digital

Digital Vs. Film

The Issue:

• Is digital photography greener than film photography?

What you Need to Know

• There is a myth that digital is greener then film.
• Although the waste is different, it is unlikely that digital is any less polluting than film photography.
• There are many opportunities for us to lessen the environmental impact as digital photographers (see last paragraph).

Greener Photography's Recommendations:

• purchase used gear whenever possible
• recycle your gear
• minimize your energy consumption (use rechargeable batteries, conserve energy in your studio)
• provide digital, not paper proofs/li>

One of the assumptions we have heard frequently is that digital photography is greener then traditional film photography. But is this true?

The crux of the issue on the digital side is in embodied energy. Embodied energy is the amount of energy used to produce a product. This energy inherently creates waste and pollution. Our digital cameras, computers, disk, drives, CF cards, etc. have a lot of embodied energy because of all the technology that goes into producing them. Film cameras and darkroom enlargers are old and simple technologies, requiring far less energy to produce.

The crux of the issue in the darkroom is chemicals and paper proofs. We don't miss the days of our hands and clothing smelling of fixer. There is a lot of toxic waste involved in producing and disposing of photo chemicals. These are poisonous materials to which we as individuals see, smell and expose ourselves. Getting out of the darkroom is a huge benefit of digital. Photographers are exposed to far less toxins, but we really doubt that we are producing any less pollutants as consumers of digital photographic gear. Perhaps we just don't see the waste and pollution, so we think it's less.

This is Greener Photography's opinion and not a scientific comparison. We wish we could offer you a factual answer that compares the amount of waste from an energy intensive digital process and a chemical intensive film process. We hope as a greener photographic community we can find someone to work with us on providing us with hard facts on this issue. Until then, it is up to us as photographers to think about waste and pollution as a larger issue than just not having to buy film, pour chemicals, or print proofs. Clearly these are improvements, but as digital photographers our gear and production choices still have an environmental impact.

So what can you do?

• Buy used gear when ever possible
• Recycle your old computers
• Use rechargeable batteries and recycle these batteries when they no longer hold a charge
• Shut down your computer overnight
• Power your studio with renewable energy
• Provide digital, not paper, proofs
• Join Greener Photography's campaign to demand photographic gear manufacturing be done with renewable energy sources.

We're sure you can add to this list and we'd love to hear what you think!

Please contact us with your comments, questions and ideas, or post your comments below.