<< Back to Travel

Photography is a massive part of travelling, so here’s part one of our five part guide to help you on your way to taking better pictures

Words and photography by Simone Costi

I remember my first camera. I got it from Santa when I was eight. It was a film camera that I had to wind-on and press down on a lever to take the photos. The pictures were printed square.

I remember my second camera. I got it for my 10th birthday. It too was a film camera that I had to wind-on, but it had a button to depress to take the pics. And the photos were printed in the regular 6in x 4in format.

Then I got my third camera. And it was very exciting. I saved my money from my weekend job and bought it when I was 15. This one had a zoom! And a self-timer, red eye reduction, automatic winding (and rewinding) and a date option.

Then I discovered my dad’s camera. It’s a beautiful Canon FTb SLR (single lens reflex) he bought in the 70s. It is heavy and classic and everything has to be done manually. I played around with that for a while and then I wanted my own.

So I bought my fourth camera. And adored it. It was a Pentax MZ30. An SLR – a proper camera with all sorts of cool functions. I had it for six years and then discovered digital.

I was introduced to digital SLR here at work and fell in love immediately, but I was hesitant to convert from my much loved film SLR. It already worked – there was nothing wrong with it and I took fine pics with it. I was also reluctant to go out and spend thousands of dollars on something new. But there was a niggling inside me…

So I looked around and found a digi SLR that matched my existing lenses. It is a Pentax istDL. And I fell in love again.

What is better? Film or digital? There has been sizeable debate over it for the last couple of years, but when it comes down to it, it’s personal.

I’ve got to be honest. At first I wasn’t real keen on the idea of digital, especially since my film camera served me so well for so long. But after playing around with a digital SLR my preferences started to change, and now I don’t think I’d return to a film camera.

But I’ll put forward both sides of the debate as fairly as possible to try and help you decide whether a digi or film is for you.

Cost

I thought we’d start with the cost of cameras, as often money is what helps decide what product we go for.

The price of digital cameras is dropping considerably, but film cameras have also decreased in price (and are also quite cheaper than digis). With a digital, you’ve got to buy a battery pack and charger as well as memory cards to get you going. With film ones, you’ve got to grab a roll of film and a couple of batteries. So the initial output of a film camera is essentially cheaper.

Then it comes to developing. You can get both your digi and film pics developed at the same photo shop for around the same price. And this is how I do it. You don’t need your own computer – all you do is take your memory device to the store, stick it in the machine, download it and choose the pics you want printed then and there. You can also choose what size to print each pic, the number of copies and can even change the colour to black and white or sepia if your camera doesn’t do it. And you can crop and zoom in on the images too. Doing it this way means that every single photo you get processed is useable, unlike film where there’s always a handful of crappy shots in the pile.

Recently I had to get some reprints of some film pictures I took ages ago. It cost me $1.50 per photo! I almost fell over when they told me the total price – it was more than double the original processing fee. But, with digital, if you get your pictures burnt to a CD, you can get any image on the CD reprinted for the same price it cost you the first time round – generally no more than 30c.

Alternatively, if you have a computer with the appropriate software, a good quality printer that’s designed to print photos, along with photo paper, you can print your digital pics yourself. Then there are the continuous expenses associated with printing your own digital images; software upgrades, printer upgrades, replacing printer ink and buying more photo paper.

When you do the math, the initial output of digital cameras is far dearer than film cameras, especially if you get all the computer stuff to go with it. But in the long run, digital is more cost effective.

In the short period of a month, I took over 3000 photos on my digital camera. If I did that with my film camera, I would’ve used approximately 125 rolls of 24 exposure film, which costs about $8 a roll, depending on the brand and speed you get. So to just buy the film would’ve cost me $1000. Add to that the developing charges at approximately $10 a roll, and that’s $1250. So just to take those shots – and to see what they look like – I would’ve spent $2250. Adds up doesn’t it?

So how much did it cost me to take the pics with my digital camera? My memory card holds close to 400 shots and cost me $150 – which is a one off expense. Each time I filled my memory card up, I simply burnt it to a CD at home, which costs no more than 50c a CD. Then I sorted through the images and worked out what I wanted printed. Obviously there was no way all 3000 pics were worth printing, so I selected the ones I wanted and paid 29c a print. But if I get more than 200 shots printed, they only cost 19c each. So the total cost is less than half the price of printing in film!

Printing is an ongoing cost for both film and digital, but you’ve only got to buy your memory card once, unlike film, where you need a new roll of film constantly. But put simply, both types of photography do cost a fair bit of money. I’ve just found that digital is more economic for my purposes.

Convenience

Let’s face it, we like things that make our life easier – not harder, so what is more convenient – film or digi?

With digis, you can buy a couple of massive memory cards and just snap away. But with film, after 36 shots (at the most), you’ve got to load a new roll. And often when you’re travelling, this is hard to do. Your film is bound to run out just as you’re trying to capture a bird hunting a rodent or something equally as fast and exciting.

And yes, your digital memory card can run out too, but it is far quicker to pop out and replace, rather than waiting for the film to rewind and loading another one. Plus, memory cards are little and take up hardly any room – but film does get rather bulky.

What about batteries? I reckon it is pretty much even between both kinds of cameras. You’ll always need to carry spares for each. Digital cameras do chew up more juice than film ones though. Some digital cameras only work with special battery packs that you’ve got to charge. Now, if you’re in the middle of nowhere, you can’t always do this. However, many digitals can take lithium batteries just like your film camera, so there isn’t too much trouble there.

Ease Of Use

Yep, technology can be a little daunting, but as soon as you learn not to be afraid of it – you’ll love it!

Most digital and film cameras have similar functions to their respective counterparts. So SLR models tend to have like-functions, as do point-and-shoot varieties. Digital has the advantage over film as you are able to work out what the functions do a lot quicker as you can see your pics straight away.

Best Results

You can’t really say whether film gets better results over digital or vice versa. The best photographer in the world could be given the worst camera ever invented and they are more likely to take a better shot than the worst photographer in the world with the best ever camera. Make sense? Basically, it isn’t the camera that takes good pics, it’s the person behind the camera.

However, you do learn to take better pictures faster on a digital camera. Why? Because you can see your results immediately and learn from them.

So that’s the debate in a nutshell. Still don’t know which type of camera to go for? Not surprising. I’d just go for the one you like best, but at least consider the following.

For either film or digital cameras, I’d go for an SLR, hands down. You have more control over your camera and more options, instead of just the on/off and the take the photo button, and if you’re lucky, a zoom.

But if you’re not going for an SLR, then at least get a camera with a zoom. If it’s a film camera, use a good quality film. Don’t pinch pennies and get no name stuff, go for known, popular brands. Choosing an appropriate film speed (ISO) is important too. 100, 200 and 400 are the most common these days, with 400 being best for action shots and 100 being best for scenery shots. The higher the ISO, the grainier the pic is. A good medium is 200.

In the way of digis, once again, get one with reasonable zoom. Second of all, make sure it’s got a good amount of pixels. Four megapixels is ideal for 6in x 4in and 5in x 7in pics, but if you’re thinking about blowing your shots up larger than that, then the absolute minimum you want is about 6 megapixels. Forget anything less than four megapixels – they might be cheaper, but you’ll notice it in your photos.

If you’d asked me a year ago what was better, film or digi, I would’ve said film. But 12 months ago I hadn’t laid hands on a digital camera. Now, there is no doubt in my mind that digital is the way to go.

So once you’ve actually worked out which one to get, then you can play with it! And we’ll cover that next issue!