DVPhoto

There is something about hobbies that makes so many people in this world insist on taking up polarised positions. Product A is better than product B, no questions, no exceptions! I’m sure internet forums increase this ten fold. The resulting multi page long arguments, filled with baseless assumptions and ridiculous conclusions, being repeated so often that it makes you want to bash your head against your monitor until the pain stops one way or another.

Now a year or so back, I began my hobby of photography with the purchase of a digital SLR. I am very happy with my choice, and while I’m sure there are a thousand arguments for choosing a different route, I wouldn’t choose differently if given another chance. It was and is a great learning tool, with rapid feedback and very good quality images. Yet I somehow don’t feel this need to proclaim my choice to be the most superior choice available to all.

It seems that as film rapidly retreats from the market, becoming harder and harder to get; the film connoisseurs feel an increasing need make even more ridiculous claims about why film is best. The other day I was reading a post where someone claimed that 35mm film was equivalent to at least 22 mega pixels. I don’t know what film he used, because I don’t think a 19×13 inch enlargement (that is +-22mp at 300 dpi in digital terms) of 35mm film looks even remotely as detailed as one from a 12mp digital camera. Grain is not detail!

However, while grain may not be detail; the look of film, especially B&W films, is something that can be truly appreciated; even when shooting 35mm. The resolution of large format cannot be beaten by any easily affordable digital solution with the exception of stitching digital images; something that while able to producing stunning large images, is still severely limited.

Yet all of this is meaningless. I love photography, all of it. The film ribbon on the side bar of this blog is there to say that film is not dead, there will always be some of us who want to use it. Right now my tiny budget has limited me to a DSLR and an old Kiev 4 35mm rangefinder. I want to build my own large format camera, get a better DSLR, perhaps find an old Kiev 60 on ebay; Maybe even one day own a Leica M3. I am not a digital photographer, or a film photographer; I am just a photographer^aa.

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1. with not enough time in the day or money in the bankaaa

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(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

Tags: Philosophy

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