Hi Kent,

Did commercial work half a lifetime ago, but am strictly a hobbyist today. Most pros are all digital now because the clients demand it. Fine art and portrait work is still often done on film when there's less deadline pressure. But the bleeding away of film, paper and chemical production and the loss of labs and custom print services are eliminating that path.

Film and digital will always look different; to some, film will always look better. And a lot of film cameras and lenses will never be replicated, so there are great cameras that are still lovely to shoot with, so long as we can still buy and develop film (and get the batteries).

I wouldn't suggest going film to anybody starting out, unless they were interested in exploring the darkroom side of the photographic experience. Fiddling with printer color profiles just isn't the equivalent of crafting the perfect black and white print.

Cheers,