Film really has its merits. Colour wise digital still cannot touch Fuji Velvia. On the quality side you would need a 22 megapixel camera to produce the same quality print as 35mm. There is not yet a process that can replicate black and white prints digitally that have the same quality of grain that you receive from film.

I’m glad I migrated from film to digital, however I learnt a lot from film. When you have 36 shots in your camera and thats all you have you really concentrate on every single shot you take, you use a tripod, you measure the light and you absoloutley consider the composition of a shot. Digital photographers tend to snap away rather than completley considering a shot and walking around a subject.

well that’s my two penneth!

still much to be said in favour of film, especially black and white

but I would say film for the beginner is just too expensive and frustrating in the long run. With digital you progress more and quicker, and with greater enjoyment. I hardly dare experiment with film, especially when away in vacation or at special events. I certainly would never have agreed to shoot weddings (I have shot two weddings with digital)

When there is a shot I really really want to capture, a never again repeated event, I know which I would rather have

Digital SLR £500+ is a massive outlay for a beginner.

A wedding photographer would also use a medium format camera ensuring that photographs are printed BIG, you simply cant do that with the current DSLRS (unless you are in mega mega pixel country). This is why the majority of wedding photographers do not shoot digitally.

The conversation is what is best for beginners! I would rather someone understand what apperture, shutter speeds, and metering means than just shooting like a mad man in the vain hope that one of the shots will be half decent. Cost is what it boils down to for beginners and DSLRS are simply too expensive for someone who is yet to decide if photography is really for them.

If you’re a beginner in photographer film is a viable choice

Many many professional photographers use digital now, just do a google or technorati search. I used to work with a whole company full of them, lots did weddings on the side. They mostly use the canon pro cameras.

I still maintain that film = waiting + uncertainty + frustration. At a risk of repeating myself, feedback time is vital in learning any skill. I agree the conversation is important, hence launching a blog.

It’s moot anyway, after all we are digital photographers discussing this on a DSLR Blog! :O)

So digital requires a digital camera, a decent PC, an Operating System, digital photo editing software and printer (unless of cause you want to go to the time and expense of processing the photographs which IS cheaper than printing them on a good printer).

All in all well over a £1000 spent for a beginner thats A LOT of film processing!

The conversation was around what is best for beginners. I dont believe going out and buying a DSLR is a magic bullet for photographers – a bad photograph is a bad photograph (and vice versa!). Buying a second hand film SLR, investing in a few books and getting out there with the equipment you can afford in my view is the best thing to do if you are starting out as an amateur.