Digital vs. Film: Image Quality Comparison 

Very interesting. For me, digital killed my interest in early 2000s. I returned two years ago to film and love the whole process… film to chemical to enlarging to paper to chemical. Its a magical artistic approach. Personally my shots are all about atmosphere and drama and those people who like my work treasure the prints. Something I feel digital lacks for the photographer. Only my artistic sensibilities of course 😎

I've read some researched papers in the last few weeks when I saw this question come up from an archived question on a photo website. So I looked up the grain sizes on color neg film vs pixel size in digital. In a D850 the pixel size is 4.5 microns. In color film the average grain size is 5 to 15 microns. Black and white grains are somewhat smaller at the top end. It is possible that the ordered structure of pixels in digital vs the non ordered or random grain structure of film can have somewhat of an effect on final reproduction size. In one paper it was pointed out that color films can have dye creep when film is developed. In other words the dye area produced during development is larger than the undeveloped film grain.

Thanks for making this video. This topic is very interesting for me.

Great video, great points.

With the demise of Kodachrome, I don't care about color film images today (Nov. 2023). The images I get today with my Sony cameras are so good I can't go back to film. They give me that Kodachrome look. The cost associated with film today is crazy. With digital, I can print at home. I can send photos to my friends and family easily. Times have changed and there is no turning back. Funny thing back in the days, when I looked through the viewfinder of my Nikon F2, I saw images in color, yet was using black and white film. Today I love color. I'm not enamored anymore with black and white. I see color, I want to print in color. I love color and all that it offers. B&W has its place, it's dark, foreboding, depressing, maybe too truthful, and sometimes too lifeless.

Thanks for a nice comparison! I think there is more to it than "the other one is more grainy, the other one is not grainy". When I personally look at images published on Flickr, I seem to love those film photos that were taken with film cameras like Leica M2, M3, M5. Or let's say images taken with Pentax 67, some absolutely amazing photos taken with that camera on Flickr. There is something more to it that is difficult to explain - it's not about megapixels or how grainy the image is. Crime scene investigators need a photo that is very sharp and not grainy, but photography as an art is about something else I think. Art does not require that the quality is top notch I think. However, as you said these are just 2 different tools that are available to photographers. I totally agree with you on that. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. Why not enjoy and use both tools to maximize your expression as a photographer?

Seems like someone would not be shooting a 400 speed b&w film unless they actually wanted that really grainy look. If you want something that gives a more (much less grain) digital look you would need to compare a much slower speed film… Like ADOX CMS 20 II or similar. I personally don’t really like the crazy grain of 400 (or slower) speed b&w film on 35mm (like you say, probably way better on 6x7 120 - if a good enough lens is used), so I am usually shooting 100 or slower speeds with my 35mm cameras.

I'm not really enjoying the look of most films I watch lately. Is it meant to be better quality, I watch lot of films, but more recently have noticed a look I don't like. Nearly every film I watch has a look of like an old staged TV show from the 90's. Is it because the cameras are so crisp it's meant to look like that? They just don't look like they're films to me anymore, they just look like staged TV shows, can anyone explain to me why they look like this now? Thank you for any explanation.

Hi Jules, Nice comparison, but I still prefer film. I enjoy developing my film. I do use digital when I have to, but, I just do not enjoy it.

Nikon should make a new F-Mount film camera. I do think Pentax is in a good spot to bring back a SLR film camera because they are still using the K-Mount and they just have to make the body. With Nikon they will have to keep two mounts going.

Lots of Double Think here straight out of 1984. If you are going to go through the misery of scanning a silver gelatin negative into a computer you no longer have a photograph, you have a digital IMAGE. That is not a Photograph. skip the misery and shoot in digital from the git-go. I shoot both. But I do not expect the glass and film technology of yesteryear to produce the sharpness, tonal perfection, and look of a 45 megabyte digital image. So, when I am shooting, say fog at night in urban streets, the look I want in the Photographs (silver gelatin prints) cannot be had with digital imaging turned into blobs of ink spit onto paper. Only a silver gelatin print will. When I want the gee-whiz cut your fingers sharpness and no visible grain I shoot digital. Visualize the picture that you want as your final output and shoot the type of camera for what you want the viewer to see.

"Art is in the edges" Today's technology has polished away the edges with none of the Art left.

What lab did you use? I’m looking for a dependable lab. Try shooting one of the Fuji 6x9 medium format cameras, they are super sharp, also known as a “Texas Leica”. As you are aware, many of the greatest images don’t even try to be sharp and they recreate a mood with intended blur and grain.

Very well done and also done professionally. Many thanks.

When I shoot my Z6ll in monochrome I am just seeing how it would look, because I shoot in raw it still has all the full color info. Should I be shooting monochrome in jpeg to get the true effect?

Hi Jules. Nice comparison. It would be good to see 6x6 film compared to digital and perhaps at 100 iso (even if personnaly what I like in films is grain :)) and I am,eager to see your next video for the ES-2 tutorial. Please do it quickly :)