Rambles On Tech

Photography: The Transition from Film to Digital

Posted by: Paul

In 1991 when Kodak introduced the first digital camera to the photography world no one could have predicted the overwhelming affect it would have on the photography world over the next 15 years. With film sales falling almost 36% in 2004 it looks like digital photography has finally replaced its older film brother not only for professionals, but also for the everyday consumer.  One question remains though; will film ever disappear completely?

Film companies such as Kodak are scrambling to change their products to cater to this change. Current Kodak CEO Antonio Perez had this to say when asked about the new philosophy of Kodak; “Out fundamental strength is around digital imaging.” This is a rather bold statement to make considering that Kodak is one of the largest producers of film in the world. Kodak is doing a great job if thinking outside the box to stay in business. They were the first company to release a Wi-Fi camera that can wirelessly transfer images back to a photographer’s computer and also the first company to release a dual-lens digital camera. (Stone, Brad p.46) It’s nice to see one of the film leaders makes it’s place as one of the leaders among digital photography also.

Here is a graph showing the drop in film sales over the past few years. 1999 was the last year that film sales actually increase. Since then film sales have been on a steady decline with a large drop from 2003 to 2004. As you can see in 2000 there was a 1.8% drop, 2001 and 2002 showed a 6.2% drop. By 2003 there was a 14% drop in film sales and by 2004 film sales had dropped a staggering 35.8%.

**Graph is currently down, please shoot me an email and I’ll send you a copy**

While pro photographers have played a role in the switch from film to digital, the average consumer has possibly played an even larger role. Take a look at a Best Buy ad in the Sunday newspaper and count the number of digital cameras being advertised compared to the number of film cameras. December 11th, 2006’s Best Buy ad has 12 digital cameras on sale and 2 film cameras. (cite) Best Buy advertises what people want and Best Buy is advertising digital cameras. Even your local stores such as Walgreens, Meijers and Samsclub have changed their stores to accommodate to the new digital consumer. They now have photo-printing stations where consumers can come in with their memory cards from their digital cameras and get prints made very fast, in most cases within minutes. On top of that, they only have to print the few photos they want instead of developing an entire roll of film.

Instant gratification has played a large part in a consumers draw to digital over film. A consumer can now take photos of the family on Christmas morning or any other holiday and within minutes send out an email with those photos to all of their close friends and relatives without spending any money. With film you would have to shoot the photos, drop them off to get developed, get them back, get enough copies of the prints you like to send out, then write letters and send them out. Not only does it take much longer and is a hassle, but the cost is much higher.

When you look within the industry you will find that most photographers not only welcome the use and advantages of digital cameras, but also own at least two of them. I asked Michael Forrest, a Grand Rapids Community College photography teacher, his thoughts on digital photography. I expected a long answer about the advantages and disadvantages of each, but what I got was something quite different; “It’s a good thing.”  When you look at the photography program at Grand Rapids Community College you have to agree with him. In the past two semesters every single entry level photography class at the college has been switched over to focus exclusively on digital photography instead of film. Most photography students won’t even see a dark room until their third semester at the college. Brian Sorg, a local Chicago photographer had a little more to say about switching to digital photography.

“Digital photography is the future. My clients all prefer digital prints and wouldn’t know what to do with a film print. Most likely they would scan it and convert it to digital. Digital is just easier and fits the business needs of my clients. I couldn’t offer them the services I do if I had to still shoot film. Film however will always be around, mainly for fine art photography. Film is our history and we can’t forget that.”

When you look though any recent photography magazine it’s almost impossible to find and reviews on film cameras. The editors are all concerned with the latest and greatest release in the digital camera market. Nikon, a major camera manufacturer, has stopped all film camera manufacturing in their pro-line aside from one camera. A lot of pro photographers look at making the switch to digital for a few reasons. Obviously their clients are asking for digital and to stay competitive photographers have to cater to their clients, but also from the photographer’s standpoint it’s much cheaper to shoot digital.

Putting the cost of equipment such as the camera and lenses aside because at the pro level the cost for a film camera compared to a digital camera is equal, we’ll just look at the cost of film and compare that to digital media for one pro photo shoot. During a one-day photo shoot a photographer will take between 100 and 500 photos. For easier math, we will take an average of 240 photos which will easily fit on one memory card that cost the photographer $50.00. The photographer can show the client all the photos on his or her computer and the client can make final selects from there. All this was done directly after the photo shoot and the client knows they have the shot they need. If film had used, you would have ten roles of film with 24 exposures each along with development of each role. Since film takes time to get developed the client wouldn’t even be 100% sure the photographer got the shot he wanted. The cost of the film and developing would have to be passed on to the client, which in this case would be ten roles of film at $7.99 each, along with development of those same 10 roles which is another $7.99 each. Giving you a total of $159.80, not including tax. Compare $50.00 to $159.80 for one shoot, and because digital media like that memory card is reusable, the photographer won’t have that cost again anytime soon. They can also archive digital photos much easier in a case where the client would need access to them at a later date. “Digital photographs can be edited, process and disseminated quickly and cheaply.”

So how does the quality of digital compare to film? Well until recently it was a commonly known fact among photographers that if you needed the absolute best quality for printing large prints you had to shoot film because you just couldn’t get the quality you needed from a digital print. This all changed in December of 2002 when Canon released the first full frame digital camera. Full frame means that the sensor size that is used on digital cameras to capture the photo in the same way film is used in a 35mm camera is equal. Equal quality, but with the reduced cost of shooting digital really started to wake photographers up to the thought of switching completely to digital. This breakthrough in digital technology can be seen in the graph shown on page two of this paper. 2003 is the first year that you see a substantial drop in film sales. Recently Canon has been releasing versions of that pro camera that are designed and priced directly for the consumer market, thus giving even more consumers a reason to switch.

So how does a pro digital camera differ from a pro film camera? From the outside they are very hard to tell apart, aside from looking at the model number. They function identical in all aspects. The digital camera does however have the advantage of being able to review a recently taken photo. Inside the camera however is where you start to see the difference. In place of the roll of film in the film camera, the digital camera will have a rather large battery to aid in the added power use of having a digital screen on the back of the camera to look at your photos and instead of having a piece of film inside the film camera for the light to burn at image into you have a computerized sensor on the digital camera. This sensor is the exact same size as the film, 36mm x 24mm. The sensor reads the light that comes through the lens, converts that into a digital file, and saves it on the memory card located inside the camera. The lenses that are used for a film camera or digital camera are identical on pro cameras. If you have a Nikon film camera and a Nikon digital camera you will be able to interchange your lenses between the two camera bodies without any trouble.

The question still remains about film disappearing completely. You could talk to ten different photographers and get ten different answers. One thing is for certain; digital photography has overtaken film as the preferred media for capturing photographs. And as more and more advancements are made, digital photography will only continue to grow.

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