Rendering of missed focus

[Csacwp]

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Why does missed focus look better on film than digital? Is it just me, or does soft focus or missed focus look artistic on film and like an error on digital?

[Doug A]

I think it is because with film the grain is in focus even when the subject represented by the grain is out of focus.

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[a.noctilux]

Maybe resolutions differ.

 

I think "film has some thickness" and pixel is flat.

Film grain (not geometric) and pixel "grain" (square in most case).

Edited November 14, 2017 by a.noctilux

[SilentShutter]

Why does missed focus look better on film than digital? Is it just me, or does soft focus or missed focus look artistic on film and like an error on digital?

 

Unsharp pictures are not automatically art just because you made them on film.

Maybe film is more gentle than modern high resolution cameras.....

[Csacwp]

I’m not suggesting it’s automatically art (or art at all). When I apply digital grain with VSCO on a soft focus image, it still looks wrong compared to film. Not sure why.

[earleygallery]

I’m not suggesting it’s automatically art (or art at all). When I apply digital grain with VSCO on a soft focus image, it still looks wrong compared to film. Not sure why.

 

Because it's artificial grain and not grain of film that actually makes up the image.

 

However, I'm not sure I agree with your OP. I think you're confusing texture/grain of film images rather than the OOF rendering as such. Perhaps you can post some examples to show what you mean.

[Csacwp]

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Here’s a wetransfer link:

 

https://we.tl/s-i83DqHCQg2

 

I added VSCO grain to this which made it a little better, but I feel like it would have looked different on film. Terrible photo by the way, but it is a soft focus example. Maybe I’m crazy though...

[Csacwp]

Here is the kind of soft look that I want and haven’t been able to figure out how to mimic on digital:

 

https://we.tl/s-EfVXGxLNqf

[Michael Hiles]

At the risk of being a PITA - why try to mimic? Too much of that and you will need medication. 

 

Both film and digital have their qualities. If you like what film gives you... If you like what digital provides...

 

They are not the same. 

 

Reminds me of some antique comedian - What we need here is sincerity. If we can fake that, we've got it made.

Edited November 14, 2017 by Michael Hiles

[wlaidlaw]

I just wonder if the new Thambar lens, which deliberately aims for soft focus, will work anything like as well on digital as it did on film. Although to be fair I seem to remember my father giving up on it in fairly short order, it going into a drawer and staying there. The evidence of the sample shots, which presumably were on digital, tended to bear out - better on film than digital. 

 

Wilson