At 03:01 10/24/02, C.H. Ling wrote:
If you have color negative, you need to scan and save them. I have
some 25 years old negative, they almost lost all their color. Some
poor negatives has serious color shift in just ten years. I'm starting
to scan all my old negatives with the Nikon 4000ED, only the ROC can
save them, even with 10 years experience in Photoshop I can't do
anything come close the the ROC at least not as fast :-)
[snip]
My color negatives, and about half the color prints of them from about
25-30 years ago have suffered the very serious color shift you
mentioned. Some of this stuff is Agfa materials. My wife has color
negatives about 35 years old (mid/late 1960's) that are much worse. Her
mother is heartbroken by inability to get usable reprints of family
photographs shot on color negative from the late 1950's through the early
1970's. I am ever so thankful my father shot very nearly everything from
1953 through the mid-1970's with Kodachrome, and before that with
Verichrome Pan. His archive looks like the day it came back from
developing and will (if it's stored properly) for at least several more
generations.
Color print materials from Kodak and Fuji are much better today than they
were then with longer archival life. However, most color negative film
isn't. It's still the least archival material; good for about two
decades. This includes the C-41 panchromatic B&W films (e.g. T400CN and
XP-2). There are a few exceptions. Kodak's VPS was one of them; estimated
as good to about eight decades if stored reasonably well. Not certain
where Portra, its replacement, falls with longevity.
John, I know most of your work is in Kodakchrome, you are more lucky
than me, there is no more Kodakchrome supply here in Hong Kong. I can
only use Ektachrome or Fujichorme, they may not look as great after 20
years.
The original Ektachrome has (or had) terrible archival life. Current E-6
films from Kodak and Fuji are much, much better. At about half to
two-thirds that of Kodachrome, they still may not be as archival, but they
are significantly much longer than any C-41 materials currently made
(including panchromatic B&W).
BTW, I'm very finicky about print materials for display prints. B&W is
silver gelatin on fiber (no RC). Color negative is on Fuji Crystal Archive
or Kodak Color Metallic; mostly the latter now. Chromes are direct printed
on Ilfochrome, with a few non-critical, smaller items direct printed to Fuji R.
-- John
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