The Basics of Photography: Film & Storage Media

Though different sorts of cameras use different media to store the images (film, memory sticks, CDs) there are certain factors in common for all photo media. Other factors, such as film speed ratings, apply to one form of photo creation but not the other.

Film and digital storage media are simply different ways to achieve the same result. Just as we refer to people of both sexes with the generic "him" rather than the more awkward "him/her", we sometimes refer to "film" rather than using the more awkward "film or digital storage media."

But the end result is the same. Whether your camera uses film or a memory stick, you're capturing and saving an image for later manipulation and use.

Film size/pixel rating

In general, the larger the negative, the larger a print it is possible to make without loss of quality. But other factors enter into the quality of a potential print, including lighting conditions, film speed or sensitivity, and camera motion.

Enlarging the image means that everything on the negative will be enlarged - including the grain pattern of the film. High-speed film achieves its increased sensitivity to light by using larger grains of photo-sensitive silver in the film, so photos taken with high-speed film will be grainier than those taken with lower-speed film. If there is camera motion in the negative, it will be more visible as enlargements increase in size.

A very sharp, totally in-focus 35 mm negative, taken in good lighting conditions and with no camera motion, can produce prints as large as 30 by 40 inches. More commonly, a 35 mm negative will produce excellent 8 x 10s and acceptable 11 x 14 to 16 x 20 prints.

Digital cameras give the measure of their storage media in the number of pixels. Each pixel is a small square of digital information; each pixel is just one color. When thousands of pixels are lined up together, even though each one is a distinct color, the image blends together to the eye and creates the illusion of a range of colors flowing from one into the next. The smaller the pixels and the more of them which are combined to make an image, the smoother and more realistic the image appears.