Frank makes an excellent point regarding the lifetime of magnetic and
optical media. In addition, the devices required to read and write the
media change with extreme swiftness. Seen any 8 inch floppy disks lately?
How about a 5.25 inch? Even 3.5 inch disks are on the way out in favor of
CD's. Unless one is committed to changing key hardware and software
components frequently (every 4-7 years) their precious images will be lost
to the capturing technology. A very expensive proposition.
No, chemical based imaging will be around for a very long time. The market
will certainly continue to fragment into smaller and smaller pieces but it
will be used by vastly increasing numbers of people. We will have choices
never dreamed of 10 years from now. But choices they will be - as long as
we persist in choosing 35mm film-based imaging technology we will have tools
to apply our art and craft.
John P
>And another important thing: lifetime.
>How will different media deteriorate with time?
>
>All my estimates are -very- rough.
>Paper, also paper pictures, will live for a century, maybe two, at
>least
>Color and b/w negatives will have roughly the same lifetime, maybe
>longer.
>Magnetic media (floppies, hard diks, tapes) don't survive more than
>5-10 years at maximum. After that (or much better before that) you
>will have to rewrite them, maybe to new media. And again. And again.
>Maybe the CD will behave better, but that is still uncertain. In
>particular the oxidation process of the aluminium layer in the CD is a
>very uncertain factor here.
>Anyway, this is another reason why IMHO film will remain for a long
>time yet.
>
>Frank van Lindert
>Utrecht - NL
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