Digital BW, The Print

"lgrrrb@..." wrote:

> My safest backups are clean negatives stored in the bank safety deposit box. ...


That's the direction I'm leaning also -- letter size film images that can be sleeved and put into a standard bank box.

Carbon on cotton may be the most "archival," but the signal to noise ratio is not very good.  Viewing and extracting the best image involve different criteria.  I might be willing to give up some longevity if the image quality trade off is high enough. 

I'm now looking at the smoothest substrate and glossy carbon inksets.  I think the digital internegative group may have a lot to contribute here.  In my experience, Pictarico films may be the sharpest.

I'd like to learn more about the relative longevity of a film base. It has to be coated, but I'd think if they really do use a quality film base, there would be less internal stresses than the RC approach.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com