Digital Photography vs. Filmed Photography

by Becky for BoomerYearbook.com
We all know how as times change, technology changes along with it. When boomers were growing up, good old film was used to take photos. I myself am an echo boomer, in my mid 30s, but I remember the 110 film, the 35mm film, as well as Polaroid Instant Film. The film was also sold based on how many photos you wanted to take. These amounts were usually 24 exposures, or 36 exposures. I know you can still purchase a Polaroid Instant Camera, as well as cameras that will use the 35mm film. However, according to the research I have done, the only way to find cameras that take the 110 film, are through a site such as Ebay.

Digital photography became popular with consumers in the 1990s . The first digital camera that was available commercially was the Dycam Model 1; which also sold as the Logitech

Fotoman. Instead of different types of film like the older cameras, digital cameras are designed to produce photos of different levels of megapixels. For those of you who may not know, a megapixel is 1 million pixels. A pixel is a tiny square on a computerized display that is so small it appears as a dot. The display screen is a solid grid of these squares or dots. I have seen digital cameras that produce photos with as little as 1 megapixel up to as many as 10 megapixels. The more mega pixels you have the better quality the print. My personal digital camera is a 3.1 megapixel and the photos are impeccable both on the computer and when printed. Digital cameras have affordable memory cards to insert into the camera to store hundreds of photos without having to print them.

There are pros and cons to both digital and print. Here’s just a few:

Film Photography: Pros: A film camera is slightly more affordable. Cons: You don’t know how the photo will look until it’s printed. You have to purchase film each time you use the allotted exposures for that roll. You are paying for the film, and then paying to have each photo printed, which can become rather costly. Once they are printed, you have no other way to preserve the photos other than in an album book.

Digital Photography: Pros: You can view the photo before printing. You don’t have to purchase film each time you want to use the camera. You can take hundreds of pictures with just one memory card and won’t have to worry about missing that great photo opportunity. You have the option of picking which photos to actually print. You can store the photos on the camera or upload them to your computer for safe-keeping in case the prints get destroyed. Cons: A digital camera is slightly less affordable.

As you can see, baby boomer photography may have evolved, and I along with other echoes probably prefer digital photography. I rarely took photos before digital cameras were available, but now, if given a choice, I am digital all the way. Especially as a parent, I cant imagine having to change the film in order to capture my son’s handsome smile when he opens gifts or sees the animals at the zoo.

So for those of you that have used both kinds of photography, do you have a preference? If you are stuck in the boomer years and still use the film cameras, tell us why? Head over to www.boomeryearbook.com and share your thoughts with us.

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