Film vs. Digital Photography: Pros and Cons for Modern Photographers
Introduction: Choosing Between Film and Digital Photography
One ongoing and seemingly endless debate that shows no signs of slowing is: film vs. digital photography. Both formats offer a unique set of strengths and a unique set of challenges, and understanding the pros and cons can be critical to helping you decide which best suits your creative and professional needs.
You could be an experienced photographer looking to revisit the bygone days of analog photography, or a beginner or hobbyist photographer simply wondering which format you should ultimately start with, this comprehensive comparison will guide you through key differences in, workflow, image quality, cost, creative control, and more.
1. Image Quality in Film vs. Digital Photography
Film Photography: Classic Tone Recreation and A Timeless Visual Texture
Film’s visual style is distinctive, to say the least. Being especially revered for a natural highlight roll-off that comes from the photographic development process (dealing with emulsion sensitivity ), it’s visual characteristics also include hyper-smooth grain and warm, nostalgic color rendering. Medium and large format film stocks as well provide extremely wide dynamic range values and detail.
Instagram, one of the most well known brands and online platforms in existence and one with a paltry $70.4 billion valuation, was launched initially as a tool that allowed people to take digital images from their phones, run them through a filter, and make them look like analog photographs.
Advantages of Film Photography Image Quality:
Highlight retention is unparalleled
The soft, cinematic grain and organic feel of analog is almost universally mood-evoking
The natural skin tones and color depth of film are automatic and do not rely on the digital calculations of a dslr/mirrorless
Different film stocks come with different visual personalities, moods, and character.
Disadvantages:
Low-light performance was surpassed ages ago by digital, and analog will never come close
You cannot see a preview of the image
Development and scanning can act as a bottleneck if done cheaply / improperly.
Digital Photography: Clarity, Resolution, and Control
Modern dSLR
Modern digital cameras — moreover full-frame and medium format (I own a GFX 100S and, as a new york headshot photographer will personally attest to this ) — offer outstanding sharpness, extremely high color rendition and tonal value, and a very wide latitude when editing RAW files.
Advantages of Digital Image Quality:
High resolution and sharp detail
Performance in low-light conditions that analog cannot come close to matching
On the fly white balance and exposure adjustment
Non-destructive editing techniques allow for more flexibility in the post-production process
Disadvantages:
Harsh highlight clipping. Whereas highlights can roll-off or taper with film, in digital, once it’s clipped it’s gone.
Processing or editing is an art and as such, quality labs are more limited in number.
It is oftentimes said that digital will never contain the soul that film has
2. Workflow Speed and Efficiency
Workflow
Film Photography: A Deliberate Process
Requiring more time and thought, film photography can force one to slow down, think about their settings and composition, and approach their images with more intentionality than digital (though digital photographers can just as well develop a process that places just as much of this in their own work).
Pros of Film Workflow:
Promotes a thought to ones composition
A lack of image review or preview can place more value on each and every frame
A higher emphasis on execution and pre-planning
Cons:
A limited amount of exposures per roll
While turn-around with digital can be instant, film can take days/weeks.
Risk of mistakes without immediate feedback is 100x what digital is.
Digital Photography: Fast and Flexible
Digital cameras allow you to adjust and review hundreds of images instantly. The ability to do this is ideal within the confines of fashion and commercial work. As well, as a full-time event photographer in New York City, I can attest that digital is universally the way to go in this realm.
Pros of having a digital workflow
Image review is immediate and using a histogram can tell you where you exposure is at
Lightning fast post-production and editing allows for instant delivery
While a roll of film may allow for 36 exposures, a 128GB sd card can hold thousands of RAW files.
Cons:
People have a tendency to overshoot in digital.
An “I’ll just photoshop this error” mentality can oftentimes hinder learning and development.
Can require expensive digital backup systems for photographers that shoot a lot.
3. Cost Comparison: Film vs. Digital Photography
Film Photography: High Long-Term Costs
Film cameras themselves may be far more affordable than they used to be, but film stock, development-and-lab processing costs, as well as scanning add recurring expenses that never dissipate. Each roll can cost $15–$30 with processing included. This means that every 36 exposures you’re going to be spending about $25-$50. To put this into perspective, you can at the moment buy a 128gb Sandisk Extreme Pro off of amazon for $20. If I were to use this memory card in my nikon d850, I’d get approximately 600+ images or so. If I were to shoot that same number of images on film, the roll and processing costs would be around $850.
$850 vs $20 is a rather large divider of cost.
Pros of Film Cost:
Film cameras are almost all vintage now - meaning they are exceedingly more affordable than they
used to be.Film photography provides an intentionality of shooting that digital does not. This may end up saving you
in the long-run.
Cons:
Far more expensive than digital, limiting the amount of shooting beginner and hobbyist photographers can do.
Darkrooms and labs are not all created equally. A bad lab can easily ruin your image and good ones are
not available 24/7.As most film cameras are vintage and no longer made, repair and part sourcing is much harder.
Digital Photography: High Upfront Cost Requirement, Much Lower Ongoing Costs Over Time
Digital cameras and lenses are a much newer technology that’s gettingg iterated over every year. This makes digital cameras and lenses considerably more expensive. However, there is no cost-per-shot factor and this makes digital ideal for high-volume shooters.
Pros of Digital Cost:
Costs per image is essentially $0.
Professionals photographers and content creators that use digital are far in the majority
Analog is unforgiving, whereas digital promotes learning on an ongoing basis.
Cons:
Gear depreciates much more quickly than analog. While an analog camera can last 30+ years and beyond, digital can oftentimes only last a few.
Digital photography is extremely popular and companies upgrade their tech every year. This means that staying current can be costly.
The investment for pro-level gear can be quite high.
4. Creative Control and Flexibility
Film: Built-in Character and Constraints
An endless boon of film is that different film stocks yield drastically different looks (instagram’s filters are essentially based around the idea of using different films for your image). Photography aspects like ISO and color profiling are committed to before the first image has even been taken - and that’s by selecting one’s film stock. This leads to a more disciplined creative process.
Creative Advantages of Film:
Each film stock has a unique visual profile and aesthetics (Kodak Portra, Fuji Pro 400H, etc.)
There is considerably less editing to achieve a stylized look
Working within a set of constraints fosters more discipline in creativity
Drawbacks:
Ones ability to correct mistakes is 1000x harder than digital
Manipulating or compositing images is considerably harder
While digital tools for retouching and editing are in the hundreds (now that AI is here, in the thousands)
there are only a small handful for analog / film photography.
Digital: Post-Production Powerhouse
Your options in post production are nearly limitless with digital. Exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, sharpness, and grain are just a few of the characteristics of the image you can modify (and quite heavily, assuming you’re working in RAW). And outside of what you can do yourself, there are literally tens of thousands of presets and color profiles on the internet that you can use to emulate film and various film stocks.
Creative Advantages of Digital:
Creative freedom in post-processing is nearly limitless
Commercial retouching for things like corporate headshots and visual effects are almost universally digital
Adapts easily to trends and different looks
Drawbacks:
Over editing ones images, especially early on in their career, is quite common
Sometimes having too many choices in the editing room can oftentimes cause “choice-paralysis,”
or the inability to make a decision.Authenticity seems less via digital
5. Archiving and File Longevity
Film Photography: Physical and Archival
When stored correctly, negatives, transparencies, and prints can oftentimes last decades. The data loss and digital corruption that digital photographers are accustomed to are not found in film photography, and archiving in analog is considerably easier and less expensive.
Pros of Film Archiving:
Physical records are permanent, whereas an image on a hard drive is subject to the hard-drive’s lifespan
Can be scanned over and over as technology improves
Software, firmware, and technology changes are something that physical prints are immune to
Cons:
Fire, moisture, and physical damage are all things that physical prints are vulnerable to.
Large collections can take up vast amounts of space
Unless scanned or in a gallery / exhibit, sharing ones work can be limited
Digital Photography: Convenient but Risk-Prone
Storing, copying, and sharing digital files is relatively easy. This being said, they remain vulnerable to hard drive failure, data loss, and even format obsolescence (a raw file thats 20+ years old may have a hard time being read by current software).
Pros of Digital Storage:
Backing up and duplicating digital files is incredibly easy
You can store them on-site, in the cloud, or both
Finding images within an archive is easier due to metadata
Cons:
Avoiding data loss can require putting certain processes in place that accounts for things like multiple backups/etc
Specialized software (adobe lightroom or capture one pro) is required to read RAW files
Accidental deletion or file corruption remains an issue
6. Learning Curve and Skill Building
Film Teaches Fundamentals
Learning manual settings like metering, composition, and exposure are something that’s forced upon photographers though the use of film / analog. Building a solid foundation through the use of film photography is much more critical than through digital.
Benefits of Learning Photography with Film:
Understanding things like lighting techniques and exposure are forced
Teaches that each individual frame is valuable
Basics are taught early on in a way that digital are not
Challenges:
Mistakes during the learning process can be costly
The feedback loop is much slower and can be days / weeks
No metadata for archiving
Digital Accelerates Learning
Rapid trial and error one of digitals main strengths for beginners. With things like histograms and immediate image review, learning every shot in real time is a massive benefit for photographers.
The benefits for Beginners learning Digital:
Instant feedback means a lightning fast learning curve. This can be beneficial for photographers doing fashion test shoots, for example.
Correcting mistakes and ease of experimentation are paramount
Software tools, educational materials, and schooling resources are abundant
Challenges:
Automation can become a crutch
There is less discipline in shooting manual
Oftentimes photographers can go years without learning the foundational skills of the craft
7. Cultural Relevance and Artistic Impact
Film: A Creative Revival
Film photography is undergoing a resurgence in interest like no other, and artists and other younger generations are adopting it more and more for it’s nostalgic value and hands-on characteristics.
Cultural and Creative Pros of Film / Analog Photography:
Creative communities and analog cultures are far more tight knit than digital
Fosters thought in image making
A welcome counterpoint to the perfection that digital achieves
Cultural Cons:
Photographers that only shoot film can be seen as using it as a crutch
It eliminates the photographer from a large number of jobs, particularly ones with fast turnaround
Costs continue to rise for processing and development
Digital: The Backbone of Modern Photography
Digital is the dominant format and this will never change with photography (we achieved the singularity long ago). Brand marketing, photojournalism, and ecommerce are now the realm of digital photography.
Cultural Pros of Digital Photography:
Accessibility and ubiquity
AI tools, social, and creative are in limitless supply
More latitude for innovation and experimentation
Cultural Cons:
Digital fosters content fatigue
Our culture has a shorter attention span for images as they’re being bombarded with them
The line between photographers, influencers, and hobbyists is now less distinct.
Conclusion: Film or Digital Photography — Which One Is Right for You?
Making a choice between film and digital photography depends on your budget, goals, and where your artistic priorities lay. Both formats offer the user the ability to be professional dedicated and to have valuable experiences in the medium:
Film photography should be considered if you value hands-on craftsmanship, waxing nostalgia, and a slower, more thoughtful creative process.
Digital photography should be considered for flexibility, total creative control for commercial or high-volume work, its forgiving attitude when it comes to error, and of course it’s speed.
Many professional photographers now use both mediums for different projects and as a hybridized workflow. Ultimately, however, whatever most readily supports your vision is the best choice.
