The view camera in the digital age

[johnastovall]

Why the view camera with film will not only survive but prosper in the digital age.

[venchka]

My immediate thought: Duh! Thats a no brainer.

[Big Dog]

I am a fan of Mr Sexton, but this article left me a bit puzzled. I think he is writing not so much from objectivity, but from what suits his own ends. And, there are some inconsistencies and and a few statements in which I simply disagree.

“The wooden field camera will not just survive, but thrive, in the digital age.”

Why just wood? Was that a significant adjective, or just his preference? There are metal cameras out there. Just saying.

“… are (there) compelling economic, aesthetic, and/or technical reasons to continue to create images on large format film, rather than with digitally-based equipment. I think the answer is yes on all counts. … if I were asked to argue whether there were any compelling economic, aesthetic, or technical reasons to continue to create images on medium and small format film, my answer would be no. I don't believe that smaller film formats will survive in any practical sense because digital sensors … with pixel counts from 6 to 22 million pixels … optical resolution … grainless.”

He seems to be arguing that digital capture has caught up with smaller formats, and then ignores the reasonable possibility of future development equaling or surpassing that of sheet film.

“Tonal scale (the smooth transition in values from black to white) is more linear with digital than with film.”

Perhaps. But not everyone thinks this is a positive.

“Digital storage media can hold more images than a roll of film (particularly 120 film) and they are less fragile. Silicon-based digital storage cards have to be physically destroyed before the images stored on them become irretrievable.”

This is an ongoing argument that is only true if there are readers available in the future for the indestructible (also arguable) storage media. Put one of your old floppies in your laptop.

Roll film and 35mm may die before sheet film. Or it may be the other way around. Or both. or none of the above. All of this is speculative and really kind of silly. The different media in film photography will survive as long as there are practitioners and a market. It has reached the point were the film vs. digital debate is like arguing oils vs. pastels vs. watercolors.

If there is anything that will cause large format to outlive roll film, it may be that the cameras can be made one at a time. Oh, wait, there's Leicas ...