How does a film camera capture an image?

How does a film camera capture an image?

Mark Comon (Vice President, Paul's Photo, Torrance, CA) gives expert video advice on: What's the difference between a film camera and a digital camera?; Why are some people still buying film cameras? and more...

A film camera captures the image on a piece of celluloid film. The film is sensitive to light. The light strikes the film, changes the chemistry of the film itself, and that's then saved. It's called a latent image. It's an image that's there, but not seen yet. Then, you take that film into the dark room under total darkness and process it with chemicals to bring out the image, and then preserve the film, so you have the picture. That's how film works. You have the film which was developed, that's then taken to a machine where light is shined through that negative or transparency, projected onto a piece of paper which is then, again, exposed to chemicals and which then produces a print. You have a negative or transparency made in the camera that's then taken to a machine; an enlarging machine, or a processing lab, and printed and made into a photograph.