As technology advances faster than most people not named Tony Stark can keep up with, one of the more prominent debates that has slowly begun its fade into the ethos of "these DVD things will never catch on" territory is the war between 35mm film and digital photography. Though cool from a nostalgic standpoint (in the same way vinyl records are "cool), it's become clear that traditional 35mm film, like home phones and movies that aren't sequels, is on its way out.
Basics
Digital cameras are not just used by bubbly girls at college parties but, thanks to the gradual emergence of digital SLR (DSLR...obviously), those digital files that were once laughed at by traditional film enthusiasts are now making their way into the bloodstream of professional photography and kicking film out the door. Though the debate still rages, the race between the two formats has never been tighter. Digital or film? You be the judge.
Media
Film: This type of camera requires, well, film. You essentially are paying for the picture before you even take it. And if you don't like the shot, then too bad. It can't be undone, and you don't even get to see the giant blurry finger you had over the lens, replacing your child's diploma with a giant fingernail, until you get the pictures processed. And then you get to actually pay even more money for processing the pictures, unless of course you're a professional and do your own processing. In which case, you're probably not reading this article. Not to mention, if you want to send your precious memories to your friends and family over the World Wide Web, you'll need a scanner to download your newly-processed pictures into the computer. Or you can just cut out the middle man...
Digital: CF cards and SD cards are the standard for capturing digital media. You can check them out on the spot using the handy LCD screen most digital cameras have and overwrite the ones that aren't any good. They also can go straight into the computer using a handy SD card slot or an easy $5 attachment available at almost every electronics retailer on the planet. You can delete and print the ones you want, and place the ones you don't into the (virtual) recycling bin.
Edge: Digital.
Resolution
Film: Take a look at a film picture from 30 years ago and a standard digital photo from 30 seconds ago (standard being somewhere between 6-12 megapixels) and chances are that the filmed photograph will look slightly better than the digital picture. Even today, film has an aesthetic that digital has yet to match. It's sharper, clearer, with a nice graininess (incidentally called "film grain") and uses shallow depth of field to make images pop out by blurring everything not within the focal plane.
Digital: It's getting there. Though film has a higher resolution than most standard digital cameras on the market today, it won't for long. Every year, the megapixel numbers go up. Some high-end digital cameras have up to 39 megapixels, meaning the image is made up of 39 million pixels, while the average 35mm film stock is made up of about 20 million pixels. That means those 12 megapixel DSLR cameras are only a few years away from being 20 megapixel DSLR cameras, meaning even film's stunning resolution (aka the only real reason to use it) will be obsolete.
Edge: Film, for now...
Cost
Film: You have to buy film. Which is not cheap. Over and over and over and over and over. You have no way of reviewing those pictures, so they could be horrible. Then you get to pay over and over and over and over again to process these potentially horrible pictures.
Digital: A good, DSLR camera runs about $1,000, usually far less. Lenses run into the hundreds, and a CF or SD card will go for about $50 depending on the amount of memory. This may sound like a steep price, but it will pay off in the long run, considering you don't have to keep paying for things over and over and over and over ...
Edge: Digital. By a mile.
Conclusion
There's no doubting that film still just has some special quality that makes it beautiful. Most major motion pictures are still shot with traditional film. But as technology progresses like bamboo in a jungle where it rains coffee, digital will soon be able to recreate that aesthetic for a fraction of the price, a fraction of the frustration, and a million times the convenience.
Tags: over over, over over over, 35mm film, over over, cameras have, digital cameras