Film vs. Digital - a comparison

Photovision · Nov 21, 2005

the film vs. digital quality debate will work itself out over time. At some point,digital technology will reach the level where than can be no doubt that it is equal or superior to film. I love the instant gratification of digital but I am mostly still using film. The reason is file storage (mostly preservation of the data). I have cds that are losing info after 4 years. They have been stored away, and not near anything magnetic etc. Fortunately they are not too important. After reading forums about storage cds,dvds,hard drives etc., there seems to be too much open to question about what works well now and what will be in use in the future. I can deal with a image quality debate no problem.....I just don't want to lose my photos to some deficient piece of computer technology. For now, my photos will be in a handy shoebox.

jstuedle · Nov 22, 2005

I just don't want to lose my photos to some deficient piece of computer technology. For now, my photos will be in a handy shoebox.

This has been an ongoing problem with computer technology since we first saw computers in homes and small offices. You make a very valid point. We have seen the "State of the Art" in personal computer data storage run from cassette tape, through seven or more formats of floppy disks, Zip, Jazz, Click and who knows what all disks, CD, DVD, Hard Disks and a few I probably missed. Each "standard" is quickly outgrown and replaced with another bigger, badder, better standard. For the time being I have all my data stored in three formats and attempt to keep them in current state of the art media. I feel relatively comfortable with my data at this time, but who knows what the future brings. I think we are in about the same phase in development with our digital data as Kodak was with color prints about 1945. It has been said that 99% of all the color prints made in that era have faded so badly that they are almost unrecognizable. With the print, when it fades we still have something of an image. When digital drops a bit due to poor data integrity, the whole file can be lost. More work still needs to be done. Today, the best method of ensuring the long term data integrity of your photograph is still the hard copy print.

jadin · Nov 22, 2005

jstuedle said:
Today, the best method of ensuring the long term data integrity of your photograph is still the hard copy print.

I disagree. Using the internet as archival means is superior. (depending on the company you choose.) A good company will give you 10GB for 5-10 dollars a month, will have redundant (even double redundant) storage, and redundant internet connections (not as important for long-term).

I was able to fit all of my originals in that space. Although I don't shoot even a fraction of what I used to, so that's not as impressive. But that does include photos I'm never ever going to use (but can't bring myself to delete just yet).

My absolute keepers alone are probably only about 1GB. So if you do it right you can get a lot of use out of it.

The best part is (for me anyway) that it's included with my website hosting, so it's kind of a two-birds one stone situation.