This document compares film and digital photography across several metrics. For field of view, film has a full field of view while digital has a limited field of view except for newest pro models. For color balance, film requires matching to lighting while digital has auto white balancing. For exposure latitude, negative film has a wide latitude of 7-9 stops while transparency film and consumer digital cameras have a narrower 5 stops. High-end digital cameras can match negative film latitude. Film has fast capture but requires scanning, while high-end digital allows burst shooting but consumer cameras have long delays between shots. Resolution depends on the film but film can be very fine, while consumer digital is limited to full page reproduction. Equipment costs are $1,

1. FILM DIGITAL
Field of view Pro: Full field of view.
Con: Limited field of view
with same lenses, except
newest pro models.
Color balance
Con: requires matching of film
type to lighting ad use of color
correction (cc) filters.
Pro: Auto white balancing is
generally sufficient for color
correction, even under mixed
lighting.
Exposure latitude
Pro: Wide latitude for negative
film (7-9 stops).
Con: Narrow latitude for
transparency film (5 stops).
Pros: high end (expensive)
cameras offer broad exposure
latitudes similar to (or better
than) negative films.
Con: Consumer level (less
expensive) cameras have
narrower latitudes similar to
transparency films.
Capture speed
Pros: Extremely fast during
shooting.
Cons: Requires scanning for post
production.
Pros: High end cameras
capable of rapid shooting for
limited bursts.
Con: Consumer cameras
often require long delays (10-
30 seconds) between shots
while previous image(s) are
being saved.
Resolution
Pros: Very fine - depending upon
film used. Can be used to create
wall sized panoramic prints and
show fine detail. Film can be
scanned at any resolution needed.
Cons: Limited resolution
compared to film, except for
high end (expensive) digital
cameras. Consumer cameras
are generally limited to full
page or less reproduction.
Equipment costs (camera, lens,
pan head)
Professional: $1,200 - $7,500.
Consumer: $750 - $1,000.
Professional: $2,500 -
$9,000.
Consumer: $1,000 - $1,500.
Film, processing & scanning
costs
$5 - $35/node None
Work flow & post production
Cons: Scanning slows down post
production speed & adds cost.
Pros: Can stitch or assemble
on location with laptop
computer, if needed. Images
are digital from the outset –
requiring no scanning.

2. Portability & durability in the
field
Good to excellent.
Poor to good, depending
upon model.
Obsolescence period
Pro: 35mm cameras & lenses
retain value fairly well over 5–10
year period.
Con: Digital systems can
lose value quickly (up to 50%
or more each year).
Stitching technologies (QTVR)
Pros: Relatively high quality and
resolution possible, variety of
software authoring applications
available, can be viewed on any
computer with industry standard
QuickTime™ installed.
Cons: Requires 8-12 photos (or
more) for each panorama, more for
multi-row (cubic) panos. Cubic
viewing requires that viewers have
a recent version of QuickTime
installed, although this is already
standard on most computers.
Pros: Same advantages as
film.
Cons: Same disadvantages as
film, but digital capture
generally requires more
source images per panorama
in order to yield same field of
view as with film.