I probably have 2,000 strips of photo negatives. I don't want to keep them. I want to have them transferred on CD (expensive)before I toss them. It's easy to search a photo on CD than on negative (big headache). Is this a good idea?
2007-05-05 16:30:35 · 8 answers · asked by starwars♥princess6 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Visual Arts ➔ Photography
There is no evidence so far that CD's will last as long as negatives.
It is likely in the near future that image searching will be available so that you can outline a portion of a picture like a face or a rose or select an image pattern - like a strong diagonal - and it will find all the pictures in storage that match within certain tolerances, which you will be able to pick from examples. But those images will not be on CD's. They may be on DVD's or HDVD's but more likely they will be on cheap huge hard drives - 500GB or 1-5TB.
Look at negative scanners. Keep the negatives in a cool dry place. Start the process (whether you scan or not) of tagging each set of negatives (say with uniform dates) so that you can make a computer file with your description, you can search that in the mean time and find what you have.
2007-05-05 17:20:36 · answer #1 · answered by Mike1942f 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It is a good idea. But first, please realize that burning information to a CD is NOT archival. The CDs that are burned on PCs are still light sensitive and can potentially lose their integrity over time, unless they are kept in dark storage. The longevity is better depending on the quality of the CD. The reason why the music CDs that you buy in a store are considered archival is because they are 'stamped', not burned...the store-bought CDs (DVDs) will last virtually forever. Now, if the CD transfer service is stamping not burning your information, you may have a good degree of archival longevity. For most home users, the hard drive backup is your best economical archival solution for scanned images...even if the hard drive failed, the data can still be retrieved.
I think if these negatives have valuable images to you, you should try to keep them for now, or at least keep the 'key' negatives. By that, I mean you have images of friends, relatives, or important events that can potentially be enlarged. But if you are trying to save space, I can understand the need to digitize them. I did this recently for a bunch of slides.
2007-05-05 18:47:55 · answer #2 · answered by Ken F 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mike's right. Who says CD's will outlast negatives? Who says we will be able to READ CD's in 10-20 years? You can ALWAYS read a negative. Scanning negatives WILL introduce artifact, no matter how small - it will be there. Throwing out your negatives would be like a painter taking a photo of his work and destroying the original.
2007-05-05 17:44:03 · answer #3 · answered by Picture Taker 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
put them on a cd. if you don't, you'll end up paying more in the long run when more people use cds and the stores charge more to people who decided to keep their negatives...
2007-05-05 16:37:04 · answer #4 · answered by ?karissa? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why don't you have actual folders of you negatives. Sort them out according to date and keep them in a storage bin in your basement or attic space. Or, you can keep the ones you like and discard the rest. It's up to you!
2007-05-05 16:35:18 · answer #5 · answered by Kitty Lucy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Buy a neg scanner, a cheap one, 2000 strips should fit in a shoe box.. keep them !! KEEP THEM !!!
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND THE CHILDREN KEEP THEM !
2007-05-05 16:49:30 · answer #6 · answered by emerald man 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You should keep both. I just had my photos ruined, so yes keep them. You should keep them in different locations too. That way if something happens you will have a copy somewhere else--hurricane Katrina
2007-05-05 17:18:46 · answer #7 · answered by Ashley S 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
how many pics total do you have and how much are you willing to pay ?
email me if you want
2007-05-05 16:45:40 · answer #8 · answered by grumpy0282 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋