Digital Camera vs Film: Pros and Cons

 

Although there are still some holdouts, consumers have generally embraced the more affordable "point and shoot" models, with the U.S. selling about 5 million digital cameras during the Christmas 2005 holiday season.

Over the past few years, digital technology has made great strides, but the price of more sophisticated digital cameras has only recently dropped enough to attract the "serious amateur" market. In the past, the price of high-end digital camera equipment was more suited to the professional who could turn that investment into an income source.

Even traditional film buffs are slowly coming around to the benefits of digital photography. Among the holdouts, the chief problem seems to be confusion. There are so many choices, with a broad range of options and just as many price ranges. 

It’s cheaper not to make a decision than to make a mistake.

People become confused by the jargon and harbor doubts about the quality and dependability of digital photos and cameras. With the whirlwind of innovation flooding our lives every day, it’s become really difficult to keep up. 

Technology is advancing, prices are falling, and a deal today may become obsolete tomorrow. At least that’s what worries many potential digital camera owners.

So let’s look at five of the most common questions about digital camera photography to shed some light on the matter for those who are hesitant about this new technology or who have dismissed it as a mere fad.

1. Do digital cameras produce quality photos? 
Digital photos have the ability to display at very high resolutions, easily surpassing conventional photographs, but many have encountered images of poorer quality. You could use early color printers to print color photos from digital cameras, but the quality was simply inadequate. Blurry images on low-grade computer monitors or on the small LCD screens of the cameras themselves do nothing to increase your confidence. 

However, if you view the high-resolution images from today's digital cameras on a capable monitor or after printing them on one of the newer photo-quality printers (using photo-quality paper), you'll be able to appreciate their crystal-clear quality.

2. How durable are digital camera photos? 
Film does not store digital camera photos. Electronic memory devices store them, requiring significantly less maintenance compared to negative film.

You can easily make copies of the digital image files on your computer or even burn them to a CD—an option not available with film—as long as you take reasonable care of the specific storage device.

3. Are digital camera photos more expensive to process? 
Not anymore. First, you can eliminate any poor images before printing and only pay for those that you print. With “easy share” technology and photo quality printers now available, it is both affordable and convenient to print digital camera photos. 

You can even do the task yourself, in the comfort of your own home—without buying expensive development chemicals that are required for film processing! Or, you can send your images electronically to a professional processor and receive professionally produced photos back in the mail in just a few days. 

4. Can I get different effects with a digital camera? 
That depends on the digital camera. High-end models have built-in features that allow different kinds of effects. But even if your digital camera doesn’t have these advanced features, you can always manipulate the photographs on your desktop computer using any image editing software.

5. Are zooming features comparable? 
Here, digital cameras actually have a distinct advantage over film cameras. While cheaper digital cameras may only have digital zoom (which is really just a form of in-camera enlargement that results in a lower resolution original image), high-end models are available with both digital and optical zooming. 

When shopping for your digital camera, give priority to the optical zoom capability and buy the highest-power optical zoom that fits within your budget. While digital zoom is a useful addition, you can easily replicate the effects by "processing" the images on your computer before printing them.

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