Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/11/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Eric, There was an article in Scientific American a couple of years back that addressed the archival issues surrounding digital images. Very fascinating stuff. One premise of the article was that as technology changes it isn't always backward compatible. Things change rapidly and before you know it you can't bring up that old file anymore without some elaborate conversion process (not always elaborate, but I've seen it happen). I've worked in IT for over 2 decades and the article was really on target, IMHO. The SA article is over 2 years old, but it wasn't technology specific. And I think the principles will always ring true. While I agree that film won't last forever, my hunch is normally processed b/w film will last a lot longer than a digital image. Dave At 06:56 PM 11/7/2001 -0600, you wrote: >Feliciano: > > >Then there's the example of the > >Lewinski shot, that probaly would have been erased, before it ever got > >backed up. It's already harder to get good footage from the Gulf War > >than from WWII or even WWI, because lot's of it was shot on Hi8 and the > >tapes have begun to flake. Properly stored film will last for hundreds > >of years, until it needs to be backed up. > >Good thing that Robert Cappa shot his Omaha Beach images on film so that >future generations wouldn't miss out on any of his shots! :) > >If the Lewinsky shot were properly archived, it would still exist even if it >had been digital. If the film were tossed into the trash, would you say >that's a reason against film? Sloppy practices shouldn't count for or >against a specific process. > >Properly washing and storing film so that it will last for hundreds of years >isn't a trivial task. If you properly archive and maintain digital files, >they'll last forever, too. Won't even lose anything when you make copies of >the original so you can store them in multiple locations. > > >Eric >-- >To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html