Film Not Dead

Posted by Philip Northeast Oct 9, 2007

The Kodak survey of more than 9,000 professional photographers in the U.S. found that 75 per cent still use film. While digital imaging is now an integral part of modern photography, there are some applications where professionals prefer film.

• film’s superiority in capturing more information on medium and large format films (48 percent);
• creating a traditional photographic look (48 percent);
• capturing shadow and highlighting details (45 percent);
• the wide exposure latitude of film (42 percent); and
• archival storage (38 percent).

Professional photographers acknowledging digital cameras offer many benefits, particularly speed and convenience of producing finished images. However, the pros say that film is better at capturing certain images, particularly black-and-white photos

“I find film invaluable because the details and look of the photographs are crucial in re-telling the events playing out in front of me,” said Pep Bonet, an international award winning photojournalist.

“Stories may be stunning, disturbing or inspiring. But above all, they are real. There’s nothing like film to capture those realities, particularly Tri-X black-and-white film.”

Some of our iconic images are black and white photographs. There is wider range of tones available and black and white images have a certain atmosphere of their own.

The wide range of black and white photographic paper produces subtle differences in the final image, allowing greater freedom in interpreting the scene.

Even when color film was king, black and white film survived and its artistic merits may ensure its continued use in the digital age.

“First and foremost, photographers are artists, supported by the science of the tools that help them do their job,” said Mary Jane Hellyar of Kodak.