Will film ever be the dominant medium again?

No, film will never be a "dominant" medium again, but it will make a comeback. It already has started to. A lot of people are becoming interested in black and white photography, and film is MUCH better for black and white photos. At the last photography exhibit I went to in Los Angeles about a month ago, all the photos were taken with film and were traditional silver prints. In fact, there were several prints made with alternative processes, but the photos were all taken with black and white FILM.

Whether people like it or not, film can still take much better pictures. It has better resolution and color saturation. I have a collection of vintage cameras...35mm rangefinder and Twin Lens Reflex cameras that use 120 film. The pictures I can get with 120 film will completely blow away anything I've ever taken with a digital camera. The detail 120 film can capture is incredible. Even my friends who do use only digital cameras are surprised and agree that pictures I've taken with film were better. I know I'm going to get voted thumbs down as soon as I say this, but I really don't care. It's the truth.

The reason most people assume digital is better is because they just don't know the difference. They're just taking snapshots with their digital cameras and just looking for the quickest and easiest way to take pictures. They don't care about quality and most people aren't really interested in photograhy. If you're just taking "pics" for your MySpace page, then you aren't really going to worry about photographic techniques like composition and exposure.

I wouldn't say that digital cameras are a "fad" but they've been hyped up a lot the past few years, and I can see that the hype will start to die down and people will take another look at film. It has already started. The fad with "lomography" cameras like the Holga and Diana is also getting more people interested in film.

Also, the other person who said that there are only 4 companies left who are making film doesn't know what they're talking about. Also, several companies have introduced NEW films. Kodak just started making a new color film, called Ektar 100. It's already becoming popular. Look it up on Google. Ilford introduced a near-infrared film in 120 size...200 SFX. So to say that no one is making new films anymore is complete BS. People need to be informed and stop spreading bogus rumors.

Film won't be a dominant medium again, but it is making a comeback.

Like I said, I'm sure I'm going to get voted thumbs down. I don't care. It's the truth. I use both digital and film, but I definitely prefer FILM. I take landscape photos and I need them to be as sharp as possible. Nothing beats a real optical print from an enlarger, with a picture taken with film.

I'm sorry, but I've got to call BS on this question, seriously. You people must thrive on rhetorical nonsense, I swear. What kind of question is this? Digital fad? Do you know what planet you live on? This isn't the middle of the rainforest, the reason you're able to ask such an uninformed question is digital technology. It's not a fad, it's inevitable, just like the integrated circuit - the transistor replaced the vacuum tube. So no, film will never be the dominant medium again, because technological advancement has replaced it with a faster and more flexible one that continues to improve at the predicted exponential rate, as posited by Gordon E. Moore in the 60's. The same happened with other, much older photographic techniques, like the advent of 135 film cartridges. In the end, it improved efficiency, allowed for more flexibility, and became a standard for 70 years. And people still use it, even now in the shadow of digital technology. Film is a lovely medium, it will never fully go away - much like ambrotypes, they just fade into obscurity, still favored among its purists. But digital has now become the new standard, and it's here to stay. If you can't get down, you'll get left behind.

In the early days of digital photography, film still produced a better image quality. However, developments in digital sensors and processing mean that digital images are now better than film.

As a professional photographer my life has been made considerably easier with digital. Photos can be viewed instantly to see if the desired effect has been achieved. When in a studio I can shoot straight onto the laptop and view the photo in high resolution. I do not worry about the cost of taking multiple exposures of the same picture - the only cost is my time post processing. And the workflow is considerably easier - once photos are processed they can be emailed off to clients immediately.

I took a number of photos of a client sailing a yacht. I was able to get home, process the photos and select the best, burn to a CD, print the cover and get to the yacht club bar only a few minutes after them. Try doing that with film!

The only real exceptions these days are photographers using film to create effects not achievable with digital.

The film battle was lost the day Hasselblad brought out a digital back for their medium format cameras!

you will never see a return to film, it is a strict fact. this is why,

there are approximately 4 major film manufacturers, Kodak, Fuji, illford, and Polaroid. not one of them is currently developing new kinds of film or improving on old formulas. Polaroid has stopped making any traditional photographic products all-together (yes that includes their instant films, and they refuse to sell the rights to their instant films to any company that may be interested in still manufacturing it.), and ilford appears to be doing the same.

Kodak and fuji are still producing film but at a much lower rate than ever before. in fact when you go to their websites you have to jump through tons of hoops to be able to find anything on their films.

not only that but all the major 35 mm camera manufacturers have only 1-2 film bodies available any more, compared to their 5-8 different digital bodies all available at varying prices.

film still produces an image quality that cannot be duplicated on a digital sensor, it simply cannot, because of the mechanics of how the image is created, and because of this, those photographers who's work is in the realm of fine art gallery prints still use film, but in many cases they are hafting to experiment with creating their own films, or learning albumin and collodion printing as well as other "alternative" processes to create their images.

to call the digital transition a fad is an unfounded claim it is the next logical step in the development of photography, just like the Kodak Brownie using a gelatin based film at the turn of the century was the next development at that time. and you will find that among photo professionals, it was met with much the same response then as digital is now. I am happy to say that Digital is here to stay.

Sadly people buy into this digital stuff...and forget about old more artistic methods. I love film, but it probably will never be as important as it has been.

I dont think so, i use it for alterntive processes and anything needs to be large like 100mp plus scans from the 6x7.

Dig is here to stay and certainly for most its the future.

Not unless the techno. world crashes like predicted for Y2K.