Digital BW, The Print

I am sorry but this is simply stupid.  The individual who said he used DVDs
for backup did not suggest that once the images were on the DVD that was the
end of it.  It is a form of data storage used today and wisely used to
backup and store data.  That doesn't mean that when a new (and probably
better) storage medium becomes available that the data (original or backup)
can't be moved to the new storage medium.  If you don't do so well then it
is simply your own fault but nothing in the earlier posts suggested that
this wouldn't be done.  I would go so far as to say that the world today is
going through a major digitisation process of historical and current data in
all forms of business.  This is because a new medium - digital - now exists
that is more mutable, easily copied for backup and more efficiently stored.
I would worry if I had a pile of negs in the drawer if I had NOT digitised
them.  The risk is you will at some point no longer be able to scan them to
your satisfaction because nobody scans any negs anymore (because film is no
longer made) and companies have stopped making film scanners.  If you have
great negs in the closet, get them scanned, back up the data with sensible
precaution measures and rest easy that you (with appropriate common sense
going forward) have those images for as long as you want them.


> From: Peter Nelson <pnweb@...>
> Reply-To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 22:26:40 -0000
> To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [Digital BW] Re: how many REALLY do store digital copies elsewhere
> 
> 
> 
> --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Christer
> Rosewelll <christerart@m...> wrote:
>>  you gotta leave something behind for those who's
>> supposed to dissect you and your work when you're
>> not around anymore - if nothing else - this will
>> make it a lot easier for 'em...=*^)
> 
> WRONGO!
> 
> It will make it a lot HARDER for 'em!
> 
> Digital technology changes so fast that even 15 years from now there
> will be no easy way to read those DVD's.
> 
> Assuming that the shelf life of the media itself isn't an issue, in
> 15 or 20 years we'll be - what - maybe 3 generations of storage
> technology past DVD's.    Traditionally PC's overlap one generation
> prior to what's current.   When 3.5" floppies came out most PC's also
> came with 5.25" floppies, too.   When CD's came out they still
> shipped with 3.5" floppies but 5.25's were gone.  Now that DVD's are
> standard, 3.5" floppies are going away (NONE of my last 3 computers
> came with one) but PC's can still read CD's.
> 
> So say XYZ replaces DVD in 5 years - DVD's will still be around.
> But 5 years later, when ABC replaces XYZ, DVD's will go and computers
> will still have old XYZ drives.
> 
> And nevermind the drives - you would also need DRIVERS, and something
> that can read the file formats, etc!!    How many PC's today have
> drivers and display software for hardware and image formats that were
> in use 20 years ago?
> 
> So your plan forces your heirs and descendants to keep copying your
> images to whatever is current every few years!   That's a lotta
> trouble for them to go through!   What makes you think they'll be
> willing to do that?
> 
> Now *I*, on the other hand, have Kodachrome slides and BW negatives
> my father took over 60 years ago!!    They have been sitting around
> in attics and drawers all this time and NOBODY had to do ANYTHING to
> update them.   Yet I can pop them into my Nikon Coolscan and read
> them like they were taken yesterday.
> 
> If you want archival images for your descendents, you need to pick a
> storage medium that does not force them to do constant maintenance.
> I suggest BW silver-emulsion film.   Even if there are no scanners,
> because no ones uses film, in the future, there will still be
> cameras.   And those cameras will be FAR higher-res and wider dynamic
> range than today.   So your descendants can just "scan" the old film
> by taking a picture of it, like people do today to copy slides with
> their cameras.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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