Problem is Frank that with digital you do not know where it is going. Try sticking a 5 1/4" floppy into a pc now (or even a 3,5" for that matter). This used to be mainstream storage not more than 20years ago.
An IDE drive will probably obsolete in a couple of years (replaced by S-ATA), etc..
Standards come and go. JPG only exists since what? 1992? I remember before that everything was bitmap or GIF.
You have to continously update your files and storage media to be able to continue to read it. It is a very high risk you are taking when you store it and simply archive it. Even when you store the disks with readers who know whether it can be connected to future systems?
Archiving for a long period of time is still a large concern and needs constant attention, if you really want to make sure people are still able to make something out of the data 200 or more years from now (if they are interested in that).
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I think were somewhat missing the point on the useability of digital.
To begin with, once it goes onto the web it's probably there forever in some shape or form.
Maybe not high rez, print 40" tall resolution, but honestly it's there and a lot easier for everyone to view than sending out prints, or storing images in shoeboxes and sleeves.
Ever go back on your legacy film from 10 years ago. Even under the best of conditions it's a mess and cataloging was more than a one person job.
It's a different world and I think a much better one.
Today we are in production on an advertising project. By end of day our studio will produce for the client and ad agency a html document that lists talent pulls, schedules, layouts, lodging, maps, studios, transportation, contact numbers on a single url and this url will morphe as the project continues with casting galleries, shoot web galleries, later a deliverable page with high rez images, and even high def downloadable video.
All at the click of one button and one continunal url.
It's a lot of work to produce this but from a client standpoint it's a no brainer as all they have to do is bookmark one page and their project is ready to view, or review at a later date for years.
You know when I started digital I caught a lot of flack, especially from unknowing clients, labs and pre press houses that wanted to hold on to their territory, or had heard a lot of disinformation that "digital wasn't there". They were wrong, and from the first 1ds on, digital cameras matched continue to exceed what can be done with film.
I had no intention of "killing" film but I had every intention of moving my business forward and digital help with this.
There is no way in hell I could offer this type of useability to a client with film, at least not without dedicating weeks of scanning and re purposing of images.
I've read for the last 5 years about the beauty of film, how film has a feel, smell, texture and look that digital just can't emulate.
BS. If you have the knowledge or the checkbook to hire the knowledge you can emulate any look that film ever produced and invent a lot of looks that nobody ever thought about in the film days.
In fact you don't need a fat checkbook. A canon 5d, a high def camera and an Imac will allow you to do work for pennies that no one would have dreamed of doing 10 years ago for hundreds of thousands of dollars and regardless of the comments that talent is going to hell in a handbasket, I see many more beautiful photographs and moving images today than I ever saw in the pre digital world.
You can deliver stills and video and the click of a button and make your client's life 45% easier, your bottom line 50% better and the best part is you can do this world wide from hotel's, studios or the beach as long as you have some form of internet connection.
I have three studios and work the world and I find working in Paris, or LA or anywhere just a no brainer, because I am always connected to my servers and always connected to my world of commerce.
The downside is I spend a lot of time in front of a computer, the upside is I do this looking out a lot of diferent windows of the world while I continue to move my business forward.
I personally believe film is just a romantic notion of the past and if some people find it works for them, then all the better, but I don't see any reason to invest time and resources into backwards technology any more than I would invest in a brick and mortar music store.
I don't care how nc100 looks and really don't give a rat's a___ about a wooden deardorff, any more than I want to ride a horse to the studio.
There is nothing I miss about film other than there were more camera options.
JR