture looks until it has been printed so if it is wrong you would have lost the chance to take another one, or you would have to go back and take it again.
The Quality
Film photography has its advantages, but the film is no longer superier to digital, as the digital cameras have evolved, the quality of the best SLR cameras are superb and in many ways are better than film. Digital cameras high capacity, has not cost and instant adaptability to changing conditions, therefore photographers are able to produce better compositions and are able to experiment more.
Correcting Photos
With digital cameras photos can be corrected using photo editing software. Digital cameras have some correction abilites but there are lots more on software devices such as photoshop. With film camers what you get is what you get, after you have developed a film it is very hard to make any corrections. Usually if corrections are urgently needed the nagative or the printed phots will be scanned, converted to digital, corrected and then printed agian, which takes a lot of time and is very expensive to do.
