Film to Digital Cameras

My very first camera was film of course, and don't laugh but it was a "Brownie." Hopefully, someone remembers what a Brownie was like. I actually still have that camera packed away somewhere in a closet or basement, not sure where.

What I do remember is how much fun it was to take pictures. I loved to get that thing out and get a roll of film and work for 20 minutes to get the film in the camera correctly so it would feed through as you advanced from picture to picture. This was a process that took some patience and practice.

These cameras cost only $5.25 brand new and used 127 rollfilm made by Kodak. They were a real breakthrough in home photography.

After a few years of playing with the roll type of film,(fighting with the film), someone gave me a break. I received an Instamatic camera as a gift!

This was a real big change no more fumbling trying to manipulate the film onto rollers, just open the back of the camera and drop in the cartridge. Kodak had developed a camera that required very little manual dexterity to load the film and take a picture.

I think this is where the real growth in photography started. These point and shoot cameras were within the reach of the average family as far as the price and there was a very short learning curve in getting nice pictures.

Yes, after a few years of the point and shoot camera it was back to the roll film.

You must think I lost my mind. But I wanted to move from the point and shoot camera to the 35mm SLR. This is when I got bit by the photo bug and never recovered.

Even though the nightmare of loading a roll of film was the downside the upside was amazing. I could have more control over the photos I took. I was no longer at the mercy of what picture the camera was taking, I could determine what the outcome was going to be.

I purchased a Minolta SLR and started taking real pictures. Maybe I just like doing things the hard way, who knows.

I loved my film 35mm SLR camera and I never thought I would change. Then along came DSLR's.

The new digital SLR's are just so easy to use.
*No more rolls of film to fumble with.
*You no longer have to protect your camera while you insert the film. Especially hard to do outside in the bright sunlight.
*No more waiting for processing of the pictures
*No more wasted pictures(just delete them)
There are so many good reasons to go digital.

I think the number one reason to go digital is the cost of developing your pictures. To capture an image of a subject just the way you want to see it is often a trial and error situation. You may know what you want to achieve and you may know how to achieve it but you still need to take more than one shot to reach the exact image you want.

If you are shooting with film you can not see the outcome of each shot you take, so you must bracket, taking numerous shots making small adjustments. You can not see the results of the adjustments until the film is processed so you take lots of shots just to be sure. Developing all of these shots can be rather expensive, especially when half or more will end up in the trash.

With the digital camera you have the ability to see each adjustment. You have the ability to discard the really poor shots and only keep the best shots. This is all at no addition cost, one image is the same as four images.

The other great advantange is you leave with the knowledge that you have gotten a good shot of your subject and you are not worried about a return trip.

As I mentioned earlier, the mess of roll film is a very good reason to change to digital. The ease of popping in a memory card versus threading a roll of 35mm film is fantastic.

You can get a memory card that will hold hundreds of images. With rolls of film you must change the roll after 24 to 36 images. If you are shooting away, totally engrossed in shooting pictures, who wants to stop and load a roll of film?

If it is raining and you are out of film, it is a challenge to find a place to protect your camera and film to change the roll. Also, you need to keep the light, bright sunlight etc away from the camera when changing film, but with a memory card no problem.

Also, with a memory card you need not be concerned with the type of film that is on the camera. Certain conditions require different film, what if you want to go black and white? You must waste the film on the camera and change to a black and white roll or just not take black and white. If you are using a digital you can change a setting on your camera and you take shots in black and white and record as black and white.

The simplicity of digital cameras just can't be beat.