Friday, May 14, 2004
Lance Wonders About Digital Images Lasting
Posted by Jason Dunn in "ARTICLE" @ 01:00 PM
"I'm a born worrier. Lately I've been wondering if we're about to turn a digital corner from which there is no return. We're in the process of raising the first generation of children who will not be captured on film. There'll be tons of digital photographs and hours of digital video—ones and zeros recounting their first smiles, steps, days of kindergarten, proms, and more, but precious few film-based photos.
Sure, there'll be inkjet photos, CDs full of stored digital data, and DVDs full of movies. And there'll be duplicates of all of these and multiple copies of inkjet photos stored in numerous places. However, there will not be any shoeboxes of old silver-halide photos. I should be happy. I'm a proponent of digital photography and digital video. I use it and write about it. But I'm also plagued by little panic attacks. I haven't taken a 35mm photo of my kids in months. What if my computer hard drive dies? I have all my photos backed up on a CD, but what if I lose that or it somehow becomes corrupted?"
Lance, buddy...GET A GRIP! <smack> :roll: He believes that his digital photos are vulnerable to loss, yet somehow the shoebox in his closest is not vulnerable to fire or floods because he can "avoid those". I think he should quite writing for PC Magazine and go work for the local fire department if he has paranormal skills that can detect fires! :lol: He has some good points about not trusting optical media for longer than a few years, but what he forgets is that the most amazing thing about digital photos is the ability to have multiple backups. Sure, keep the originals on your hard drive. Then burn a DVD. Then get an external hard drive and keep a copy there. Then FTP then to a buddy's computer. Try doing that with physical prints. :wink:
Sure, there'll be inkjet photos, CDs full of stored digital data, and DVDs full of movies. And there'll be duplicates of all of these and multiple copies of inkjet photos stored in numerous places. However, there will not be any shoeboxes of old silver-halide photos. I should be happy. I'm a proponent of digital photography and digital video. I use it and write about it. But I'm also plagued by little panic attacks. I haven't taken a 35mm photo of my kids in months. What if my computer hard drive dies? I have all my photos backed up on a CD, but what if I lose that or it somehow becomes corrupted?"
Lance, buddy...GET A GRIP! <smack> :roll: He believes that his digital photos are vulnerable to loss, yet somehow the shoebox in his closest is not vulnerable to fire or floods because he can "avoid those". I think he should quite writing for PC Magazine and go work for the local fire department if he has paranormal skills that can detect fires! :lol: He has some good points about not trusting optical media for longer than a few years, but what he forgets is that the most amazing thing about digital photos is the ability to have multiple backups. Sure, keep the originals on your hard drive. Then burn a DVD. Then get an external hard drive and keep a copy there. Then FTP then to a buddy's computer. Try doing that with physical prints. :wink:
