Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Hans Van 
Rafelghem <hvr@a...> wrote:
> 
> >  Well.... not so ! The big problem with digital for me is 
storage. I know I will still have my neg in twenty years time so I am 
not really prepared to jump in the band wagon.
> >
> >  Michel
> >  
> >
> But you have only one negative, I have 3 to 4 copies of each RAW 
file - 
> and in different locations. So if my house burns down I will still 
have 
> all my digital images but lose my negatives.
> -- 
> 
> Hans Van Rafelghem
> http://www.vanrafelghem.com

The other day ATONIS send a message to visit his site where he made 
an interview. The following is an extract from it :

".....BH: Can you reflect a bit on the future of black-and-white 
photography and printing, given the massive technological changes 
taking place in the field? 
AR: Unfortunately, the many new ways to print black-and-white are not 
necessarily keeping makers of traditional materials in business. 
Ilford and Kodak are in trouble in those areas. Black-and-white paper 
and chemicals will start to go as manufacturers scale down. For me 
personally, as a big fan of shooting black-and-white film, I don't 
see that as a welcome change. I know not everyone will agree but I 
prefer a silver negative to digital capture. I like grain rather than 
digital noise and enjoy the extreme exposure latitude of film. 

Ultimately, when all the CDs, DVDs and SD cards have long bit the 
dust, a well processed and stored silver neg will still be there for 
a future generation to "read". And considering the high cost of 
constantly replacing digital technologies, I doubt that in the long 
run digital capture is that much cheaper than bw film. ...."

I can agree more on that !

Michel