Film astro shots to digital, the difference still gets me

I used to shoot star trails and moon shots on 35mm film back in the 90s, mostly out near the Pecos River in Texas. Every roll cost me about $8 to develop, and I'd wait a week just to see if I even got one good frame out of 36. Now I take a hundred shots of the same nebula on my Canon and check them right there on the screen, zero cost, instant feedback. But I still miss that feeling of opening the envelope and finding one surprise that blew me away. The pixels are sharper now, but the patience and mystery had their own magic. Anyone else hang onto their old film negatives or is that just me being sentimental?

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scott.phoenix8d ago

Man people really romanticize waiting a week for results like it was some profound experience. It was just slow, not deep. You paid money to maybe get a blurry streak of light and called it magic because you had no other choice. I get the nostalgia for the envelope thing but that's just your brain polishing a memory of being annoyed and broke. The instant feedback on a digital screen is objectively better for actually learning what works. Sentimentality is fine but let's not pretend tedious was some kind of gift.

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