11 May – Digital or Film

Published on by Nigel Rainton

Fishing and photography go well together. I am usually by the water or in the countryside several times a week and there are lots of photo opportunities. I travel light when fishing. There is no enjoyment in lugging mountains of gear around. I don’t want a heavy camera hanging round my neck when I’m exploring the coast or the moors. Fishing bags and camera boxes remain in the back of the Landrover.

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‘January Sunrise’ – Digital

Digital cameras are convenient and full of technology but I am not comfortable with mine. The camera in my iPhone is excellent but it has a mind of it’s own. I find myself constantly trying to override the settings that an Apple geek has chosen for me. However, it is small and light and I never leave home without it. Everyday there are photo opportunities. I want to take them.

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‘Paddling’ – Digital

The Olympus OM2 was the cutting edge of camera technology when it was launched in 1975. It was the first camera to meter ambient light and flash, off the film surface giving continuously variable exposures from 1000 of a second to 1 minute. Amazing. My OM2 body was broken during a storm when the tripod fell over and smashed the camera on a rock. A very nice man in Olivers Photographics, Penzance found me an identical replacement.

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‘Storm’ – Olympus OM2, Ilford FP4

I use the OM2 with Ilford FP4 film for landscape photography. I have the film processed by Ilford Labs and use The Print Space for big prints. I have to take time over composition and exposure, I can’t take fifty shots and select the best, it’s too expensive. Film imposes constraints but the end results are worth it.

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‘Bodiam Castle’ – Olympus OM2, Ilford FP4

Of the thousands of images I have made, only one can be seen as a print on the studio wall. The others are viewed online and that detracts from the quality of a fine black and white negative. I think the superior quality of the film images shines through even though they are being viewed digitally. Perhaps this compromise makes the best of both technologies.

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