How shooting film will improve your photography (part 5)

This is the fifth and last post in a series of five in which I share the for me five best reasons why I will continue to use my film cameras. Reasons, for which I recommend that you also should consider picking up one of those older cameras, a roll of film, and giving it a try; and why it actually will improve your photography [first, second, third and fourth posts in this series].

My fifth great reason for shooting film after the break.

You actually will have pictures in your hand

Although I love to share my pictures via Zenfolio [note: currently I use SquareSpace], I sometimes also want to have a tangible product. When shooting film it is just easier for me to get actual prints: I usually order them when I have the film developed and scanned. No need to go through the process of preparing the image in Lightroom for printing and taking or sending the digital file to a lab or printer, or printing it at home. And to be honest: as a result of these additional steps needed, most of my digital pictures only live in the digital world.

This was the last post in this series about five great reasons for shooting film. There is actually one bonus reason: it is just fun to fiddle with the mechanics of a film camera, going through all the actions to make sure all settings are correct. It is just more fun than working with the digital stuff, even if you are shooting your dSLR or mirror-less camera in 'full manual' mode.

Does that meant that I am against digital cameras and images? Absolutely not! I still am using my X-Pro1 more than my film cameras, and I love the versatility of digital. For me, these are two different worlds, and I am lucky I can live in and with both.

So go out there, check eBay for your first film camera, put a roll in it, and start shooting!