My Reasons for NOT owning a DSLR

I have been asked innumerable times by colleagues, friends and even strangers if and why I do not own a DSLR, in various situations. I even got the same questions (not many times, of course) during the correspondence with people when dealing with the activity of this blog. While the whole thing is most of the times quite irritating to me, sometimes I even get quite a rush of pride due to that very fact (for not owning it). I actually own a couple of low-budget digicams (and use them rarely), but I just don't feel the »chemistry« (pun intended) between them and me. It just doesn't work for me, I didn't even feel the minimum attraction every time I had the chance to handle a premium DSLR. So I limit my use of digital gear only for web communication and the like. But from the (quasi)rational point of view, here are the reasons:

 

Cost

While you can buy an entry-level DSLR for little money today, you know it will be outdated quite soon, and its quality (still) leaves much to be desired. A Canon user (like me, while already having a range of EF lenses) can get a 1100D for some 400€. Not expensive, but....considering my 35 mm film shooting rate is somewhere about 15-20 films/year (and I've been shooting mostly color slides lately), you end to spend about 200€/year, provided you get a lab with fair prices for E6 development and you buy your film in bulk (as most of us do these days). So it takes me about 2 years to break even in comparison with an entry-level DSLR. If I was shooting mostly BW, that figure would be much more in favor of my »old« film SLR (or rangefinder, for that matter). Most people, after a couple of years, are already flirting with the idea about getting a new DSLR because their »old« DSLR is already outdated.  Getting a good quality full-frame DSLR means you need to spend 2-3k€, that's one decade of film supply and development, and some scanning, with the same or better quality as with a DSLR.

Many film cameras, many tastes

My shooting rate, as said, is really low. And the shooting rate of  films/camera/year is even lower. At home, we own quite an arsenal of 35 mm gear: 2 manual SLRs, 2 autofocus SLRs, yet another SLR for macro only, 3 rangefinders, some Lomo-like cameras, and maybe even something I forgot....each camera has its own personality, and I really try to use each one for at least 2-3 rolls of film per year, to render them  justice. Even if I compare the two Canons AE-1's (the old version and the newer Program), they differ: it's not that one is better than the other, but the handling is a bit different, although they have more or less the same construction. Can you find such a variety of tastes in the digital realm? I don't think so.

Film cameras are considered less intruding to most people

Doing street or event photography with a »vintage« camera doesn't seem to bother people much. They are often even more apt to cooperate, and many times, very curious about the camera. Film cameras are really connecting people!

I just don't want functions I never asked for

If I want to take photos, I just want to set the few determining parameters, without all the distracting functions being there just to tempt me to use them. This is also the reason I rarely use an EOS camera and more often an AE-1...

Anti-consumerism

The consumerism, being pushed to its limits, is producing products lasting only for a couple of years. Digital camera models just come and go, the real technological improvement between generations of cameras has become marginal. The manufacturers-corporations just want to trick us that you simply need a newer camera. In contrast, 30+ year-old cameras (with minimum maintenance) are just fine and work almost as new (OK, it's not a heavy duty use). And you can load them with the latest film type(like Ektar). This is simply amazing, isn't it? I have a much better feeling when I buy some film, especially from a small film company, knowing that I contribute this way to keep that small company running!

I just love to project slides!

There's nothing better to me as a nice sharp, color-rich slide being projected! Much better than a wall-sized print. It's really the ultimate enjoyment in photo-terms. It's like listening to a quality sound of a vinyl record with a vacuum-tube amplifier! No, this not the everyday routine, you need to take your time, but when you take that time, it's special!

These are by no means all the reasons, but probably the most important ones, and I am sure these are more or less the same  reasons you to stick with film. And I would really like to know your very reasons.

Mitja