The film compulsion.

(Originally a reply to a post in the Film is not dead it just smells funny group on flickr, that ended up slightly longer than I originally intended…)

“Why do I choose to like the non-digital image more?”

For me it is about the effort that goes into that image. For the most part that image represents 1/24, 1/36, 1/10, 1/21 etc., of the shooters efforts. The fact that they (or I) only had that slim chance to get it right, and so had to work creatively to grab the perfect exposure first time makes it so much more special.

A film image makes me feel an affinity with the shooter that I just don’t feel with digital. Sure someone may have got the shot first time, but then it may have also been the hundredth shot. Knowing that the shooter had only ten images, and I’m sharing the experience of the one that worked…well I’m not sure I can describe it any other way.

Shooting film makes me think – I’m a student so while my film stocks are high at the moment I don’t have a stream of never ending cash to replenish them on a regular basis. Take for example my boxes of Konica VX 100. I only recently discovered this film, falling head over heels for it’s soft pastel tones. Being a discontinued line, I spent days searching for a source. While I’ve found one now, his supplies are obviously limited. Yes, I could perhaps achieve those pastel tones had I a computer capable of running anything better than the most basic of editing programs, but it is so much nicer to have the shot finished the moment you press the shutter. The elation experienced at knowing you have the shot, in camera, first time, is something that can’t be explained. You just have to experience it.

And what about Polaroid? Having shot my first “peel-apart” polaroids, (expired 667 film, Camera loaned to me by my local camera shop guy), just a couple of hours ago, I already know that I’m not going to forget how exciting it was to have an image instantly that can ever only exist in one copy.

As mentioned above, film choice and its results is a major factor of why I prefer film shots. But it is also the aesthetic experience that I feel when I use my cameras. Knowing that each camera has different qualities also makes me appreciate film shots. For example, a known problem in the Pentacon 6 is overlapping frames. The user has to makes sure the film is loaded tightly to avoid this issue – knowing this and seeing the amazing results of some Pentacon 6 shooters makes me appreciate their shots as I know how hard they’ve worked to get them.

Finally, from my experience, it would seem that almost anyone is able to pick up a digital and get a half decent image. Try doing that with a non metered Pentax 6×7…