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Everyone that i know, has or wants a DSLR. Its a fact. I haven’t exactly figured out why though. I mean its not exactly cheap. Takes brilliant pictures? Definately. Fashionable? Maybe. And what peeves me off are some people who own a DSLR and never take it off the AUTO mode. Ahh Auto..the robot like mode that keeps our mind at ease. But doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of having a DSLR? To learn and be creative? To explore?

Medium format film cameras. Photo taken by esmuz.

Better yet, is having a DSLR just a current phase that society is going through? Is it the IN thing now? I remember somewhere around 2001-2005, skateboarding was the craze. Everyone wanted to dress up like a skater. You had guys carrying clean untouched skateboard decks, and you could tell they don’t skate because their shoes didn’t have holes in them.

This remarkable photo was taken on a film Nikon F3. Photo taken by Tampen on Flickr. More amazing pictures in his photostream.

Personally i think more people, especially photographers, should encourage their friends who are interested in starting out photography, to try out film. As an analogy, if you wanted to build a house, you’d need foundation. And thats what learning film is, foundation.

Countless times i’ve asked people to take up film, all declined saying that there’s too much to get your head around. Too much camera tech-what-not they say. Erm.. well lets see, there’s ISO film, then there’s Shutter speed, owh the aperture on the lens, learning how to insert film, and if its really tech, you’ve got the options of metering as well. Now lets compare that with digital, besides the same things as with film, you’ve got iTTL, White Balance, Continuous Servo focusing, single servo focusing, picture sizes, in camera editing, D-lighting, flash sync options, wireless flash..R2D2, C3Po, and on and on… Wow, digital is easy huh?

There’s just something with film photography thats magical. Those into it would agree as well. You just appreciate the pictures more. The moment, the process that comes with taking the picture. Whatever it is, cost should not be a factor when considering film cameras. At a price of next to nothing compared to what they’re use to worth 30 to 50 years ago, truly makes it one of the good deals in this decade. For those in Malaysia, id agree that DSLR’s are expensive, i mean really. You’d have to work and save up. Hard if you’re a student. So my advice would be to go for film cameras. Paying for a DSLR is EXPENSIVE upfront. Now you think that developing film is expensive. But in the long run, it’s going to equal out i terms of cost if you were to collect money for a DSLR. PLUS you get the experience of using a camera.

Six 20 medium format camera. Photo taken by Shamin.

If you think it’s outdated, it’ll never be. What’s more, i think it has the COOL factor to it. Imagine this, you’re at an event, and EVERYONE has a DSLR with their big long turrets and surface to air missile, and you come along with this small, compact film SLR with maybe nothing more than 50mm with ISO 400 film. Minimalist and clean. Screw what other people think. You make the picture. Your call.

Watch out because i believe analog is making a comeback, but it wont be the press photogs and professional photogs bringing them. It’ll be brought in by the amateurs and creative individuals. But like all things good, it might soon get adopted by the society. Look at the Fiat 500, look at the Mini, classics making a comeback. So go get a film SLR. You know you want too.

Related posts:

1. I know you got soul, Nikon F3 review
2. The FX DX thing
3. From the ground up: Film SLR 101
4. Prosumer or DSLR
5. So you wanna upgrade?