31 May
2000
31 May
'00
5:58 p.m.
On May 31, 13:42, Sellam Ismail wrote:
On Wed, 31 May 2000 CLASSICCMP(a)trailing-edge.com
wrote:
> >Yes, but how long can we expect the film to last?
>
> Decades, if processed sloppily, or centuries, if processed archivally.
>
> The availability and maintainability of the readout systems becomes,
IMHO,
> the deciding factor. If the data is stored as
human-readable text this
> isn't so much a problem, until languages change or are forgotten at
least.
Sounds great, but how readily available is the process of film archiving
to hobbyists, how easy is it to master, and how much does it cost?
Unless the answers, in order, are extremely, extremely, very little, then
keeping the archive on mirrored servers is still the best solution we
currently have.
Well, for monochrome film, which is essentially what Tim was talking about,
the answers *are* "extremely, extremely, very little". What it amounts to
is using reasonably pure water for the three[1] main processing solutions,
making sure the fixing process is properly completed (and uses proper
fixer, not a "stabiliser"), and that the film is finally washed thoroughly.
[1] Assuming an ordinary silver-based emulsion, developer, stop-bath, and
fixer; gold and platinum emulsions also exist, and there are common simple
techniques to replace the developed silver image with a dye (typically less
robust than the silver, though) or to make it combine with something else.
Usually that's done to alter the colour or the contrast though, and isn't
applicable to "line" film.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Dept. of Computer Science
University of York