Why is film photography popular again?


Film photography had seen a long decline in popularity ever since the invention of digital cameras with their remarkable leaps in technological advances. As of today, a decent professional digital camera significantly outperforms the 35mm film cameras in terms of resolution, burst-shooting capabilities, nearly unlimited storage, and etc... In the recent years, the "film look" has made its comeback with lower resolution, grainy texture and unique color rendition. On top of that, half-decent retro-looking film cameras can be acquired for much less than a potent digital camera, lowering the entry barrier for those on the budget and looking for that look. An abundant pool of film stocks also adds to the fun, where each can drastically differ in low-light sensitivity, color rendition, graininess, post-processing chemistry, and of course, price. However, many major photographic film producers have either discontinued or significantly reduced the volume of their production. This, coupled with the surge in the demand, has led to skyrocketing prices on most of the still-available film stocks. On top of this, many popular and sought-after film cameras like the Leica M6, Nikon FM2 and Contax T2 also saw steep increase in their used-market prices. Given these price hikes on films and decades-old equipments, film photography is quickly becoming an expensive hobby, where each click of a shutter could cost more than 50 cents. How ironic is this today, when digital storage is virtually free? The authentic "film look" carries a hefty price tag today, and the future popularity of film photograhy is uncertain.