I grew up in the Polaroid and manual 35mm film era. When the first digital camera came onto the scene I was not a fan. The imaging was not as clear and I wanted to look at my film and process my own prints.

But time has improved the digital image and now we have the question of which process is better, Digital or Print?

The truth is, it depends on why you are taking the photograph. Both photography styles have pros and cons and whether you photographs are being taken for a work related reason, to capture family events or for an artistic reason will influence the camera selection you use.

The Pros of a Digital photography

With the advances in digital cameras, these cameras are great for most people. By using use a digital camera, you can immediately see the picture that you just took. This will help you to decide whether you need to re-shoot that particular image. If the image was not properly centered or the background is distracting you know to retake the photo.

And with digital photos, you can easily download the images to your computer without the additional upfront cost of film processing. You can edit the photos, store the images that you like and enhance them and print them out on your printer. They can also easily be sent to your friends and family by computer and through email.

Digital prints are also easy to store and thousands of digital photographic images can be stored on a couple of disks.

The Cons of Digital photography

There are also many cons of using digital cameras and photography. One of the biggest problems with digital photography is that the images can be easily lost. If you do not unload your images from the camera you may forget and delete them.

You also need to back up your digital photographs on to a disk. All it takes is for your computer to crash and you may lose hundreds of pictures. So with a digital camera and images remember to back up your images every time you take new photographs.

Many people feel that digital pictures do not have the same look and feel as film prints, including me.  And certain circumstances seem to still look better on film than as a digital print. For this reason, most professional photographers still prefer to use film.

Digital images are cheaper when you are taking the photograph and sorting the images but digital pictures can also become pricey if you print them out at home. A good quality printer paper and color printer cartridge for your printer can add up quickly.

One other disadvantage is that all people do not have access to a computer and newer printing methods. This is changing in most homes but many images are either deleted or a regular photograph is not made.

The Pros of Film

If you take pictures for a hobby or as art, you can adjust your film camera to get the exact look that you want. This gives you the opportunity to experiment and take very unique and interesting images. This is not always the case with digital pictures.

Some people prefer to use a film camera, so it forces them to have their pictures developed right away.  They have an image that they can hold in their hands, place in a scrapbook or send to friends. To them it’s easier and more personal than leaving your memories on a disk and printing them out at a later date.

I am one of those photographers that feel black and white digital photography has not reached the quality that a black and white film image has. I think there is more of a tonal range in film that digital. But I admit the digital black and white image is improving.

The Cons of Film

Film cameras are losing popularity on a daily basis. Film is becoming more difficult to find and if you are traveling and run out of film this can create a problem. With a digital camera this is not a problem. If your memory card is large enough, you can take many photographs.

With a film camera you must wait to have pictures developed before you can look at them to see if all the photographs turned out. It is also expensive to have pictures processed. And with film all the photos are printed, even the ones that really did not turn out. With a digital you know if you need to retake a photo and you can delete an image that is not a good quality.

When I did photography as a profession, I always carried a Polaroid camera and would take a test sample of an important photograph. This would help me see a potential problem and would also be a backup image just in case something happened to the film.

In reality, choosing between a film camera and a digital camera all depends on your needs and personal preference. And with the cost of a smaller camera you may want to use both versions for different situations.

After all the bottom line is the photographic image that is produced. If it caught the emotion and moment you wanted you have a successful photograph.