Digital Photography Vs. Traditional Film

I love taking pictures and I find photo opportunities at every event. Whether I'm shooting my kids, classic cars at a show, scenery, wildlife, or whatever I feel deserves to be preserved, I always have my camera. I bought a digital camera that I should take a college course to learn how to operate, but I'd rather learn about all the functions the old fashion way- trial and error. I tend to take three or four pictures of the same scene, at different settings, then decide which one I like best.

That brings me to my first 'pro' about digital cameras. No film. I can take as many pictures as I want and delete the ones that don't meet my standards. I do not have to waste money on film that I ruined by taking bad pictures. That's another pro- With my digital camera, I can see the pictures before I download or print them, so I know if I need to re-shoot the picture.

Also, still on the pro about film, I do not need extra closet space to store the boxes of pictures, I store them in my computer. There I can store, organize, crop, edit, add text, or fix that dreaded 'red-eye' that plagues all photographers at one point. I also have the 'delete' option. That way I can erase the pictures I can not fix.

The first con is the price. Digital cameras are expensive, but I figured I would make up the difference by not needing to purchase film. I think it is a good exchange.

The next con- no film. I know what I said before, but this is a different perspective. No film means no negative to re-print, no hard copy for back-up. If my computer crashes, I have no back-up.

That brings me to the next con about no film. Having no film to get developed makes it too easy for me to download my pictures to be 'reviewed later'. That means that I have thousands of pictures, stored in my computer, that other people could be enjoying, I'm just overwhelmed by the number of pictures I have to wade through.

Digital cameras are great and I never have to fumble with film, making sure it's the right speed, that it's loaded right, that it's moving forward, not double exposing. I just have 500 different settings I don't understand, and thousands of pictures that are not doing me any real good. But, the ease and convenience is well worth the sacrifices.