The Film/Digital Debate.

Had you asked me a mere 6 years ago what I thought of film, I would have told you that it would be around forever. Nothing can replace the charm and quality of film. It was nothing for me to happily shoot off 6 or 7 rolls of film on a 2 week vacation and then spend $60 or more getting it all developed (in duplicate) for sorting, looking at, sharing with friends, and filing away in big old photo albums. Always carefully framing a picture before I snapped the shutter; never throwing out a single developed picture (even if it was so poorly underexposed that you couldn't tell what it was a picture of). Pictures cost money after all, and throwing money away is foolish.

I took a media course in highschool where I got to work in a darkroom for a couple weeks. Even built myself a pinhole camera. It was awesome, I loved every minute of it! At the age of 17 I had dreams of one day having abundant knowledge and skill in the field of film development and technology.

Alas, the digital revolution was on the horizon - film was doomed.

Probably the most annoying thing about film is the cost. You spend $5 or $6 for a single roll of 24 exposure film, and then another $5 to get it developed. And if you're lucky, about half of those turn out the way you want. $10 for 12 decent pics? ouch. Digital solves that - once you've got the equipment, other than the cost of batteries, taking and viewing a picture doesn't cost a thing.

You know what ruined film for me though?
Shoddy film development.
The person behind the counter at the one-hour photo booth does not give a rip about the colour processing of your prize-winning photo. And the person downtown at that fancy camera shop, he's twice as expensive, you'd think he'd care, but he's let me down on a number of occasions as well. There is nothing more disheartening than being incredibly excited about seeing that one perfect picture on your roll of film only to take one look at it and realize that they completely botched the processing job and it looks like a giant pile of poo. Quality film development is a lost art and that's a shame.

To be fair, its not just film that they screw up - they screw up the processing of digital pictures too. I had this absolutely stunning digital photo of a sunset once that I wanted blown up to an 8x10. It was gorgeous with beautiful shades of yellows and golds - it looked spectacular on my computer screen. I took it to the most expensive place in town to get it enlarged. I was so excited about that picture! I got it back, fervently opened the envelope, and pulled out this putrid green-tinted sunset. Seriously, it was actually green. I was so angry and disgusted and disappointed that they would even allow such a poor print to leave their shop. I have yet to go back to that place.

Actually, I've all but given up on 'professional' processing. I find that, with some decent glossy photo paper, I can get great true-to-life coloured prints off my home printer. Its no more expensive than a one-hour lab, its instant, and there isn't any disappointment. Unfortunately, unless you've got your own dark room in your basement, you don't have that choice with film.
Digital wins on pure convenience alone.