# Does anyone miss photography? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 4, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-miss-photography/795490 "2017-09-04T17:33:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2017, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-miss-photography/795490/81 "2017-09-05T18:47:00Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > Which is pretty much what I’m labeling as basic post processing. > > Batch editing is useful in many situations for large numbers of files. Depends on what is being edited and what the end use is. > > For certain “beauty shots” of property, person, or product, it’s not unusual for me to use 2 or 3 different programs. For my personal projects, I can get lost in time working on them. Just like in darkroom techniques, I’ve played around and found what works for me. Yeah, lots of large files. But, I have the processing power and storage space for them. I am almost as interested in computer specs now as I am in my other photographic gear. And the funny thing is, these “no filter” people either forgot or simply are too young to remember that when you sent film out to get printed at the color lab, it was corrected for those basic things. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2017, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-miss-photography/795490/82 "2017-09-05T19:37:44Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > Digital photography is artistic democracy. For every kid with a DSLR, a B&W setting, and delusions of grandeur, there are a lot more regular folks like me who are able to produce pretty great shots on a fairly regular basis. > > Even a blind squirrel can compose a decent photo of a nut if he can snap a hundred quick ones and choose the best. > > There still a wide gulf separating Joe Public and truly excellent photographers, but good riddance to the days of picking up your envelope of photos and finding out that every single one is a blurry mess. I’d say that the technology removes some of the chemistry-technician aspects from the process and speeds up the feedback loop greatly, thereby making it easier for otherwise artistically astute individuals to learn, improve, and focus more on art. So a person who takes great photographs with modern gear probably has a degree of talent that might have stagnated back in the days of film. As others have said, there is still plenty of photography technique that a dSLR isn’t going to suddenly make you good at. For example, I do quite a bit of portraiture with 3 light setups using speedlite flashes–that’s a skill in its own right that must be learned. Likewise, the ability to choose a proper lens and use it in its best envelope is something that a dSLR helps with (seeing results right away) but doesn’t necessarily teach you to do. I do love the immediate view of my photographs and never want to have to go back to film. I don’t even own a light meter–I set up the flashes in traditional arrangements, do a few test selfies using my phone to trigger the camera, and dial in the flashes until I see what I like. Then I’m ready for the subject. If I start seeing unpleasant shadows on a person’s face, I can bump up one of the flashes and see immediate results. That process must have sucked back in the days of film. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Or look at Dennis Stock’s [famous photo of James Dean on Times Square](https://meltinlooks.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/james-dean-par-dennis-stock-sur-times-square.jpg), and all the notes on the right with the straight print used to create the final print on the left. Wow! That’s such a cool shot, so neat to see the detailed notes. Thanks for posting that. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2017, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-miss-photography/795490/83 "2017-09-05T20:04:53Z")
Minor, I used flash meters, Polaroid backs, and books of tables. Plus, bracketing. Yeah, multi strobe set ups are a breeze now. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2017, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-miss-photography/795490/84 "2017-09-05T21:04:39Z")
I used to enjoy the deliberate process of composing, focusing, setting the exposure, etc. And I still do. I still need to think about all those factors with any digital camera to get a good photo. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2017, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-miss-photography/795490/85 "2017-09-05T21:46:25Z")
I don’t miss film cameras any more than I miss recording my music on a 4-track cassette. That is to say, not at all. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2017, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-miss-photography/795490/86 "2017-09-05T23:58:31Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > . . . You find a shoebox of your grandparents’ photos in your attic and you can look through them. But when your grandchildren find a hard drive of your digital images in their attic will they be able to look at them? But you can get prints at nearly any drugstore, so you’ve got the best of both worlds. You take pictures of everything, then print the ones that are good enough to be worth showing to people. Sure, you keep the big zipped file of _all_ your pics…just as authors and composers keep their manuscripts and drafts. They’re of non-zero interest. But nobody really wants to sit by your side on the sofa and look at them. (I _think_ backward compatibility will remain a design feature going forward. I would really, really want to spank any idiot who develops a new image viewing app, using a new compression formula, that could not also open jpgs, bmps, tiffs, and the like. I applaud MS Word’s designers for building in support for old Word Perfect files. That was very considerate!) ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2017, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-miss-photography/795490/87 "2017-09-06T13:50:04Z")
I don’t really miss the “good old days” of film cameras but I found myself in a situation that reminded me of them this Summer. The SD card I’d brought on holiday with me bugged and wouldn’t save new photos. Since my phone’s memory is almost full, I had space for perhaps a couple dozen pictures on it. So I had to pause and think about what I really wanted to take a picture of. Of course, I still had the possibility of deleting pictures that I didn’t like, so it wasn’t exactly like using a film camera, but it was a refreshing change. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2017, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-miss-photography/795490/88 "2017-09-06T14:23:20Z")
Yes, I had a darkroom. Yes, I got a lot of satisfaction out of developing and printing. No, I wouldn’t want to go back to it. But I’m an old fogey and I can’t help feeling that the digital photography revolution diluted the value and power of the images. I only frequently think of a specific picture as being THAT picture. (You know…THAT picture of my brother and me from Easter of 1964, or THAT picture of my first wife from the wedding.) They’ve somehow become more ephemeral and disposable. Sure, I still have prints from digital pictures matted and framed sometimes, but they still seem less special. It’s hard for me to put it into words. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-miss-photography/795490/89 "2017-09-07T07:21:35Z")
Recently I found that, apparently, only the major cities have camera stores. Has that always been true, or is this a more recent development due to the changes in the camera market? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-miss-photography/795490/90 "2017-09-07T07:57:39Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Recently I found that, apparently, only the major cities have camera stores. Has that always been true, or is this a more recent development due to the changes in the camera market? It’s a more recent development. Internet sales, digital photography (no film to sell, and people are less likely to buy prints), and ubiquitous cell phone cameras have all been bad for them. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-miss-photography/795490/91 "2017-09-07T17:31:10Z")
Speaking of the Good Old Days, my mother used to be into Minox cameras (the protypical WWII spy camera that achieved some popularity in later decades). It was pocket-sized, alright, but photo quality was minimally acceptable for some 3" by 5" pictures if you were lucky. Now there are digital cameras that are as or more compact, that take vastly higher quality images without your having to mess with loading and processing tiny film cartridges. \*Amazingly, Minox is still around - its selection includes [digital cameras](http://www.minox.com/index.php?id=digital_classic_cameras). ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2017, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-miss-photography/795490/92 "2017-09-07T19:47:03Z")
No I don’t miss film photography at all. Digital is great, you can experiment as much as you like basically for free, and see the results immediately. I _still_ have a roll of film that I never developed. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-miss-photography/795490/93 "2017-09-08T20:49:18Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > It’s a more recent development. Internet sales, digital photography (no film to sell, and people are less likely to buy prints), and ubiquitous cell phone cameras have all been bad for them. I thought as much. When I first started looking to upgrade from my point-and-shoot, I found that the sales associates in the big box electronic stores really couldn’t answer any technical questions about the cameras they sold. So I sought out camera stores where the staff would actually be knowledgeable about cameras and could help me compare the specs of my old camera to the ones I was considering buying. Living in North County, the closest place I found was in (almost) downtown San Diego. If I still lived in L.A. there’d still be a few camera stores I could choose from. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-miss-photography/795490/94 "2017-09-08T20:57:57Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > It’s a more recent development. Internet sales, digital photography (no film to sell, and people are less likely to buy prints), and ubiquitous cell phone cameras have all been bad for them. Even here, in a big metropolitan area like Chicago, they are scarce. Helix and Calumet Photo used to be the two huge players in town. Any photo equipment, lighting/grip equipment, rentals, darkroom, etc., those would be your stop. Helix closed first about ten or twelve years ago, I want to say, and Calumet went by the wayside maybe three or four years ago? It was briefly resurrected, but then died again. The only one really left around that I could think of is Dodd Camera, and I hadn’t even heard of it until after the big boys were gone. (I know they’re an Ohio institution, but I’ve never heard of them around here.) There also used to be Wolf/Ritz Camera, which was a chain aimed at the mid-level market (so prosumer, although pros would use it too), but from what I can tell, they all seem to be gone from the Chicago area, as well. It’s slim pickins around here. ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Blaylock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_blaylock/32/3235_2.png) [@Bob\_Blaylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Blaylock)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-miss-photography/795490/95 "2017-09-09T00:34:34Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > I miss the [split prism focusing screen](https://petapixel.com/2013/01/02/a-demo-of-split-screen-and-microprism-ring-focusing-in-old-slrs/) from the old days. (bonus: [how it works](http://dougkerr.net/Pumpkin/articles/Split_Prism.pdf) PDF) > > They weren’t better than modern AF cameras, but they sure were better than manual focus aids available until only recently. These days things like live view with focus peaking are making MF much easier, but the split prism focus screen has a special place in my heart. They’re available as aftermarket parts. I have one in my Nikon D3200. It’s really rather mandatory, if you’re going to use manual-focus lenses, as the stock focusing screen in the D3200 is pretty much worthless for manual focusing. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-miss-photography/795490/96 "2017-09-09T00:49:42Z")
I worked in an Aerial Photography lab, & it gave me a sense of worth & value. Now, I click a mouse, & who gives a damn. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-miss-photography/795490/97 "2017-09-09T06:01:38Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I don’t miss it, but if you do, use this app: > > [Gudak Lets You Use Your iPhone Like a Kodak Disposable Camera | PetaPixel](https://petapixel.com/2017/07/13/gudak-brings-joy-pain-film-photography-phone/) > > It only allows 24 pictures to be taken before you have to wait a day or two to see the results, just like using film and sending the film out to get processed. It also has a tiny viewfinder and adds light leakage, etc, just like you’d get from a disposable camera. Enjoy! That is hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2017, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-miss-photography/795490/98 "2017-09-09T06:45:23Z")
Why would I miss it? I take more pictures than ever. I can take the same shot multiple times and select the frame I like best, without paying an eye, half a kidney and the hand of my firstborn child in marriage. Nobody will place my film in the developing machine in such a way that half a dozen frames are physically cut in half and every printout is half of a pic and half of another. It’s like asking if I miss having the mumps. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-miss-photography/795490.md?page=4)