RE: new alt process--gelatin silver

To heck with the longevity of the media, an important thing is the
technology baseline required to read an image from media. With a print I
can use just my eyes. With a CD I need:

Electricity
Hardware (of the right type)
software device drivers (correct version)
proper/intact media

This digital infrastructure is changing faster than anything we have known.
My Thesis I did in 1989 is in large reels of Mag tape - I cannot read this
even now, only 16 years later. How many computer have 5-1/4 floppies??
That was the mainstay only 10 years ago. I would be very surprised to be
able to decipher a CD in 80 years. Tough to hold it up to the sun and read
all them nots and ones...

Richard Retzlaff
Radical Eye Photography Ltd.
(306) 652 8894 Saskatoon, SK
rick@radicaleye.ca www.radicaleye.ca

  -----Original Message-----
  From: Bob Maxey [mailto:written_by@msn.com]
  Sent: Friday, April 08, 2005 8:37 AM
  To: alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca
  Subject: Re: new alt process--gelatin silver

>>>National Gallery in Ottawa, Ont. (Canada) has gone away from CD-ROM for
  documenting their images towards going the film route- you know- THE WET
  Route. As they feel the CDs' are not resistant to viruses.
  So there, don' worry- the wet route will not disappear. It is up to most
of
  us to keep the rote going.>>>

  Without starting a film is/is not better than digital thread, allow me a
few moments to point a few things out. These are my opinions; they must be
opinions because no accurate information exists to contradict me (smiley)

  The problem with digital anything is it does not really exist. It is a
series of bits and bytes; ones and zeros, existing only as data that is
subject to problems; now, or down the road. Or possibly never, fat chance. I
am certain that more than a few people have lost years of work due to a
computer problem.

  Film and prints are different. They are solid. The exist. You can hold
them in your hands and you can damage them without too many problems. To a
point. Stains can be removed. Creases can exist, but the image largely
remains. If the prints are in a fire, you can often recover part of the
image (been there, done that). Melt a CD and that's that.

  You can store the images in terrible conditions and still recover the
image. Well, to a point. Magnets do not affect my slides and negatives. I
have plenty of Kodachrome slides processed by Technicolor. Many have turned
funky colors and faded. I can recover the original glory if I want to spend
time and effort. If a digital file fails, there is no guarantee I will be
able to recover the files.

  Digital has advantages. but in my view, one should never depend on digital
files for LT storage of our history.

  What concerns me is the use of truly cheap digital media. Many people use
those 5,000 for a buck forty nine CDs, and in my opinion, this is a big
mistake. We simply do not know what awaits those files years down the road.
I would be really concerned to learn that once transferred to CD, the
originals are destroyed. If a museum did do this, chances are the reason
would be so the files can be distributed on the net or on CD. If they put
convenience above common sense, I say, forget making it easy for the masses
to access and keep the original files in storage.

  I bought one of the very first CD players. The few CDs I bought with the
machine cannot be played. I do not know what happened, but the disks do show
damage. My 78 RPM records are perfect and playable to this day. Scratches
are there, but so is the content.

  I am glad The National Gallery is changing their wicked ways. I hope it is
a trend.

  Bob
  ...

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