Is there ANY advantage to a film camera over digital anymore?

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Cost wise no. You'll end up spending more with film. Digital is cheaper in the long run.

Digital will always be limited by a number may it be from the sensor or the computer code used to create the picture. Film won't have such limit. The only problem with film is that quality is lost in reproduction. Whatever high quality is gained in capturing, when printed, the picture always becomes relatively poorer. This is where digital excels. Whatever is caught in the original image, digital keeps forever unless it is modified intentionally....Show more

The biggest difference is batteries, not all film cameras need them, on many the battery only powers the meter. Should add that film has much higher resolving power than the early digitals and that wide angles shoot wider on FX film bodies than they do on DX format digitals (this advantage is getting smaller all the time as new better digital models are introduced).

@ fhotoace: Last IR film I bought was nearly $10 per roll, a used IR digital runs about $500 but can be had for much less, that's only 50 rolls of film. And with bracketing, etc. I bet I only get 3-4 keepers per roll when shooting IR film. And I don't know if I got the shot until I soup the film. So that's a plus one for digital. I still love and use my film cameras, just not for IR,...Show more

the best reason to buy a film camera is to shoot family photos. No you cant delete the ones you dont like BUT in 30 to 50 years even the bad photos will mean something to someone when and if they find your negatives. If they find digital media even if the media does not deteriorate where will you find the hardware to run our ancient cd's?Remember by having a cd made when you have your film developed you get a better digital image than most digital cameras provide. If you dont think we like bad pictures just think of how excited we get over cave drawings. Those photos you would toss away still contain images which will entrance your ancestors as they look at the hair styles, clothes, cars, furnishings, and things that surround us today. The trick is to save the images on a media that will survive the passing of time. So far film has proven up to this challenge I have printed images from film shot in 1924 in the last 6 years as well as images from 5x7 glass plate negatives that were who knows how old. The owner didnt care how old they were or that the images were of no one he knew it was only important to him that it was his family. Tell Mom you want to save images of your childhood for your greatgrandchildren in a form they are sure to be able to access. Dont skimp on the processing poorly processed negatives do not last because the silver is not properly removed....Show more

Not really unless you like the retro style. The quality difference is very little. Most professional have moved to digital unless there is a special requirement like glossy glamour - they will use big sensors on their Hasselblads and Mamiyas.

The only advantage I can think of is that if you are using a fully manual film camera, then you do not have to worry about battery charge....Show more

I can't think of any....Show more