Digital is easy. Digital is fast. But if I’m honest? Digital is often a bit… sterile.
We live in a world where we can snap 500 photos of our lunch and delete 499 of them without a second thought. But there’s a reason why so many of us are heading back to the darkroom, or at least back to the local lab.
When you pick up a mechanical workhorse like a Hasselblad 500CM, the whole vibe changes. You aren’t just taking a picture; you’re making one. Here is why I think film still wins the “soul” category every single time.
It Forces You to Actually Look
The biggest “con” of film is usually the first thing people fall in love with: you only get a few shots.
On a standard roll of 120 film, you’ve got 12 frames. That’s it. You can’t just “spray and pray” and hope for the best. You find yourself standing in a landscape, waiting. You wait for the navy tones of the tide to recede, or for the light to catch that specific shade of denim blue in the distance.
You become a sniper rather than a machine gunner. Because every time you hear that heavy clack of the shutter, you know it cost you a couple of quid. It makes you care more.
The “Look” (That Digital Just Can’t Nail)
We’ve all spent hours sliding bars in Lightroom trying to make a digital file look like a film scan. But there’s a chemical magic in film that code can’t quite replicate:
- Those Highlights: If you accidentally overexpose a digital shot, the sky turns into a flat, ugly white patch. Film is way more forgiving. It sucks up the light and keeps the detail, giving you those soft, dreamy highlights.
- The Depth: There is something about the way a medium format lens renders a scene. The shallow depth of field creates this almost 3D “pop,” separating your subject from the background in a way that feels natural, not digital.
- The Grain: Digital noise looks like a mistake. Film grain looks like texture. It gives the image a physical weight.
The Reality Check: Pros vs. Cons
Let’s be real – shooting film isn’t all sunshine and vintage aesthetics. Here’s the breakdown:
| The Good Stuff (Pros) | The Annoying Stuff (Cons) |
|---|---|
| The Discipline: You actually learn how light works. | The Price: Film and developing aren’t getting any cheaper. |
| The Surprise: Getting your scans back feels like Christmas. | The Wait: No instant gratification. You have to be patient. |
| The Gear: Old cameras are beautiful, tactile objects. | The Risk: If you mess up the loading, you lose the whole day. |
| The Feel: Photos look organic, not clinical. | Fixed ISO: You can’t change your “sensitivity” halfway through. |
The Beauty of the Delay
In our “everything-right-now” culture, there is something incredibly therapeutic about the delay. You take the shots, you drop the rolls at the lab, and you forget about them for a week.
When you finally get that email with your scans, you’re seeing these moments for the second time. It’s a completely different emotional connection. You aren’t looking at a screen to see if you “got the shot” – 
you’re looking at a memory that has finally been realised.
The Bottom Line
Shooting film isn’t about being a hipster or being “old school” for the sake of it. It’s about slowing down enough to enjoy the process. It’s about the weight of the camera in your hand, the smell of the chemicals, and the satisfaction of getting that one perfect, grainy, navy-hued landscape exactly right.
Next time you head out, leave the SD card at home. Grab a few rolls of Portra, wind the crank, and see what happens when you have to make every shot count.