Can photographic film accurately be described as "analog"? Please explain and cite specific sources. Thanks!?
2017-03-01T20:59:23Z
My apologies if my question wasn't clear. I am not asking how film works, I am trying to find out if it's accurate to call film photography analog photography, for example. Some argue that film is not analog because analog refers specifically to electronic signals that are non-binary. Meanwhile the use of the word "analog" to describe anything that is not digital is very common & many dictionary definitions do not encompass the aforementioned association with electronics.
2017-03-01T21:04:57Z
Also, is it asking to much to cite sources of our replies as requested? I agree with much of what has been said, but these are just unsupported opinions. I am looking for authoritative sources that can be quoted and referenced.
MOZ2017-03-02T04:27:44Z
Yes, the FILM can be considered analog, but once PROCESSED, the photo cannot.
No. Analog, per the first source below, refers to "a device or system that represents changing values as continuously variable physical quantities." Photographic film captures an image in a mosaic of minute crystals (grains) of silver halide. In processing, a grain that has received a sufficient amount of light is converted to metallic silver, the other grains are washed away. Actually, photographic film could be considered a digital process, in the sense that each grain, like a bit in digital electronics, has only two states.
Analog and digital are opposite poles in the context of electronic signal processing -- a value is represented either as a particular level of some electrical property such as voltage, or by a string of bits (binary digits) which denote a specific number. An electronic camera is not necessarily digital -- old TV cameras were analog devices.
Analog is defined as, "Relating to or using signals or information represented by a continuously variable physical quantity such as spatial position or voltage." Since film photography relies on reflected light for a chemical process/process to take place, film cannot be correctly considered "analog."
Old 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, etc., TVs are analog technology; modern HD TVs are digital technology.
Digital means it comes from the binary number system. There is only zero and one, on and off, black and white. That's what it means...... If there is gray, it is analog, and film has gray - gray meaning anything more than pure black and pure white.
Re comment: "It" means anything called digital. And no, digital images don't contain gray in the same sense as film. Film emulsion has full exposed, partially exposed and not exposed, in a manner of speaking, anyway. That is black, gray and white. Digital is dots - called pixels. Each dot has a "digital signature" assigned to it. One dot is black - #000000, one is white - #FFFFFF, and one is gray - #999999. Hex codes for the colors, and hex codes are shorthand for binary numbers. Otherwise black would be 00100100100100101001001010101010 or something like that.
Reading your confusion and comments: An analog watch is driven by a spring. The time is calculated by a train of gears. A digital watch calculates time literally by a digital signal that comes from a tiny quartz crystal. "Beep, Beep, Beep". An analog photo has varying exposures on the emulsion depending on how much light it was exposed to. Grays are half exposed, so to speak. In digital photos every pixel is 100% exposed, it just has a color value assigned to it. THAT pixel is 100% exposed but it's 100% gray.