Bruce: I am not talking about those who print their images. I think alot of people (like my mum) will keep all their images on CD and not bother to print (it's expensive or a big hassle) easier to email or take the laptop to friends houses. Her album *is* the CD/DVD or whatever. It's not backup, it's the primary output!
-----Original Message----- From: Bruce Dayton [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2004 12:40 PM To: Mick Maguire Subject: Re: 35 vs digi - Some points to ponder. (kind of OT now) Mick, Herein lies the issue: We all keep talking about Joe Public (Sixpack) and his issues with archiving. The reality is that whether he is shooting film or digital, he isn't archiving in any manner that will provide longevity. With film, if he isn't throwing his negs away, he is just throwing them in a drawer or box. Not caring about heat or humidity or having them processed in good chemicals. Nope, cheapest, quickest way possible. Then forget about it. Probably can't even find them, especially a specific frame if the need ever arises. Not to mention how much he damages them just looking at them (handling them with bare hands, scratching them by sliding them across the table, etc). With digital, if he is having a cd made, more than likely it will be thrown into the same drawer or box, with equal care about environmental issues. Time will do it's work on the cd's as you suggest. In the end, not much archiving really happened. He might get lucky and be able to use his pictures down the road, but don't count on it. The reality is that archiving takes some thought, planning and caring whether you are shooting film or digital. Those that really care about the longevity of their photos will learn proper methods and the rest will reap what they sow. For those on this list, I suspect that by and large archives are reasonable no matter medium they are using. I can say that I have some negatives my wife shot on cheap film that are fading badly and some of my slides shot back in the 70's and 80's are starting to show some problems. My only recourse with those is to scan them and fix and preserve them digitally. -- Best regards, Bruce
