Comments on: Should I Invest In The Latest Digital Camera, Or A Film Camera?

By: fhotoace

fhotoace — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:16:34 +0000

If you are only going on what you hear, you need to slow down before you start spending any large money.
First take a class in photography and use a nice used Nikon or Canon 35 mm SLR with standard zoom lens … under $200 … then after you learn how to use the camera and have confidence using the camera then start looking for a good DSLR.
At this time, the Nikon D40 with 18-55 mm lens for under $450 opens the possibility for you to buy some additional lenses with your budget. Like the 55-200 mm VR and 12-24 mm super wide angle lens.http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000SDP…

By: Sophie

Sophie — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:16:34 +0000

Well first you should figure out what you like. Do you like black and white photography the best. If you do film would be for you. Just know that with film a lot of work goes into it. The darkroom, The enlarger and photo paper chemicals. With all that film photos can be quite decent in what you want to do.
However if you want a cheaper way. Digital is the way to go. I’m assuming you have a computer, all you need is the camera. . Also with digital it is way easier to edit photos and do really cool photographic coloring techniques.
Also i use a Olympus E-volt 510 so with 1,300 as a budget you can even by a Nikon, or a canon and i prefer digital.
so as the overall decision is up to you, but digital would in the long be cheaper and easier than having film cameras.

By: gatewayc

gatewayc — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:16:34 +0000

With that amount of money, you could actually get both. It really depends on what you want to do. If you like landscape photography, or if you like black and white photography, then yes film is definitely a lot better. Film is much better for black and white photos because it captures a TRUE black and white image, whereas all digital cameras record a color image and then you have to do a lot of editing and adjusting to convert the image to an accurate greyscale. Even if you use a black and white mode with a digital camera, the sensor is still capturing the image in color and the camera’s software is converting the image to B&W. And usually the camera will do a horrible job with it…the picture ends up being very noisy (grainy) and overexposed. So film is much better for getting a true, good quality black and white image.
I was at a photography exhibit in Los Angeles about a week ago. There were people who were interested in both digital and film photography. BUT there was still a general consensus that film is much better for black and white photos. There’s just something about how silver halide captures images. Also, if you do decide to develop your own pictures, a real print from an optical enlarger will be much better quality than a digital image printed from a computer.
Also, I still have to say that film is better for landscape photos. We’ve compared the pictures I’ve taken with my Argus C-44 (which is a 50 year-old manual film camera!) to the pictures my friend took with his 12 megapixel digital camera. In general, the pictures from my camera were better. A digital camera can sometimes handle lower light better than film, but for landscape photos taken in daylight, there is no contest…film does a much better job and can capture more detail with better color saturation. Digital cameras tend to get easily overexposed, causing colors to be dull and washed out.

By: Sam C

Sam C — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:16:34 +0000

film cameras are becoming obsolete simply because of lack of features that new digital cameras offer. For example digital cameras with 7.2 mp does a better job with much more functionality. All you need is a high quality photo printer and save the hassle of developing or trips to developing stores.
Check out: http://www.online-discountshop.com/ and you will know what I mean.

By: tonuproc

tonuproc — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:16:34 +0000

fhotoace answered your question perfectly i would follow that advice
the d40 is an excelent buy,google it for reviews and read all about it on dpreview.com
with your budget you can easily buy both a slr and dslr that share lenses and afford a class