Film is expensive, inconvenient, and gives you zero instant feedback. A single shot on medium or large format can run you the equivalent of a few dollars once you factor in the film stock, processing, and scanning. Those aren't reasons to dismiss it entirely, though.
Coming to you from Jason Friend Photography, this candid, field-based video makes a case that the biggest drawbacks of shooting film in 2026 are, in many cases, the same reasons to pick it up. Friend walks through five arguments against film and five arguments for it, and the twist is that every point on the list does double duty. Take cost: shooting on something like Kodak Ektar 100 forces you to slow down and actually think before you press the shutter. Friend spends over an hour at Shaftoe Crags in Northumberland looking for a single composition worth taking. That kind of deliberate approach is hard to manufacture on digital when pressing the shutter costs you nothing.
The lack of instant feedback is another double-edged point. Friend won't know whether he nailed the exposure on a shot until weeks later, possibly months, depending on when he finishes the roll. No histogram check, no chimping, no safety net. That sounds frustrating, and it is. But Friend argues it pushes you to actually trust your metering, whether that's the in-camera meter or a dedicated light meter app, and commit to the shot with confidence rather than lean on instant correction. Shooting on an ISO 100 film stock also means committing to a tripod in lower light conditions and accepting the look that stock gives you across the entire roll.
The waiting game is real. Friend is honest about the fact that by the time he gets a roll back, he sometimes barely remembers what's on it. But that gap between pressing the shutter and seeing the result creates something digital rarely does: the chance to relive the experience all over again when the scans finally land. There's no equivalent of that with digital, where the image exists on your screen within seconds and the moment is already behind you. On the convenience argument, Friend's take is straightforward: we live in a culture that optimizes for speed and ease, and shooting film sits completely outside that. That friction isn't a bug.
Friend also addresses the cost barrier more practically toward the end of the video, breaking down what a realistic entry point actually looks like for a 35mm setup with a lens included, which is worth hearing if you've always assumed film was out of reach. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Friend.
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