Photography - film cameras

 
Before digital cameras came in and eventually became higher quality, film cameras were what we used. I had a great Minolta with telephoto lens and macro lens which led to me taking some really good photos over the years, in my opinion. In hindsight what I really loved about the film camera was the time and thought you put into each photo – you felt like a photographer – whereas with the digital camera I tend to keep on taking lots of photos in the hope that there will be one decent one!

A film camera doesn’t require batteries unless you are using a flash. You insert a film into the camera and take it out when you have shot all 24 or 36 images – it could be in there for months! Then you send the film off to be developed and you get it a few days or week later. Only then do you see what the photos look like and if you don’t like them it is too late to do try again as e.g. you are no longer on holiday! This led to the photo albums (which were so much easier to organise as you had a lot fewer photos) having a more real life and potentially funny look to them as people didn’t always have their eyes open, sometimes you missed half of someone out etc. The compensation was that with a film camera you didn’t spend your whole holiday seeing the scenery through a camera lens – you could look with your own eyes as you would only spend a little time taking photos as it was too expensive otherwise.

There are still advantages in using the film camera and there is still a market for them. The biggest advantage still seems to be the quality of the image especially if the photo is getting blown up. The digital camera uses pixels which, at a certain size, can be detected by the human eye. The film camera doesn’t so is able to be blown up without distortion more successfully.

Another key benefit to a film camera which is a key thing that annoys me about compact digital cameras is that you don’t get shutter lag with film cameras. (My next camera was a compact digital camera) Shutter lag is the gap between pressing the button and the camera actually taking the photo. So many shots are missed when using a digital camera. (There are lots of advantages in using a digital camera but that is for another blog!)

There are lots of disadvantages in using a film camera which have come to light since the advent of the digital. You cant change film speeds just like that, you have to wait until you have finished the roll. Likewise, you can put in colour film or black and white, you don’t have the flexibility to change.

Sometimes things could go wrong with the commercial printing of your film. Many a time have I been disappointed by the faded look or the blue hue of my photos.

I have stopped using my Minolta and I think it is the expense of it that has made me stop. It is cheaper to use the digital camera particularly as I use rechargeable batteries.


These three photos were taken by my Minolta (any deterioration to them is due to getting them onto screen). I have the cheetah blown up to 14"x11" and it is still perfectly in focus. I shot 7 rolls of films over a three week holiday in Africa - wonder how many I would take now with my digital camera!

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