digital b&w will never look like film...

back alley

back alley

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...does it have to?

why are some folks obsessed with digital looking like film?
i like the ultra clean look of digital...
 
If that bothers you (it did bother me for some time), that digital never will look like film (color or bw), why don't we turn around that saying...?

Film will never look as clean as digital, no matter how fine the grain is. You never will reach digital quality! Hah! :D
 
Oil paintings will never look like acrylics or watercolors or charcoal drawings or mixed media creations or clay pencil sketches or . . . . or . . . . or . . . .

Bronze will never look like stone or marble or plaster . . . or . . . or . . .

So what?

A person favors one over the others? . . . Fine . . . so what?
 
Haven't even tried to figure that out and it doesn't really matter to me either.

Bob
 
back alley said:
...does it have to?

why are some folks obsessed with digital looking like film?
i like the ultra clean look of digital...
Click to expand...

To each their own, we all have our taste in what looks good to our eye, and would be a boring world if otherwise. Myself, I find the ultra clean look a little disconcerting, be that in digital images, hd tv or anything else. I need a little grit or texture in most things in life, anything that looks or seems too perfect to me always makes me feel a little unconsciously comfortable, unless the intended purpose is a departure from reality.

For just that reason, I add a little grain to my b&w converted images, not to simulate a film image, but to give it some much needed (for my eye), texture. We all have our own preferred technical qualities in images. For some it is clean, grainless, or almost liquid images. For me, give me texture and tonality over clean any day of the week.
 
back alley said:
...does it have to?

why are some folks obsessed with digital looking like film?
i like the ultra clean look of digital...
Click to expand...


'Some folks' being the software manufacturers who offer plugins to simulate numerous emulsions in post and camera manufacturers with in camera settings to mimmick velvia, provia etc! No one important! :D

I've seen some black and white digital post processing lately that I really haven't liked. Reduced tonal range with bugger all shadow detail and extreme highlights and a crowd of admirers all chanting ... "Wow, that looks great!"

Huh! ... since when was that a characteristic of film? Unles you like Tri-X pushed to 3200 for your daily snaps!
 
more than some software folks...

one can read it here on a daily basis...'digital will never look like film'...said with great distain...
 
back alley said:
...does it have to?
Click to expand...

I guess there's an argument to be made for and against it. Digital and film are different and different does not mean that one or the other is inferior. However, if something is supposed to replace some other thing, then it's understandeable that different is not always desirable.

A lot of people liked the clean look of digital early on so they made the decision to switch for aesthetic reasons. But as it's getting harder and harder to shoot film a lot of film shooters switch to digital for practical reasons (economic or workflow related or both).

Personally I like the digital look some of the time but mostly I prefer film. However, sometimes I'm forced to use digital when it's not necessarily the nicest tool for the job.
 
Jamie123 said:
I guess there's an argument to be made for and against it. Digital and film are different and different does not mean that one or the other is inferior. However, if something is supposed to replace some other thing, then it's understandeable that different is not always desirable.

A lot of people liked the clean look of digital early on so they made the decision to switch for aesthetic reasons. But as it's getting harder and harder to shoot film a lot of film shooters switch to digital for practical reasons (economic or workflow related or both).

Personally I like the digital look some of the time but mostly I prefer film. However, sometimes I'm forced to use digital when it's not necessarily the nicest tool for the job.
Click to expand...

Nail on head.
 
back alley said:
more than some software folks...

one can read it here on a daily basis...'digital will never look like film'...said with great distain...
Click to expand...



As you travel through the pastures of life one does tend to hear the cattle lowing and the sound of the bleating sheep is often heard!

Earplugs anyone ... blindfold maybe? :D
 
"...'digital will never look like film'...said with great disdain"

Well....we'll show them...we'll just disdain them right back!
 
"Digital will never look like film"

Could somebody tell me what film looks like, because I remember it looking a thousand different ways. Maybe digital just gives us many more ways a photo can look which I think can't be a bad thing.

Sometimes I think if digital never happened, but someone came up with a film that looked as clean as digital, many people would be enjoying it.

Gary
 
i'm going to save all these remarks and the next time i see a digital ain't film comment i intend to use them.

getting tired of the inane...
 
If digital is all that you have then use it for black and white. However why try and make a lemon look like an orange? I only shoot film and I see nothing in digital monochrome that would persuade me to change.
 
I don't expect digital to be like film or vice versa - different types of media in my opinion - that said, I know "the general public" have gotten to the point where, if an image is not "clean" (i.e. like a digital file) that they tend to wonder if there's something wrong with one's camera.... :D

Regardless of what people here (i.e. RFF) may think, a lot of the world has "forgotten" film. I'm nostalgic but that's me. I like film and always will but change is part of life right? Roll with the changes... "bend like a reed in the wind"... and so many times you'll just feel a lot better about things.

Cheers,
Dave
 
However why try and make a lemon look like an orange?

exactly my point!!

they are different and when someone states this i think...why? it's obvious they are different and one either likes that or not!

it's like saying i like lemons and then some yahoo says, yeah...but it's not an orange!
 
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