Why did you go digital?

I went digital because of the cost of film and processing for one family trip; to Pasadena, California for the 2008 Tournament of Roses Parade. I had discussed purchasing a digital SLR for the trip earlier with my wife, who was staunchly against me spending more money on cameras. (I already had six.) After the trip, she asked about how much our film and processing costs for the six-day trip was and when she saw the cost (~$425), she relented. (She also saw how good the quality of other's digital SLR photos was, as well.)

I still can't believe that I spent nearly half a camera of film and rapid processing on a family trip, but I also know it could have been more.

That's why I bought my first digital SLR; how about you?

WM

I originally went digital because I document my jobs (electrician) for later dispute issues as well as for the customer. Being the last trade in the open walls, I would photograph each wall of a project, burn the images onto a CD and give it to the customer.

They appreciate knowing where the wires, pipes, ducts, etc. are long after they've forgotten.

Because I was never a "real photographer" prior to that.

As a musician, I embraced the forays of guitar amplification into the digital realm, and while I saw its shortcomings I also saw its value. So, after snapping photos on P&S cameras, when I decided to become "serious" it wasn't even a question - it's what there was. I'm "old", but my photography is born of this age, having used the old Sony's that shot straight to 3 1/4" floppies. What I love is that everything I learned about photography from my brother back in the film days is still applicable - though some things are more practical than others. The darkroom was my greatest nemesis when I gave it a shot back in high school, but the digital darkroom is something I've embraced. I understand the appreciation for film, but not from a purely personal point of view.

Cost of film development.

Lack of quality photo labs in my area... along with the addiction of instant gratification.

After having processed and printed 100s of thousand rolls of film for myself and customers over the years I never want to see a roll of film again. I also like not having to wait to see the results. Being able to look at the shots seconds after I shoot means never going home and finding that I had a major screw up on my part and not having any photos.

Once good quality film went up to around $8.00 a roll of 24 exposures and processing and printing costs around $20 per roll I decided that was enough to ruin my financial well being. I stopped doing photography for nearly ten years until I got a point & shoot a couple of years ago. I knew my next camera would be a DSLR at that point.

When Kodachrome's legacy of excellence closed out at the end of 2010, I briefly shot print film and began to look at digital options. I'm a refugee driven from the era of transparency films, but have found a new and happy home in digital.

I found it was easier to remove my ex-wife from digital photos.

Rick M said:

I found it was easier to remove my ex-wife from digital photos.

Click to expand...

Now THATS a good reason to go digital!

I went digital when I no longer had access to a darkroom and did not like the local commercial processing for color film. I had gotten to the point where I did not take any pictures because I could not get the results I was used to. I converted to all digital in January 2010 when I got a D3000. I used that for three years (and still use it), then added a D7000 to my camera body arsenal. I like the fact I can use all the Nikon lenses (both AF and pre-AF) lenses I already had. I also like the fact that post processing is a whole lot faster than with film. Yes, it's the instant gratification of digital that makes digital a no brainer for me anymore.

I parted with all my film and video gear a couple of years before i lost my wife as it was obvious i would not get to use it,then after meeting my new wife and getting settled into the relationship i thought it was time to revisit photography,digital was the new craze so i jumped in with both feet after a short spell with the Olympus E10,i bought a D70 and three lenses with a fuji 602 for my wife.
I guess the time wasn't right as after about a year i stopped using it and it sat in the bag,then earlier this year it hit me again with my wife saying you need to sort something out if you are really going to retire,as we know wives are always right.
I keep feeling nostalgic when i see mint F3s for sale but as my main films are no longer made it probably would be a waste of money.

I had a minolta 505si super dynax.And with it, I've used at least 5 to 8 roles of filems, when Im out on a tour
And at that time, to develop them, it'll cost so much.
Then, digital came in. Bought myself sony DSC S50 and came with 8mb of memory stick
After few months, got myself 128mb of memory.
Even after getting sony digital, I still lug my minolta.
Then, came nikon D80. Its a different ball game.
Setup are easy, and buttons are well arranged.
BUT NOT AE-L/AF-L button. Till now, its still bit of hard to reach.
Still, Im glad that I've chosen Nikon, ... digital

For my Hobby, went Digital after Qualex closed all of their labs. Suddenly access to good quality and inexpensive photo finishing was gone. Still shoot an occasional roll of film, I need to set up a darkroom for B&W.

I shot film for many years. My first foray into photography was in 1970 when I bought a Practica TL. Since I couldn't afford to have my film processed I built a darkroom & started shooting a lot of TriX that I rolled from 100" rolls into cassettes. Went though a number of Nikon cameras along the way. I stopped developing my films about 2000. The lab I used was doing a terrible job for me.

My sister was singing the virtues of digital to me so I bought a Canon S20 to get me started. That crappy little camera led me to the digital photo world.

From there I went to a refurb Fuji S1, a franken camera made from a low end Nikon film body with Fuji guts stuffed inside. I bought it because it was an affordable DSLR that could use my Nikon glass.

Today I'm happily shooting a D7000, D3000 & V1. I'll never go back to film ever!

I was reluctant to change over to digital until I figured out what an excellent teaching tool digital was. The instant feedback from digital allowed me to correct my mistakes instantly instead of waiting for film to be proccessed. This sparked a renewed interest in seeing my prints on the wall. I was now able to control the whole process in a way that I never did with film. Of course I never deviated from using Nikon. From my D50 to my beloved D90 to my present D7000, Nikon has always served me well.

I've always been a "gadget guy" I just had to have a digital camera shortly after getting my first computer. I bought this clunky HP camera that had all the attributes of a brick, about as useful too. I bought I believe for 250.00 it had a whopping .7 MP and I hated after the first day. My next camera was the Sony FD-91 my wife gave me one heck of an argument for that, at around 1000.00 she just couldn't see it. After she used it, she fell in love with it. I still have that bad boy and take it out once in awhile. I do get looks with that monster. Then after about 100 point and shoots. I finally got a SLR! I still have 6 or so cameras laying around. Here's my first true love in digital cameras.

Because the sensors got good enough that a digital image no longer looked like a digital image.

I've shot may films as a teenager and later years.
Also spent alot of time in the darkroom in gigh school.
Later, I could not afford a 'good' digital camera (DSLR) and switched to simpler point-and-shooters.
But that never felt like real photography to me and I kind of lost interest.
Almost two years back, I got my D3000 and the passion has come back and got myself a D7100 a few weeks ago.

Working freelance for magazines, it reached the point where I had no choice but to go digital, but I stayed away from it as long as I could, until late 2007 when I purchased a D80. It was an interesting experience at first. Recently I've gone back to taking a lot of film photos again and must admit the price of film and processing does put a dampener on the joy of using the older cameras.
ps, loved a few of the previous comments!