Film or Digital?

I agree, if your a beginner, digital can be a great thing, but only if you bother to assess your photographs and see what you can improve on. What I like to recommend to people is that they get a really small memory card, so that they have a limited amount of photographs they can take - much like a roll of film. My thing with film was that I was always very careful of HOW I took my photos because I only had x amount of frames before I was done. Just something to think about :)

I dont know about professional photographers but if it is a hobby it may be better to start out with digital. Coz when you are just beginning to learn, you will land up making a lot of mistakes - wrong angl, wrong lighting. If you use a film, it will become very expensive to waste so much of it. With digital, it is easy to just delete that particular shot at no cost.

Hi. No daubt what I think. Film is the best for learning. Digital photo has made the photo to loose its value. But thats another discussion.

The Idea of Photography is to capture images with artistry and value regardless if its film or digital.

Hehehe...I didn't have a choice as the world of digital wasn't even in existence when I first got my 35mm film camera way back in 1977--uh, yes been in the biz awhile...and I still don't have a digital though would like one...and STILL use that 1977 Nikkormat EL-W...yes, works fine...I even know how to develop black and white film and prints which sadly is becoming a dying art..and frustrating too as the many kinds of photo paper I used to use no longer exist...like Kodak's X paper...which had a beautiful natural sepia tone to it and had the texture of watercolor paper. I don't think a photographer who is serious can really consider themselves a photographer without knowing the history of it, and should know the aspects of film photography...while I don't po-po digital...and it is more convienent in many ways...there is more control with film photography, and Photoshop just can't equal...

Before I read all other responses, I will give my 2 cents, or else I will get lost with what I want to say. (so I might be repeating another post) ANYWAY! Ok, my story, I bought a film SLR and decided to try and teach myself photography. The more I learned, the more confused I grew. The more I learned, the more I found out, it branches off into so many other vital areas I wanted to know about. So, I gave in and started a photography program at a local college. I just graduated this month. So what I have to say is this: After all the $$$ I've spent in the program, after everything I've learned....I would NEVER trade the education I received, I learned MORE than I could have ever imagined with my purchase of my SLR years ago. And I still do not take what I consider the best photographs. If you want to become a professional or make a living from your images, you have to learn the history of photography. You have to learn the zone systems. You have to learn how to compile an excellent portfolio. You have to learn how to print in a darkroom, you have to smell the chemicals and spend endless hours getting your print "just right". Everyone who has purchased a digital camera realizes the beauty in photography like never before. But you have to learn and invest to find out the true photographer in you otherwise, how will you know what makes your work stand apart from the others. Standing apart from everyone else is what is key to make it. If you want to make a living doing what you love (which I strongly advise) you have to make it what you live for.

Well, anyone can be a photographer! You don't have to start photography from film cameras .... as to make the story short. Read as much as you want about film or the history of photograhy. It may or may not be helpful. I found that people who insisted on film cameras 'dared' not try digicams for fear of the technology! A keen photographer should have eyes on beauty. The nature and all its elements are a joy to the creative eyes. So, just be creative! Take out your digicam and start shooting as much as you want, as long as your memory card can carry your pictures.

The most important part is the fundamental aspect of photography. Learn better exposure, composition and know your camera by heart and make use of it to record what you wanted in your photographs. Regardless you use film or digital medium, both have the same basic fundamentals to follow or learn for better photographs. You can have your own convention if you want but the basic principles will help you get started regardless of camera. Now, if you want that quality provided by film and willing to spend more time before you have the photograph on prints or online and does not have the budget for a digital slr, go with a film camera. I suggest you get an slr with manual controls when learning photography, it will give more flexibility than point and shoot type camera. If you want instant feedback from camera and intend to upload a lot online, get a digital slr camera. It's a lot more expensive but the learning process about photography fundamentals will be shorter. However, what drag you more time is the beyond photography aspect of the digital camera and that is handling digital files, post processing and computers. If you're already efficient on these area of digital information or file management then it will not be a burden for you. What is more important at the end of the day is you have the moments captured as photographs and you enjoy doing what you love to do, photography.:) Remember, it's not the camera that makes the photograph work, it's the person holding the camera (you), the photographer. :)