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Why Film and Not Digital?

5 Reasons to Shoot Film
Five cases when film beats digital hands-down.

By Russell Hart
December 2006

Digital is the earnest child of photography, always striving to better itself. Film is the adult, having had more than a century to mature. That's why there are times when film -- and only film -- is the best insurance that you'll get the result you want. Here are five arguments in its favor.

1) ULTIMATE IMAGE SHARPNESS
For most purposes, digital will do. But unless you're shooting with an ultra high-resolution digital back or top pro-level DSLR, film still produces the sharpest possible images. A 35mm frame converted to a digital file by today's desktop scanners simply clobbers the sharpness of a typical consumer DSLR.

Yes, you can sharpen a digital image in software. And with most DSLRs you must, because images are considerably softened by anti-aliasing filters that keep their sensors from recording jagged edges and moiré patterns. Yet if you overdo your sharpening, the image can take on a distractingly "crispy" appearance. The sharpness you get from film is more natural looking.

2) A SPECIFIC "LOOK"
Films have personality; DSLRs don't. While many DSLRs let you dial in higher or lower saturation and contrast, those crude adjustments can't compare to the richness of film, whether Velvia's crisp, saturated look or the delicate tonal shoulder of Tri-X. (Black-and-white is a particular challenge for digital, especially in-camera.)

You can always mess with curves and other factors once you get a digitally captured image into editing software. There are even programs that mimic the qualities of specific films. Whether they succeed is a judgment call, but you won't get the inimitable look of Kodachrome out of the box.

3) WIDEST TONAL RANGE
Digital SLRs are dynamically challenged. In contrasty light they have a hell of a time with highlight and shadow detail. Sure, they've improved, and RAW helps. But they have far to go before they match a color negative's ability to lasso photons high and low.

Film can be manipulated to soak up even more of a scene's tonal extremes. You can rein in highlights by "pulling," or shortening, the development of b&w film. You compensate for this by adding exposure when shooting, improving shadow detail. You can overexpose color negative film by as much as four stops to increase shadow detail and reduce contrast, without damaging highlight nuances.

Again, some super-duper digital backs claim to match or exceed the range captured by film. If you can afford them, go for it -- and bring along your laptop.

4) ON A FIXED BUDGET
At a given level of quality, film is still less costly than digital. On the low end, a single-use camera loaded with color negative film costs under $10; the cheapest digital point-and-shoots run nearly $100.

On the high end, consider what a well-appointed 35mm SLR will set you back these days: a couple hundred bucks with lens. Color film and processing costs maybe 15 cents a shot. Compare that to the price of the least expensive DSLR, still about $600 (though over time it will save you a lot in film and processing costs).

5) WIDEST ANGLE OF VIEW WITH YOUR EXISTING LENSES
True, camera makers have created some excellent wide-angle zooms, and even fisheyes, for their digital SLRs. These lenses offset the smaller-than-35mm image sensor found in all but a couple of DSLRs. But many photographers choose the same brand of DSLR that they used for 35mm because they can shoot with their existing lenses. The problem is that the DSLR's smaller image sensor puts horse blinkers on those lenses, wasting much of their available image circle.

For example, the nearly 75-degree angle of view produced on the full 35mm frame by a 24mm wide-angle (maybe my all-time favorite 35mm focal length) narrows to just over 50 degrees -- in effect, a 36mm or 38mm lens -- when you put that same lens on a DSLR with an APS-C-sized image sensor (Nikons, Pentaxes, the Sony, and most Canons).

So if you want the full goodness of a made-for-35mm lens' angle of view, put it on your aging Canon EOS A2E instead of your Digital Rebel XT, or even your old Nikon F3 instead of your spanking-new Nikon D200.

Hitchhiking across the USA

I recently came across this website of a recent college graduate.  Cody Smart a fellow SportsShooter.com photographer hitchhiked across the USA.  He photographed much of his journey.  The photos taken are nothing less than impressive.  Images from this journey could easily be book material.  I can't wait to see some words behind some of the photos.

His website is www.codysmart.com/hitchhike

Getty's Pay to Play

Photoshelter's Allen Murabayashi chimes in on the recent announcement by Getty to charge photographers to submit photos.
***
The 800 lbs gorilla, Getty Images, roars again.

Getty makes a very small fraction of photographers a lot of money. In fact, a handful (i.e. <10) even make over $500,000/year from stock image sales. They can do this because they consolidated collections and provided a one-stop shop to the image buyer. They took massive commissions, but also spent money on advertising the service, so now they can rightfully claim that they do more image sales business than their next two competitors combined (Corbis and Jupiter Images).

But times are tough, and the fact is that the three largest stock agencies represent less than 1% of professional photographers worldwide. The rise of sites like Alamy and iStockPhoto (owned by Getty) suggest that there is a larger market for images both on the supply and the demand side. In an effort to cash in on this, they have introdued Getty Open.

Of course "Getty Open" is a moniker akin to the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea." Well friend, there ain't nothing democratic about North Korea, but a little marketing will hopefully go a long way.

Getty Open is an effort to allow anyone who wants to sell an image to do so. The catch is that you'll have to pay Getty $50 per image to submit, and then give up 70% of the sale with a two-year exclusive. Their value proposition is that if the image does sell, you'll make up that money. And of course, there is some psychology going on. If I have to pay to play, then I will self-select more critically. And for some people, spending money makes them feel like they are exerting control.

The complete blog is located here. This is his blog so the post will move.

Copyright Protections for Photographers

Copyright is the legal concept that once an original expression of a creative process is fixed in a tangible medium, like a photograph on film, that expression belongs to the creator who has the exclusive right to control and authorize its reproduction, distribution, public display, or performance. Copyright is the single greatest protection that any creator of intellectual property has at their disposal. It is what allows us to control the use of, and to profit from, the fruits of our creative efforts and to enforce certain claims against even much larger corporations. Copyright is not intended to stifle the sharing of information, merely to guarantee that the creators of that information have a right to make a decent living. There are plenty of exceptions to copyright protection written into the laws which guarantee the free exchange of information for academics, research, news, teaching, and other legitimate intellectual pursuits.

Articles, photographs, and music on the internet and in other digital formats are all covered by the same copyright protections as more traditional printed, displayed, or performed creative works. Now that the Web has become an open worldwide marketplace, it needs to be moderated by the same controls that guide commerce and advertising in other venues. In a free market economy, the right to buy and sell goods lies with the owners of those goods, not just anyone who happens to find them lying around. For example, when you walk by a grocery store with displays of goods both inside and outside, you know that the outside displays are there to attract your attention with the implication that you should come inside and buy something. They are not implying that you may just take an apple and walk away– that would be stealing. Likewise, by posting copyrighted information on the Web, we are putting it out there with the intention of it being looked at and perhaps purchased, but not stolen.

End-users of copyrighted material have the legal responsibility to obtain permission to use the work before doing so, and this permission is granted with a usage license from the copyright holder. A usage license is merely a simple contract which grants to a certain user the right to use a work in a certain way, in a certain place, for a certain period of time. A license for a photograph should specifically state who the user is, how large the image may be used, how many times, in what specific media format(s), and for how long. Any uses not specifically granted in a license remain with the copyright holder, by law.

The complete handout/explanation!

Pro Copyright Petition

Sign the PETITION

We, the undersigned members of an international network of photographers, journalists, filmmakers, documentary makers, visual artists, and writers, are collected together here to make known our profound concern regarding the content and consequences of the proposed Orphan Works bill.
We believe that a free society flourishes in relation to its intellectual freedoms. In order for a free society to benefit from the creative efforts of its members, and to guarantee the fertility and integrity of such works, these efforts must be protected as rigorously as our fundamental rights of free speech, free assembly, and a free press. At the heart of the Amendments to the Constitution rests the incontrovertible belief that the tyranny of unchecked powers and interests is a threat to just governance and the social good. As such they must be subject to the rule of law and prevented from transgressing the rights of private individuals or groups of people who do not exercise great authority politically or economically.
In order to form a more perfect Union, promote the general Welfare, and secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and to our Posterity, we must ensure that the vitality and integrity of the Imagination not be infringed, and that the life of the mind be given adequate scope and protection for it to continue driving the technological and humanitarian progress of all societies.
The American Constitution states that one of the duties of Congress is “To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;” (article 1, section 8, clause 8). This providential clause has ensured the progressive development of what was once a small and defenseless nation, pitted against the seemingly unlimited power and resources of the European industrializing nations, and virtually guaranteed that the new ideas and innovative vision of its pioneering peoples would be nurtured, propagated, and guarded for the common good of the nation. There is a clear and vital relationship between our ideas and our social growth: the health of the body politic depends upon preserving it.

The Job Board for Media Professionals...

It has come to my attention that some people still don't know about this site. Journalism Jobs.com has been around for several years. They are a national job board for journalist. Periodically you will find photographer/photojournalist related job listings here from small newspapers to national publications.

I caution you not to apply or accept any work for hire job, but other than that, there are some good listings.

Journalism Jobs

Are you a member of EP yet?

EP advocates for fair contracts from publishers and promotes the position that both photographers and publishers must maintain a healthy symbiotic relationship in which both sides can prosper and profit. EP's goal is to find positive solutions to issues confronting all of us in this rapidly evolving industry.

Our organization continues to evolve, as well. What began in the spring of 1999 amongst a small group of Bay Area photographers by 2004 had grown to over 4000 members. While membership in Editorial Photographers has always been by application, limited to editorial photographers and students, it has been free.

All our efforts have been funded by donation and energized by volunteers. Our key advocacy in contract negotiations with Business Week and Forbes yielded vastly improved compensation for photographers, while retaining our licensing rights. Our OutreachEP program has educated and mobilized hundreds of photographers, both veterans and neophytes. Our online forum has changed the way photographers communicate with each other, providing vital information and insights.

In order to improve our ability to advocate for photographers, increase photographers' profitability and communicate the need for change in our industry, Editorial Photographers is being restructured. Our website will now include, along with many of our previous features and helpful information:

• Find-A-Photographer search feature
• New reprint sales price database
• New stock sales price database
• Improved and up to date city guides
• Threaded discussion forums
• Guest columns by industry experts, including attorneys, art directors and editors

Membership will continue to be limited largely to editorial photographers and students. Annual membership, which includes access to the discussion forums, sales price databases, city guides, and inclusion in the Find-A-Photographer database, is $50 (USD). Student membership will be $25, but will not include a listing in the Find-A-Photographer database.

If you haven't already visit EDITORIAL PHOTO dot COM

Zone Two: Brothas Behind the Lens

Last week I mentioned a gathering of black male photographers. This past Friday, I visited the group again at the final day of the exhibit. It was observed on more than one occassion that this has been the largest gathering of African American photographers since Gordan Parks funeral.

If anyone, anywhere, has documented a larger gathering of African American photographers, please contact me.

The future website of is located at www.zonetwo.org

© 2006 D'Lovely Gibson

For those future members of ZoneTwo.org there has been a Yahoo Group created as well. Leave a comment here, on the yahoo group or via email if you would like to be apart of this new organization.

Zone Two: Brothas Behind the Lens

Atlanta is witnessing the birth of another photography organization. This one is exclusive to
African Americans.

I was invited to the second meeting by Master photographer Jim Alexander. Naturally, I took photos and some of those will be posted in the upcoming week.

The group is meeting every Friday this month at the Studioplex on Auburn Ave for those in the Atlanta area.

There was a good group of men and women in attendance. I would say no less than 20-30 photo enthusiasts.

The budding website is located www.zonetwo.org

A Sad day in the Atlanta Photography Traditional Film Community

© 2001-2006 Frank Johnson/Shootfilm.net. All Rights Reserved.

Julie Y., a good friend of mine is launching a new website. The theme is "I went digital" or something like that. I will clarify the exact domain name in the upcoming days. Julie is the photographer who took my photo above.

Brothers and Sisters this is a tragedy. We are loosing more and more to the dark side everyday.

We must take a stand. Each one reach one. Take that second or third body and mentor someone in the art of traditional photography.

I am currently working on a petition to Fuji/Kodak to keep film alive. I would like One Million Film shooters to sign a virtual guest book in support of film photography.

We can't stop time, but we might be able to slow it down. Let me be selfish. I would like another ten to fifteen years of film access.