Go Analogue!

A surprising and rather counterintuitive result of the fast progress of the digital imaging technology is that it makes shooting film more attractive! The quality of film scanners has improved considerably in the last decade. Thus, if you drop a roll of color print film at a store (e.g., at Costco) you can get a photo CD with high-resolution digital images for a few dollars ($2.99 at Costco, to be precise). Add to that the costs for processing and prints (many stores charge less for prints from film than for prints form digital images) and it will still be less than 10 bucks!

Azalea

As you can see in the flower picture, these low-cost scans have a very pleasing "look", including great colors, a lot of per-pixel detail and sharpness. No need for post-processing - you can directly post them on the internet or email them to your friends! If you use a fine-grained film and drop it at a photo lab that is scpecialized in high-quality scans (such as NCPS) you can get a maximum resolution of 20 to 24 megapixels from a 35 mm film, comparable to the latest state-of-the art full-frame digital SLRs - for a fraction of the price!

These days you can buy a good used film SLR with a kit lens for a lot less than $100. In contrast, a digital SLR - even a used one - will cost you several hundred dollars! Unless you are shooting thousands of photos per year, a film SLR will be a lot less expensive than a digital SLR! A lot of people who use film SLRs use digital point-and-shoot cameras to take snapshots and use their film SLRs to take high-quality photos.