Yahoo! News - The Camera Is the Film-Rethinking Digital Photography:

It's a very valid point - with digital photography, you can't change film for different effects. Back in my old-school, all manual Pentax KX days, I'd pick the film of the day for the sort of photographs I was planning on taking. Not just the ISO, although that was a part of it, not just colour or black and white, (I did both, colour for most of my personal stuff, black and white for the student paper I was shooting for at the time), but the brand of film, the different ranges within the brands.

Each variation is subtle, but as I learned them, I learned to pick the film for the task, target the effect I was looking for, and if I could, pick the film that would help me get it. Of course, each film also had its own small idiosyncracies to deal with, and I had to keep that in mind when I was shooting it it.

Now, that's all gone. The 'Film' is the CCD/CMOS, and it's built into the camera, you can't change it.

I have no inclination to go back to the good old days, but I do remember them with a certain fondness. It's good to remember that, although the modern technology has myriad benefits, we sacrifice a few things to get there.

Perhaps, just perhaps, I should get the old KX out, pick up a roll or two of Ilford XP5, and get out there and remind myself how things used to be.

I wonder how much I still remember?