Digital is always stuck in whatever quality you shot it.
Digital or video has nothing to rescan.
What you got it is all you’re every going to get.
This is why some films are shot on film.
10 or 50 years from now they can still get better and better images by rescanning them.
For Example: the latest DVD of ‘The Wizard Of Oz’ that was shot on film in 1939.
They simply went to the vault and rescanned the film with modern technology.
Advantages:
Film:
DYNAMIC RANGE: Film has a huge advantage in recording highlights.
COLOR: Film records and reproduces a broader range of color.
LONG EXPOSURES: Film works great for long exposures running into the minutes.
DOUBLE EXPOSURES: No problem. Almost no digital camera can do this
PERMANENCE: Film does not erase itself. Film does not become unreadable for no reason. It doesn’t have file compatibility problems. Traditional black and white film and prints will outlast any of us.
DIGITAL:
Image Quality: Digital SLR cameras like the Nikon D70 have no grain.
Digital has no “negative” stage. Because of this, digital usually looks much better than most prints made from negatives.
Digital gives me better and more consistent color than I get with regular print film
Long exposures are a problem. The image sensors have leakage which add random white dots into your image with long exposures. Some cameras try to compensate for this. This is never an issue with film.
No digital camera except one model of Pentax can make double or multiple exposures.
Workflow Speed: If you are publishing in print or Internet or email you already know how great it is to have your files ready to go right from the camera. It’s wonderful not to have to process and then scan each of your film images. With digital you can post web galleries with hundreds of images the same morning you shoot them.
With film it takes months to get around to scanning all the images the hard way.
Permanance: With digital you can use standard computer methods to backup and store exact copies of your original images in multiple physical locations. Duplicates of film images on the other hand are worse than the originals. You can send your digital images to your clients and never have to trust your original to leave your possession. Of course people who don’t back up their computers will soon be discovering that they will lose years of work and family memories when their computer dies or if they forget to copy everything to a new computer.
Fun:: There is nothing more fun than shooting away and seeing what you just shot, and then emailing it to everyone you know. You can experiment and fool around and learn a ton, which then you can apply to your film shooting, too.
Physical Storage Space: Hard drives and CDs can store bazillions of images in far less space than binders and files full of film.
Indexing: Since you’re already in the computer, file indexing and organization is easy. Film needs to be tagged physically by hand.
Speed: With film you wouldn’t shoot 100 images of nothing just for the hell of it. With digital it’s common for people to shoot 900 of random things on a walk or a day out, just because you can.
Cost: Shoot as much as you like, it costs you nothing. On the other hand the cameras cost four times as much as film cameras.
FILM:
IMAGE QUALLITY – High speed film is poor. Prints from color negatives usually have poor colors unless printed yourself.
PERMANENCE – Color film fades. Digital files don’t.
STORAGE SPACE – You end up with shelves and shelves of images. Digital stored on CDs or hard drives can take much less space.
TRANSMISSION – You have to send the original image everywhere. If you lose it, you’ve lost it. Backup copies are always a little worse than the original.
COST – you pay as you go.
Digital:
Highlight Rendition: Digital still has a huge problem with highlight reproduction
Black-and-White - Digital does have more shadow detail than film.
Depth of Field: Digital SLRs have about the same depth of field as 35mm film cameras. Compact digital cameras have almost infinite depth of field, meaning you can’t deliberately blur backgrounds.
Exposure: Digital has the advantage of immediate feedback, but also the disadvantage that exposure is more critical than film.
Permanence: I have lost days of work when memory cards become unreadable.
Cost. Digital cameras are very, very expensive for what they do. They become obsolete in a year, unlike film cameras which, in the case of 4×5, even 50 year old cameras and lenses are in use daily. Digital cameras pay for themselves if you use them a lot
