Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/07/04
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 11:27 AM 7/4/96 -0600, you wrote: >i wish to warn all of those cheering various forms of the E-6 color >process, that the transparencies do not last. thirty years is about >it. > >my agfachromes from the late 40s and early 50s are gone. mt >ektachromes from the late 50s through about '65 are clearly >fading. All films were very poor back in the 50s and 60s except Kodachrome. (I did a reserach paper on the technology of photojournalism when I was in grad school). I believe someone back then said jokingly you could watch Anscochrome fade as you looked at it. Today's modern E-6 films are much more archival than the past. The current estimates I've seen are that they will last at least 50 years with the proper care with no fading, and that it will be much longer before they start to fade significantly. So who among us really cares if you can make prints from your slides 50+ years from now. It's not that big a deal. And for those truly worth preserving, some day there will probably be a truly archival digital medium to store pictures with. Right now CDs are not the answer. They dont' even last 20 years from what I've heard. So shoot whatever turns your crank. And remember, Kodachome stores better than E-6, but E-6 lasts much better in constant projection than Kodachrome. They stand up to the light much better. So decide what you want to do, and pick your film accordingly. ========================== Eric Welch Grants Pass Daily Courier