Mark, Doug et al. Whether you preserve images for posterity has similar "meticulous" challenges in both film and digital. People who "naturally" archived their negatives or slides with labels and in sleeves, perhaps even with a card file or computer database will most likely also conscientiously back up their RAW and JPEG files on a hard or tape drive, burn them on CD's and transfer everything to new media as they emerge. My grandfather's 6x4.5 Super Ikonta negatives could be a treasure trove of information about life in Germany before and during WWII had he archived and annotated them more carefully. Many have already been thrown away or they are in "anonymous" rolls rather than stored flat. I do think that for future historians/archaeologists finding a box of old negatives will be less challenging than finding old CD's or harddrives in order to get to the information. To put it differently: If I had to decide about what type of image media to put in the time capsule of a new building, for example, I would probably go with some carefully printed b&w archival prints and the associated negatives taken with my Rolleiflex IN ADDITION to a CD of digital color photographs. I don't loose any sleep over this question, however ;-) Jan ============= From: Mark Rabiner <mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> On 5/23/05 9:03 PM, "dnygr" <dnygr@xxxxxxxxxx> typed: > I don't think it is far-fetched to say that we may be the last generation >that > will have a box of photos to pass on to future generations.... > Doug Nygren > I feel the direct opposite of what you're saying here to be true My grandparents and parents threw away negatives because someone told them you can just as easily make a print from a print.... I think the images we pass down digitally now.... will not be lost or made too obsolete to open. They will be in 100 percent perfect condition in the year 2525. 100 percent. Sure a few people will screw up. But a photo legacy now is a whole new deal digitally. Digital has it's distractions but this aspect of it is a solid positive. Mark Rabiner --- Rollei List - Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx - Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org - Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org - Online, searchable archives are available at //www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list