Question for Film users..

dandantheadminman · Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 9:55 pm Post subject: Question for Film users..

Just wondering but is using 35mm film for photoing mountain biking any different to digital? excluding differences that apply for all photography.

I was just wondering cause I've never used film before.

bucket · Newbie Joined: 16 Aug 2006 Posts: 3

Yes, I find with film i can get much more variation and blur, also you can get effects which are only simulated in digi's.

dandantheadminman · Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2006 11:50 am Post subject:

o cool.

these effects... you mean like solarising and stuff done in the darkroom?
_________________
Ride like you have insurance.

Roo · Forum Master Joined: 16 Aug 2006 Posts: 442

I only see 3 advantages, firstly speed - especialy in B+W you can push films a long way, most DSLR's have a max ISO between 1600 and 6400, with film, you could buy a 3200 ISO film and uprate it to 25,600 ISO and still get a well exposed picture.

Secondly, you can enlarge pictures easily without pixelation, for example I have a decent A1 sized print from 35mm film.

Lastly, a decent shot on decent slide film just looks soooooooo nice!

As for solarisation you do it in the darkroom (i've only done it with B+W) you do it by exposing the paper under an enlarger like normal, but only developing it for half the time, then you go back to the enlarger and give it a flash of light at grade 5 and usually wide open aperture, then go and develop it again for the remaining time and stop fix etc.... It can be hard to get a good result but some of the attempts look pretty cool.

dandantheadminman · Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 7:38 pm Post subject:

o rite, i never realised there so that many benefits, I always considered film to be an old technology that digital rules...

yeh i admit a decent sized film picture does look uber nice...
_________________
Ride like you have insurance.

r464 · Newbie Joined: 29 Sep 2006 Posts: 5

Film or digital is a pretty worthless debate.

Film is silver grains that at sensitive to light. Digital is pixels that are sensitive to light. Pixels are just modern grain. The lenses focus the light we wish to capture and the medium records it. There are certain features that you can exploit with one or the other. Most of the effects that are gained in the darkroom are reproduced via software.

Film still has a greater sensitivity range. As mentioned above, you can alter the chemical processing to push some B&W films to very high ISO. You can also get low speed B&W film that seems to be almost grainless. Try a roll of the Ilford 50 speed. And unfortunately Kodachrome 25 is no more, but the results would make you want to pack away your digital equipment (well, almost). I still have a few rolls saved away in my basement freezer.

There is still medium and large format which now is something that digital cannot compete with. When your digital sensor is the size of a stamp, an 8x10 inch negative is on another level.

Roo · Forum Master Joined: 16 Aug 2006 Posts: 442

Yeah, there is no definite answer to which is better overall, they are both better at different things. I've used 5x4 for the first time recently which is quite good fun but incredibly slow to get just one or two pictures.

dandantheadminman · Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 3:47 pm Post subject:

8x10" :O wow thats gd, I never realised they got that big, lol

so r464, I'm guessing you use film, you also use digital?

_________________
Ride like you have insurance.