Morgan: Why in the world would a wedding photographer which I consider combat photography shoot
film?
Kenneth: Let's find out.
Morgan: Good?
Kenneth: That was good.
All right.
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Morgan: Hi, this is Jay P. Morgan.
Kenneth: This is Kenneth Merrill.
Morgan: And today on Slanted Lens we're going to take a look at film versus digital.
Why do people shoot film?
Kenneth: A lot of people I know do, a lot of wedding photographers.
My wife, she's a wedding photographer she shoots digital and film at the same time.
Morgan: So she's a hybrid shooter, she's shooting both?
Kenneth: Hybrid shooter, yeah.
People love it.
Morgan: That's a new term, hybrid shooting.
So, we're going to set up and we're going to shoot on these three cameras.
We've got an old Hasselblad which is a C/M mechanical camera, nothing digital, nothing
electrical about this thing.
You can shoot black and white on that Tri-X.
Kenneth: Yeah, Tri-X black and white, then we have this Pentax 645 and Mac 2.
This camera came out in about 2003, it was the last film body, medium format film body
that Pentax made and it has all the bells and whistles.
Autofocus, it does two or three shots per second with an autowinder so a far cry from
the Hasselblad.
And then we have the Nikon D850 which is probably one of the best digital still cameras in the
market today.
Morgan: So can we get the same look by shooting digital and going in on some of the presets
and post processing, if we can give you the same look in digital that you get shooting
film?
Kenneth: You will notice that there is a difference obviously this is full frame and these are
medium format and the reason we did that is because of all the people I know who are shooting
film professionally, none of them, not none but most of them are not shooting full frame
film.
And so we could have done that but I don't feel like it would have been as useful compared
to a lot of people who are shooting full frame digital in a medium format film.
A medium format film is going to give you a much cleaner look than the full frame film
will and honestly I think that's one of the advantages that film still has is that you
can shoot these really large formats.
Even the medium format digital cameras are not as large as these are so...
Morgan: This is more the kind of what you're going to get.
If somebody's out doing a wedding they're more likely to have a 35 millimeter digital
and a 2 1/4 for film.
So we're going to look at dynamic range, and then color Portra compared to digital and
then Tri-X black and white compared to digital.
Take a look at those three things so let's get started see what we can do.
Yeah, yeah, took a picture.
We got a frame, we got a frame, all right here we go.
Morgan: So we're back here at the extremely scientific lab at The Slanted Lens where we'll
analyze...
Kenneth: The photo lab.
Morgan: ...the photo lab, where we'll analyze and evaluate and come up with conclusions
with regards to what we just did out in the field.
Kenneth: Strong, evidence-backed conclusions.
Morgan: Absolutely.
Kenneth: Completely objective.
Morgan: CSI kinds of stuff.
Kenneth: There's nothing subjective about this.
Morgan: Nothing.
Kenneth: All right, so let's get into this.
So, what we did, we sent our film to Richard's Photo Lab which is a really, really great
developer and scanner in Santa Clarita.
Morgan: So all the color was scanned on a Frontier scanner.
Kenneth: And the black and white was on a Noritsu.
Morgan: Yeah.
Kenneth: And then I took the digital images from the Nikon and I ran them through what's
called a VSCO film preset so there's a company called VSCO Film and they do all these different
presets that are basically stock emulations and you can choose, you know?
You have Kodak Tri-X, you have Portra...
Morgan: So a little choose your film stock.
Kenneth: ...you have Fuji Velvia.
Yeah.
They have any film you can imagine you can get from these guys, it's pretty awesome.
Morgan: Did you get up close when you did them?
Kenneth: I was actually surprised.
I've been using VSCO film presets for years.
My wife used them all the time for her photography, but I was actually surprised at how close
it got.
I figured you know it'll be kind of close.
But it was like 80, 90% there most of the time.
But I did go in to each individual photo and I did have to make extra adjustments to try
and match it as close as possible and we'll talk more about that later.
Let's jump in.
Morgan: So Kenneth asked me to, on my little sheet here, to write down which I thought
was which on each of these.
Some of these were hard, man.
Kenneth: All right.
So, for the first photo we have here, what was your guess and why?
Morgan: Film was on the right.
The skin tone is a little bit red.
You see it especially in her arms and neck.
Just this kind of blotchiness in her skin and I think that feels more like film to me
Kenneth: Okay.
Which image do you like more?
Which one would you pick if it was going to go on your portfolio?
Morgan: That's interesting.
The one on the left feels so digitized to me, just that perfect china doll face and
all that kind of stuff.
Kenneth: In some ways, it feels like there's more detail in the film image but pixel for
pixel, I mean the film image had less resolution you know because the scanner has less resolution
than the 36 megapixel one on a Nikon so it's funny because it's like there is more detail
but in some ways there's less.
It wasn't quite as sharp as the Nikon.
Morgan: I don't think film renders skin as pretty as digital does.
I think the digital is a lot creamier looking but that's also the preset you're putting
on.
Kenneth: I will say just to keep this in mind moving forward one of the biggest challenges
I had with matching the digital was the skin tone.
So the Kodak has this really great way of separating the skin from everything else in
the image so the skin actually has a sort of a magenta look to it but the greens in
the background are still very green.
But when I would try to adjust the Nikon if I tried to pull more of the magenta out of
the skin everything else in the image would go magenta.
I would have had to go in and like brush her skin to kind of match the magenta so I had
to make a choice between matching the overall color or matching her skin.
Morgan: We also just look at the openness of her eyes.
There's definitely not near the dynamic range in the film that you're getting in the digital.
At least when you digitize the digital.
Kenneth: This one is a great example of that.
I mean you get kind of locked in when you scan the film in this way, straight out of
the box the digital has less pull down on the shadows.
Morgan: The charm of the film, you would have to say, is the fact that it isn't so perfect.
Kenneth: I say that all the time.
I love shooting film because I don't worry about it, ironically.
I just say, "It's not going to be perfect."
I think you can tell especially in this one because the blown out highlights go a little
magenta.
Morgan: I said right on this one
Kenneth: It's the left.
Morgan: Is it?
It doesn't seem consistent when I saw the other ones.
Yeah the film's more open and less contrasty
Kenneth: I think again you can tell it's like, it has more shadow on the legs on the digital.
You look at the highlights and there's way more detail in her dress.
This was the hardest one on the whole test.
Morgan: I put right.
Kenneth: You're right.
Morgan: It was a bit of a guess.
It wasn't much a guess you think, if you look at her forearm and her shoulder...
Kenneth: It see more of the imperfection.
Morgan: ...that just feels like film.
Kenneth: And also this is an instance where you can tell that the Nikon has more pixels
because you look at her eyelashes and there's much more detail in her eyelashes.
And also the lens just doesn't flare nearly as well as the Nikon.
Morgan: Now the black and white.
I love the look of the black and white actually.
I feel like the film is just a little more open on this one.
I put the left, that's definitely wrong.
Look at the depth, the feel.
There's no way.
Kenneth: Yeah, that's wrong.
Morgan: I can almost feel the grain, look right there on those two.
Look at the grain structure on the one on the left that just feels like...especially
Tri-X
Kenneth: Tri-X is kind of gritty.
I'm the one that cut these and I can't even...
Morgan: You can just feel it.
The grain pattern, look at the grain right there.
I've seen that so many times that is just Tri-X, you know?
Kenneth: I actually prefer because this one turned out a little bit faded almost and I
purposefully had to fade the digital so I might have overdone it.
Morgan: There's kind of milky blacks.
When you don't have much light her complexion is much harsher in that image in the top.
You see the imperfections much more there's more detail in it.
Kenneth: There's more detail in it.
Which is surprising, it's that weird thing where the film has more sometimes it has less.
You look at that and you're only wrong like maybe two to three times out of what?
20 images?
24 images?
Morgan: Twenty-four images, yeah.
Kenneth: Something like that.
That was the question it's like, does film have a look worth you know, or I'm shooting
film because it has that look I can't get with digital.
It kind of does because you can tell which one it is.
Morgan: A guy who shot hundreds, hundreds and hundreds of rolls of film can tell the
difference.
Kenneth: That's true.
I think if you're going to shoot film professionally it's more about your workflow and what you
enjoy.
What makes you happy than it is about image quality.
Morgan: You're absolutely right.
What makes you happy, what makes it interesting and exciting to you and if it's a hook that
gets your clientele to go, "Hey we love that " you know?
I mean if it's a hook that works, absolutely.
Kenneth: I will say, if you're a beginning photographer rather than going and spending
$1000 on ADD or D5300 or something I actually recommend going on eBay and buying some Canon
AE-1 or something like that for 150 bucks and buy 20 rolls of film.
And I think you'll learn the basics of photography way faster than you will with your digital
camera.
Morgan: I think that's even cheating.
Buy a Hasselblad that has no internal metering in it so you have to learn to see exposure.
You'd be surprised how much that'll teach you actually.
Kenneth: All right so, dynamic range.
I love doing dynamic range
Morgan: This is a really interesting one to me.
Because I kind of know the outcome of this one.
Kenneth: All right, so I'm going to say first of all I discovered that I did not take a
properly exposed image on the Pentax.
Morgan: No?
Kenneth: Somehow it just didn't happen.
The digital is untouched.
This is just straight raw, I didn't do any [inaudible 00:11:02] just to see how it is.
Morgan: We picked a nice setting for this, I think.
It feels like...
Kenneth: You have the white dress and the [crosstalk].
Morgan: ...the dark black in the background so for a dynamic range test it looks good.
Kenneth: Plus one stops, they're all looking pretty good.
Plus two stops, still don't see the difference.
Nikon is holding up totally fine.
At plus three stops, the Nikon just like, abruptly falls apart.
Morgan: It does.
Falls right off the cliff.
Kenneth: It actually really surprised me because I thought it would handle plus three.
Plus four maybe not but I thought it'd be okay with plus three.
The film photos look normal they actually look exactly the same as the other ones.
Morgan: They don't look different at all.
Kenneth: Just crazy how much you can overexpose it.
Morgan: When we say film we're talking about print film not transparency film.
Kenneth: Right, not transparency.
Morgan: You cannot do this with transparency.
Kenneth: Don't try this at home with transparency.
Morgan: No, transparency film, you won't get the same results.
Kenneth: This is four stops over.
Morgan: Wow, look at the Nikon.
Kenneth: The Nikon's gone.
Morgan: That's a digital process, you know?
Kenneth: Yeah, it's a different science.
Morgan: But the color and the black and white, it's starting to lose a little bit but it's
not terrible.
Kenneth: So what I found is you look really close at these...it's hard because I have
them stacked next to each other...but you look really close at these and the detail
in the rock is the same across all the images, details in the dress is the same across.
What you do start to see though is the color and the overall tonality start to wash out
a tiny bit.
Morgan: Which almost looks interesting.
Kenneth: It opens up the shadows a little bit.
Go to five stops, obviously Nikon's gone.
The film I wish we'd gone to six stops because I almost feel like maybe six stops would have
been the limit.
I don't know.
Morgan: I wish we had gone to six.
Kenneth: I didn't expect film to make it to five stops so we stopped there.
Morgan: So five stops over, there are still photos I would deliver to the client I would
have no problem with it.
It's just amazing.
Morgan: Usually the problem though is that with film, especially if you're doing anything
inside, you don't have enough light.
You're not going to get a stopover.
Kenneth: So let's go to underexposing.
Now, minus one stop it seems fine.
I mean they look great all across the board, minus two stops I already see it with the
film.
There isn't as much detail in the background.
Morgan: No, you're starting to really block up the blacks.
Kenneth: The Nikon looks just the same.
You got a nice three stops and now it's like, a problem.
Morgan: Yeah.
Kenneth: This is where I would say, " Okay, shoot.
What do I do now?"
The Tri-X just gets like dark.
It actually kind of looks like the portrait has been sent through an airport X-ray and
then minus four stops it's kind of gone.
Morgan: There's nothing there anymore.
Kenneth: I wonder if they'd scan this to a tiff.
I wonder if I could massage it a little bit but it's not really...
Morgan: Look at the digital.
We're at minus four stops.
As bad as a Nikon looked going in a plus it holds up going under.
Kenneth: It holds up.
This would still work for you know like maybe a six by eight photo print or something.
I wouldn't blow this image up but still, minus four stops that's pretty incredible.
Morgan: If you're shooting digital.
If you're a hybrid shooter you should film outside you shoot digital inside.
Kenneth: That's a great way to look at it.
Because that film especially if you're shooting like on a beach or something and I will say
even on set I was shooting the film and I wasn't worried about the exposure as much.
I was like, "Oh yeah I think that's right.
Got it."
You know?
With the Nikon I was freaking out because I'd look at the screen on the back and it
was too bright or whatever and I was really worried about the tolerance with the highlights.
So film can give you some peace of mind with that but in terms of the shadows...
Morgan: When the dynamic range is on the bottom like that it makes it so you shoot everywhere.
With film it's on the top and you can't shoot inside.
Kenneth: It's true, it's true.
Basically what you're saying is that signal to noise ratio is lower with the digital.
So, what do you think?
You're going to be shooting film from now on?
Morgan: You know, oddly enough I'm going to start to shoot some film but here's my summation
of it.
I think that you can replicate the look enough in digital that the bride's not going to be
able to tell the difference.
And the cost?
We spent $150 on six rolls of film.
That was just to process it.
We had to buy the six rolls of film too which was another $30, $40 you know?
So we're getting close to $200 to do six rolls of film.
If you're charging $2000 for a wedding, that's a 10% investment.
Kenneth: That's hard.
Most hybrid shooters I know though are charging 4000 to 5000 for a wedding.
Morgan: Which makes sense.
If you're in that category it's a cool thing you've got this camera you pull out, do some
shots.
I mean, it becomes part of the show as much as anything.
So the cost is an issue I do think the film has a really cool look and I didn't think
I would say that but in looking at it I really do and I love the look.
It just feels familiar, feels right to me so I can see why people are doing it.
I really can.
Kenneth: I agree.
I think in terms of flexibility obviously digital has the advantage.
In terms of image, it depends on what you're shooting.
Honestly, I think film does have the advantage in some ways but in most scenarios, digital
probably still has the advantage so it really, like we said before, comes down to workflow
and what you like, what makes you happy.
Morgan: So there you have it.
We're going to upload all these images to our website, theslantedlens.com/filmcomparison.
Go there, download them, we're going to have the raw Nikon images, we're going to have
the ones that Kenneth corrected and then the film images.
Take that raw image go into other softwares, correct them, try to get it as close to film
as possible in other softwares and post those to our Facebook group.
We want to see what other softwares are doing, how they compare, let our community kind of
look and see if there's other software out there that's even better.
We'll give $50 worth of film to the one that we think comes up with the best conversion.
So get over to theslantedfilms.com/filmcomparison and download those images and see what you
can do so keep those cameras rolling.
Kenneth: Keep on clicking.
Morgan: It's February, we're giving away four of these Platypod maxes.
This is a plate that allows you to put your camera in very difficult places.
It's a small simple plate but it gives you hundreds of opportunities to put your camera
in places that normally you can't get it into so get over to theslantedlens.com where you
can possibly win one.
Sign up, you might win one.
All right.
So it's probably been 11 years since I've loaded one of these, but I used to load these
things...you get so you're so fast at it, you know, you just load 'em like crazy, but
it's been a long time.
Kenneth: It's been about 24 hours.
No, just kidding.
I don't shoot film that often.
Morgan: So here we go.