A steady putter echoed in my quiet suburban community, followed by the distinct thump of the mailbox. I've been waiting for this day for weeks. Excited, I rushed out of the house to retrieve my package. The thirteen rolls of film I sent out to get developed earlier had finally returned. After hastily ripping the package on the dining table, I took out the sheets of film and a hard drive containing the digitized images. 

"What'd you get this time?" my mom asked as she saw my eyes light up. 

"It's the photos from my hiking trip! Except it's on film," I replied. 

She smiled. "We have digital cameras at home, honey. You can just use those next time." 

"No, but it's not the same, mom." 

My dad smirked after stuffing down the last bits of Mom's scrambled eggs. "Who still uses film cameras nowadays? Digital cameras are superior in every way." 

"No, but Dad, it's not the same. Every time I see these photos, it's like–––it's like opening a Christmas present," I rebutted. 

"Well, I think this is just a phase you'll grow out of eventually." 

A moment of silence filled the air. 

"You can't convert these pictures to digital, right?" Mom said, "Your grandma and I used to develop photos in the bathroom, but that was before everything was digitized." 

"No, here, lemme show you." 

I inserted the hard drive into my laptop and opened the images from the hiking trip. What appeared on the screen were mountains as tall as the sky and green grass untouched by humans. Together, the images projected an oasis of serenity and an array of colors unfamiliar to the suburban neighborhood we lived in. 

Dad's eyes stayed glued onto the screen while he sipped tea. 

"Look, they scan the film into digital images." 

"Wow," mom said. "These look great." 

This conversation exhibits the inherent discordance between our parent's generation and ours. Our parents, who lived when the internet hadn't yet been widely adopted, are always chasing the newest and most advanced technologies, like the highest-megapixel digital cameras. Of course, they think film cameras are inferior. In contrast, our generation, known as the first wave of "iPad kids," was handed all the technology we could ever dream of at birth. Sometimes, we just want to revert to a simpler technology, such as a film camera, to slow down time and capture every moment. This is impossible on a digital camera as you could just rapid-fire and take thirty photos per second without much thought. 

Like my dad, one may think that film photography is just a fad that will fade away in a couple of years. However, the steady revival of film photography through the recognition of its irreplicable process, the soaring prices of film cameras, and the introduction of new film stocks is a testament that new technology, such as a digital camera, is not always better. 

Part of what separates film from digital photography is its unreplaceable process, which allows artists to focus on the joy of producing the photo rather than the photo itself. Picture this: you're strolling down the streets of Boston with your film camera. You see a white building towering above the others, and it looks photogenic. You raise your film camera and crank the advance lever. Your camera is now ready, so you look through the viewfinder. Since the film camera is manual, you precisely manipulate the mechanical dials on your camera to get the right exposure. As your eyes align the building in frame, your finger hovers over the shutter release. "Click!" You take the photo. But you don't know whether it's good or not, because you can't see it. Either way, it doesn't matter for now. What matters is that you thoroughly appreciated the view and enjoyed the process of film photography.  

Once you finish the entire roll of film, you get it developed and scanned at the store. After waiting some time, you receive the film and a hard drive with all the photos. You open the hard drive to see the photos, and you feel like a kid during Christmas again. Most of the photos are better than you anticipated, being full of vibrant colors and grain that's unreplicable using anything else. But for those photos that don't turn out as good, they serve as a lesson to do better next time. This is the process of film photography. 

In contrast, if you're walking down the street with a digital camera. You'll simply put the building in frame and press the shutter release. The auto exposure and autofocus will do all the work for you. After capturing the photo, you'll immediately check if it has met your expectations. In most cases, you'll retake the photo a few more times, and you'll never learn to be a better photographer through your mistakes. 

Thus, digital photography emphasizes the product and depresses the appreciation for the process. It also makes artists lazy at times because it doesn't require much emotional contribution. The realization of this fact allows young people born in the digital age to gravitate toward film photography and spark its revival. And this is a testament that new is not always better. 

Besides the emotional aspect of shooting film, the soaring prices of used film cameras demonstrate their growing demand and people's willingness to look the other way regarding digital photography. For example, a prized film camera within the photography community is the Hasselblad Xpan, which shoots panoramic images. At its release in 1998, the Xpan was sold for $1,850. When adjusted for inflation, that's about $3,500 in today's money. However, given the growing demand for film cameras, the average price of a used Hasselblad Xpan today is between $4,500 and $6,500, depending on the condition, which is much more than the original price. This doesn't just apply to the Xpan; many other film cameras have gone up in price as well. 

Conversely, if one were to have purchased a digital camera around the same time, its value would've dropped significantly. This proves that film cameras are making a comeback, and the statement that "digital cameras are superior in every way" is simply untrue. 

After seeing the soaring prices, many companies released new film cameras in recent years. This may be a shocker, considering that film is an old technology and digital photography still dominates the camera market for casual users. However, this phenomenon is just the manufacturers' way of capitalizing on market trends, and it further proves that newer technologies, like digital cameras, are not always better. In 2022, Leica, a dominant camera company known for its high-quality products, re-released its legendary film camera, the Leica M6, 38 years after it came out in 1984. The price for the camera body alone was $5,295, which is not too far off from its digital counterpart, the Leica M10, which sold for $6,495 upon release. In fact, the M6 is even pricier than some of Leica's other high-end digital cameras, such as the SL2-S, which was $4,900 upon release. If you go to Leica's website today, you can see that the M6 is currently sold out, and the SL2-S is not. The fact of the matter is many avid photographers don't care about how old the technology is. They value the feeling that film photography brings them and are willing to look the other way when presented with a cheaper, more convenient digital option. Again, this is because the process of film photography is irreplicable with a digital camera. And this further proves that new isn't always better. 

Like the soaring prices of film cameras, film stocks have also increased in price. A few years ago, five rolls of Kodak's Portra 400, a popular choice within the community, cost about $45. Today, they will set you back around $75. The 67% increase in the price of Portra 400 doesn't signify the decreased production of film stocks but rather the increased demand that is hard to meet. This means that more and more people are shooting films than ever before. 

Additionally, various companies have also introduced new film stocks over the years, such as CineStill's 400D, released in the summer of 2022. If digital photography is superior to film in every way, companies like CineStill wouldn't see the need to innovate new film stocks. Therefore, the increase in film prices and the appetite for new film stocks within the photography community signals film photography's revival. 

Overall, the realization of film photography's irreplicable aesthetics, its soaring camera prices, and the introduction of new film stocks defined the revival of this favorite pastime that captured many generations of memories. And its revival, marked by the support of many young people and the trivialization from the older generations, inevitably proved the age-old saying that new isn't always better. So, the next time you pick up a digital camera, just remember that. At last, my parents finally started to understand why digital cameras are not superior in every way. If you haven't tried film photography before, give it a chance. Borrow a camera from a friend, load in some film, and happy shooting.