Everyone has a digital camera. They are built into phones. They are built into tablet computers. They are cheap and affordable at every drugstore and department store. Recently, the Canon 80D 2 lens bundle also caught light for being one of the most efficient in the race. But, film is still hanging on. In fact, film is experiencing a bit of a revival among shutterbugs. Here are six reasons to give film photography a try:
- You might learn something! There is something intrinsically satisfying about mastering a traditional, manually-operated, 35mm film camera. By nature, older film cameras force you to learn about lighting, aperture, and shutter-speed. If you check out used books on Amazon, you can find great textbooks on film photography for pennies plus shipping and handling! Thrift stores and used book stores can yield even more film photography books for really low prices.
- You might create something! Once you learn a few tricks, you can use them to create more artistic photographs. For example, you can use long exposures and high film speeds to shoot at night. You can also check out lomography cameras and see all the unusual and creative pictures that you can take with stylish toy cameras.
- You might find an interesting camera! With so many people migrating to digital photography, some beautiful, interesting, exciting, cameras have been left behind! For example, I’ve purchased high end film cameras like a Canon EOS Elan 7 for several hundred dollars less than the price of a comparable digital SLR outfit. Thrift stores in my community routinely have nice 35mm cameras like the Minolta SRT-201 for $30 or less. One of my most fun cameras, a vintage Kodak Retinette 1A only cost me $4.95 plus shipping!
- You might save money! It seems counter-intuitive, but you might actually save money. A good film camera can last a lifetime, but digital cameras are improving every year. As soon as you buy a film camera, it becomes absolete and is replaced by a camera with higher megapixal resolution. You can chase technology for years and spend a fortune. However, you might be better off getting a few nice film cameras and spending more time behind the viewfinder!
- You might take better quality photographs! Even as digital cameras improve each year, they are still trying to catch up to the picture quality of film. If you take a film photograph, you will be able to enlarge it as much as you want. Digital enlargements are limited by the resolution of the camera. While everyone else is cheating with Photoshop, you’ll be learning to compose better photographs.
- You might find a community! Film photographers are still out there. You can find them on the internet at sites like film-photography.org. You can read their blogs, visit their websites, and check out their photographs. Film photographers are a community that would welcome you and they would readily teach you a lot about photography.
There are a lot of interesting and creative things going on in the world of film photography. If you are looking for a new hobby, dig out an old film camera and be part of the revival!
