[Leica] Digital image longevity

[Engl6914 at cableone.net (Lee England)]

This is just a question, not an argument since I'm not sure I'm one way or
the other here.  But is the use of RA-4 paper and archival inks, mentioned
by Doug, standard processing by, say, Walgreens?  The reason I ask:  my
mother hauled out a shoe box a few months ago showing me photographs taken
of her father and his unit of the U.S. Cavalry in south Texas in 1917 on
maneuvers.  The land surrounding is flat and desolate, and I doubt this film
got any more than the usual processing used by the proletariat at the time.
Not a town or a Walgreens or even a dwelling in sight.  These photos were
treasures, and I decided at that point to stick to film because I want my
great great great grandchildren to see what great great great grandpappy
saw.
    Again, I'm not arguing, just asking.  To achieve the longevity Doug
describes, would one be able to get that from Walgreens, or would he need to
get a special printer with special inks and papers?  If longevity requires
special treatment, then I don't think those photos from the 1st World War,
had they been shot digitally, would've survived.  And perhaps they might not
have been printed--just emailed.  If that kind of archival processing is
standard then I might be more inclined toward switching to digital, and more
of the digital prints will survive.

Lee England
Natchez, Mississippi




> Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 10:06:34 -0700 (GMT-07:00)
> From: Douglas Herr <telyt@earthlink.net>
> Subject: Re: [Leica] PAW from the Analog Trashheap
> To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org>
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> <13706905.1155575194102.JavaMail.root@elwamui-norfolk.atl.sa.earthlink.net>
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> 
> Phil Swango wrote:
> 
>> Jim Shulman wrote:
>>> My biggest complaint about digital imaging is that we will likely lose 
>>> the
>>> "shoebox" to the ages--no tangible receptacle, like an old shoebox, for
>>> prints or negatives.  What's the likelihood that ephemeral digital images
>>> will survive?  Not bloody likely, unless you're a computer expert like
>> Brian
>>> and copy all your work regularly.
>> 
>> You are so right.  Last week someone in my family drug out a box of oldies
>> and we passed them around over dinner.  What a great experience for my
>> daughter and the rest of us.  How many stories came to mind.  How many
>> memories awakened.  Copying all your files to storage won't even begin to
>> fill the role of a few drugstore snaps passed around the table.  Pictures
>> you can hold in your hand and whose physical condition bears witness to 
>> the
>> passing of time.
> 
> A dissenting viewpoint - we don't pass negatives around, and many people 
> are
> as careless with film negative storage as with digital.  As long as prints 
> are
> made from digital negatives with reasonably good technology, i.e., RA-4
> paper/chem, or archival inks, they'll hold up in a shoebox just as well as
> prints from film negatives