Do Digital Pictures Just Suck?

No pictures for this post!

No pictures because I have just skimmed through 5 years worth of pictures in my Apple Photos library, containing all my digital stuff, to find something interesting to talk about. I didn’t find any picture that inspired me to write something about it. But I found a subject for today’s rant.

Do digital pictures suck?

Why didn’t I find anything even marginally inspiring today. Perhaps it’s a mood thing, but I guess the very vast majority of the pictures I am a bit proud of are not digital. They are good old film things and are not in the Photos library, but at home in a Lightroom catalog. So no pictures today!

Why do I think my film ‘work’ is better? Perhaps because the digital pictures were nearly all simple snaps, taken with my old Canon Digital Rebel or later the 400D. The pictures became somewhat better when I used the nice Fuji cameras – several X100, two X-E1 and some X10 – X20 – X30 models spent a bit of time with me and I liked them, really! But only film makes me really think about what I’m photographing, makes me stop and reject a shot because it is not up to my standards.

Is it the price of film? Might well be. I did a quick calculation this morning: Shooting about one film a week in average (I’m not a very prolific photographer) will cost me about 450 € a year in film and home development. I don’t count prints, as that will be about the same cost for digital.

Those 450 € are less than half the price of a nice Fuji X100s or t. So I can shoot 2 years worth of film for the price of a new Fuji X100! That Fuji will be obsolete in 2 years and I will crave for the new X200 Turbo or something. Of course it will still take the same quality pictures, but as with any computer, when there’s better things out there, I have to get them.

On the other hand, My Olympus OM1 and 2 are about 40 years old and are as good as they ever were. They will not miss a beat and at least the OM1 will not die from digital rot like any electronic device. Perhaps I will want to add a lens or two over the next years, but that will not set me back a lot.

My beloved XA2 or Trip 35…. if ever they die I will get another one. There’s millions of them around. And there’s still people to service them correctly.

I feel more connected to these cameras, more involved in the process of producing an image, and I think that’s what makes me take better photos.

OK, I’ve had my say for today. Tonight I’ll check through my film photos to find something to talk about tomorrow….. with pictures.

See you soon!