Film vs Digital 101

[Chato]

He, heh, he he...

I never look at the histogram, indeed, I never look at the picture in the display. I know how the image looks...

Dave

[agc828]

Thanks Brian.

I guess over time it's hard to keep processed film in a "stable environment". At some point we'll probably get careless or maybe be in a situation beyond our control. But, if we are able to keep the processed film in a cool place with good RH levels, they should be good for our life times and beyond.

Ok. Onto other topics.

[peripatetic]

The archival qualities of processed film only apply when it is stored in the dark of course (which is the usual situation). If stored in the light it deteriorates quite quickly. In sunlight it often only lasts a few hours until ruined.

Digital of course is easily deleted or lost, but can be copied an infinite number of times, so with care it can theoretically last forever.

[Bynx]

Originally Posted by agc828

Does any one know then why VHS tape will fade over time. Whether played a lot or just due to time? Is the tape not film? Curious.

VHS tape is hardly like photographic film. Its magnetic and subject to all the problems that are inherent to magnetic things. They fade over time, are corrupted by large metal objects coming in contact for a period of time, as well as the very fact you have magnetic surfaces sandwiched between magnetic surfaces in the tape reel itself.
As for present day digital data lasting 50 years. Thats pretty funny considering how fast devices change with little concern for the consumer. What kind of data reading devices will we have in 20 years let alone 50 that will still read CDs and DVDs. (CDs and DVDs???? Oh ya those things my grandfather used)

[peripatetic]

Digital media have a limited shelf life of course, but the data can be copied from one to another.

I work daily with some data and files that are over 30 years old. They have survived storage on probably 8-9 different forms of storage over the years and backed up thousands of times.

Digital photos are just data. There is no obvious reason why they will not be available for use by our great-great-great-great grandchildren if anyone cares enough to preserve them.

[Chato]

Originally Posted by peripatetic

Digital media have a limited shelf life of course, but the data can be copied from one to another.

I work daily with some data and files that are over 30 years old. They have survived storage on probably 8-9 different forms of storage over the years and backed up thousands of times.

Digital photos are just data. There is no obvious reason why they will not be available for use by our great-great-great-great grandchildren if anyone cares enough to preserve them.

Right. Good point!

"...if anyone cares enough to preserve them."

If you don't care, then whether it's film of digital, it's going down the tubes. Whereas if you DO care, digitial is much easier to preserve, since there is no loss, no matter how often you switch media.

Dave

[peripatetic]

And of course the FSA recently embarked upon a program to copy and digitize all the photos from their great project. They realized that even with archival properties of 100+ years, you are better off working with the negatives before they start to show noticeable degradation.

http://rs6.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fahome.html

As anyone who works in the film industry can tell you, once you get 3-4 generations down the chain in

neg->inter-pos->inter-neg->print

you have lost substantial quality - in fact my wife was telling me last night how they are now getting better quality prints by going

neg->4K scan->print

As well as making it much easier to do CGI work of course.