Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/05/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> The digital world is upon us, of course, but by coincidence I was > talking > today with a Leica dealer in Wisconsin who remarked that digital cd's > and > photographs both have a life span of just a few years while traditional > photos > have already have had a life span of well over a century. > years." When I talked with a Wisconsin dealer on Thursday he > mentioned something > like eight or 10 years vs over a hundred years so far for > traditional photos. who still comes up with this bunkum? Someone is BSing you and really doesn't know what they are talking about. The answer is that it depends - but digital prints (and CD's) in the right conditions will last much much longer than that - probably at least 100 years (and digital files indefinitely if you undertake the proper migration for them). By contrast traditional colour prints, transparencies and even black and white prints will on last a few years in the wrong conditions (as will digital images). Sounds like the Leica dealer was more of a Radio Shack salesman and spinning what few facts he had to make sure he sells his film equipment! Tim PS - "migration" isn't just required for digital. Sound archives have to migrate their magnetic tape. Joel Sternfeld - one of our leading photographers - has nearly always worked on 8x10 colour negative. He recently digitised the negs of all his famous images in order to preserve them, because of the onset of deterioration of the e originals. So like I said - your salesman seems to have taken you for a "PT Barnum"