Photography — in its many and varied forms — has existed for nigh on 200 years. In the early 1820s, Nicéphore Niépce developed the process of heliography — literally ‘sun drawing’ — and around 1826-27, following experiments using Bitumen of Judea, created a permanent ‘fixed’ image of the view from his workshop window. He exposed a sheet of pewter, coated in this particular light-sensitive bitumen, for several days using a primitive form of camera. The resulting image is now considered to be the oldest extant photograph.
It only took a few years for one of Niépce’s associates — a certain Louis Daguerre — to further the chemistry required to create better images. He teamed up with Niépce and, after much tinkering, went public with the ‘Daguerrotype’ photographic process in 1839; exposing sensitised silver plates to light through a lens to create a fixed image.
Whilst infinitely complex by modern standards and, frankly, involving some pretty noxious chemicals throughout the process, the Daguerreotype technique bears such an obvious relationship to the next 150-or-so years of photography that one can almost say the rest is history…
Seeds of Change
Despite the move from sensitised silver to glass plates, then from glass plates to nitrocellulose backing film, to plastic films and many changes of format and size, the process remained roughly the same:
- Expose sensitised material to light through a lens
- Chemically fix the negative
- Develop the negative to produce an image
- Depending on the process, admire, print, duplicate or enlarge that image to your heart’s content.
It took until the mid-1970s for technology to move on significantly to produce a device that could be considered a ‘digital’ camera. It took until 1989 for the first true digital camera (the Fuji DS-X
) to hit the market, with a minuscule 0.4 Megapixel sensor and an astronomical price tag of around £25,000 (inflation-adjusted). However, with ever-increasing pixel counts and better sensitivity and usability, the digital market raced on, and by 2006, digital cameras finally outsold their analogue brethren.
It is fair to suggest that almost everyone in the country will now own a digital camera of one sort or another — most likely embedded in a mobile phone. Today’s £150 point-and-shoots give a remarkable bang-for-your-buck performance, and taking only a couple of steps up the price ladder to a £400 DSLR will give excellent images from well-made, easy-to-operate devices with a host of interchangeable lenses and accessories. All of the big-name brands offer good, useable digitals at every price point up to the semi-pro level — around £1500 for a body. Nikon and Canon then reach out into the true Pro-Grade territory of ultra-high resolution, full-frame (with the same sensor size as 35mm film) bodies (36-50MP) and journalist-quality all-titanium, ultra-fast frame rate, virtually bomb-proof workhorse cameras, setting off your bank manager’s alarm bells at around £5,200. And that is before you add lenses. So, where do traditional analogue cameras fit into this high-tech landscape? Surely, film is dead?
Film is Dead, Long Live Film!
Perhaps, surprisingly, most global film manufacturers have reported a growth in sales of film since 2012. It is most certainly a niche market, and the growth is often reported in the niche-within-a-niche market of medium and large format photography, but it is an encouraging and ongoing trend. Each manufacturer has taken steps to rationalise and streamline their product lines and has taken steps to specialise — for instance, FujiFilm has concentrated on colour reversal (conventional print film) and slide film. Ilford (a Great British brand since 1879) has recently brought previously outsourced functions of its business (developing and printing) in-house, adding an excellent web portal for ordering film development, and has expanded its business to offer similar services in the USA. Even the oft-reported-as-ailing Kodak Corporation has recently introduced a new type of film intended for professional photographic work.
Beyond the big names, boutique labs across Europe and the US are producing short-run specialist films for specific effects, such as ‘cross-processing’, deliberately using the ‘wrong’ chemicals during development to skew colour balance and give a retro look, and for pretty much every format imaginable, including such oddities as 122 format film, as used by folding pocket Kodak cameras from 1900-1910 and Polaroid-style instant films.
Whilst film is undoubtedly a minority player in the overall world of photography, it is now holding its own against the onslaught of digital technology in a similar vein to vinyl records, and every manufacturer is seemingly aping the classic stylings of film camera bodies throughout their new ranges.
The Decisive Moment
If we take a look at the pros and cons of film vs digital photography from a purely practical perspective, it makes pretty stark reading for analogue enthusiasts:
Digital
- Fast and convenient (especially phone cameras and compacts)
- ‘Free to use’ once purchased
- Will work in most lighting conditions without a tripod
- Little chance of missed shots due to bad exposures
- Automated controls simplify the shooting experience
Analogue
- Often slow/fully manual to operate, may require external light meter
- A cost every time the shutter is pressed for developing and film purchase
- Fixed ‘speed’ rating of film means a tripod may be a necessity in low light
- Incorrect exposure settings/focus on manual cameras are a real risk
- Older cameras offer little or no automation
Why Even Consider Shooting Film Today?
Firstly, consider the practical, mechanical side of photography: the camera itself. The introduction of digital has meant that the majority of professional photographers and studios have sold their equipment to change to digital systems — this means there is a thriving second-hand market for extraordinary cameras and lenses that would, just a few years ago, be out of reach to all but the most well-heeled enthusiast, £200 can buy a manual 645 format medium format film camera (such as a Pentax 645N or Mamiya 645J) with a decent normal lens which will — when used skillfully — outstrip the image quality of any DSLR, including the pro-grade Nikon and Canon offerings. The only digital systems that can match on sheer pixel-peeping quality are the Phase One medium format systems, which weigh in at an eye-watering £33,000 and up for their admittedly staggering XF range.
However, £450 can buy something truly spectacular, such as the Mamiya RZ67 Pro medium format film camera with a 110mm f/2.8 lens: with a negative size roughly four times the area of full-frame digital when properly scanned, this can produce 100MP equivalent images!
A further step up in price to £700 will get you a fully automated, autofocusing Mamiya 645 AFD film camera, which in the future could even be converted to shoot digitally.
Medium format aside, £200 can buy a top-grade 35mm format SLR with full metering, motor drive and autofocus that would have cost thousands of pounds fifteen years ago — a cheap, easy way into full-frame image quality.
Secondly, there is the subjective, artistic side of photography: the image making itself. How often have you been on holiday with a newly purchased digital camera, happily snapping everything and anything you encounter? When you get home, how many of those images do you treasure, and how many do you do anything with? A few shots may make their way to social media sites, and if they are lucky, a few might get printed.
If you take the time and make a little investment in an analogue system, perhaps to use in tandem with your digital camera (a neat way to avoid the need for an external light meter, just fix the ISO to the speed of your film and copy the relevant settings), and take perhaps only 20 or 36 shots during the same trip you could find you rediscover the magic of photography — capturing the decisive moment that matters because of the relatively demanding nature of film photography.
Analogue shooting makes you slow down and think when you are about to press the shutter button — and when the film comes back from the lab with a good set of prints, you may well be overjoyed. As a top tip, using a digital camera to refine a composition and exposure is perhaps, ironically, the simplest way of initially getting the most out of a film camera and a tactic that is recommended until you have got to grips with any new/old system.
A Question of Style
The feel of analogue photography can be hugely rewarding: “I got the shot, the ‘ah-ha’ moment when it all clicks,” to plagiarise Henry Cartier-Bresson, there is also something intrinsically beautiful in the results different film stocks can produce. A multitude of modern phone/tablet apps, such as Instagram, attempt to create the ‘look’ of classic films and cameras, and there is even a slew of plugins for Photoshop (and other image editing packages) dedicated to recreating a vintage or retro look.
While it is possible to simulate an approximation of the film look, most digital cameras cannot match the natural saturation and colour depth of good slide film (such as Fuji Velvia 50/100). Only the best full-frame cameras can match, or better, the dynamic range of fine-grain black and white film (Ilford Pan F Plus 50/Delta 100). It is worth noting a significant proportion of professional landscape photographers still use medium and large format analogue cameras and slide film because of the sheer scale (and thus detail) of the negatives and colours the film can render and, if you want to change the ‘look’ of your photographic exploits, it can be as simple as changing to a new type of film.
Picking up a film camera and getting great shots is definitely more demanding than the process that has become so ubiquitous with digital cameras — point, click, review, point, click, review, etc., but with that inherent extra effort can come greater rewards. Many professionals who still shoot film argue that it is a more personal, contemplative process because of the need to slow down and think about what you want to achieve with each shot, and as such, it is a form of the art that is well worth exploring — especially with the easy availability of once-exotic cameras.
Hopefully, you feel inspired to try something new or revisit a form of photography you might have laid aside. Happy snapping!
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