Futuro da fotografia Digital

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Will Digital Images Last?
By Lance Ulanoff
May 12, 2004


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?

Traditional photos can last decades (easily). I have many pictures from the '60s and '70s and a handful going back to the '20s, '30s and '40s. CDs with data should last decades—unless they get a deep scratch or two. Then they're useless.

Inkjet photos are vibrant and beautiful and should also last for decades, but only if you use the best paper and ink and only if you keep them well protected. That's little different from regular 35mm prints. The problem is that consumer inkjet photo prints have only been around 15 years or so. So while inkjet photos are actually rated to last longer than traditional prints (in controlled test environments), who really knows how long they will last? The only true test is time.

Digital video tape should last for a long time, but is vulnerable to temperature and water damage, and magnets can erase entire tapes. It's also just as likely to degrade over time as standard videotape. One bulwark against this inevitable decay is to archive digital video to DVD. DVDs are rated to last as long as CDs—100 years when kept at room temperature. Home-brewed DVD rewritables may have far shorter lifespans, but they're still supposed to last for decades. If you buy cheap DVD media, though, you'll be lucky if they last a few months.

My traditional photographs (of which I have thousands), travel in a few boxes when I move, and I have no worries about them suddenly becoming corrupt. I guess they could get damaged in a flood or fire, but that's a catastrophe which I think I can avoid. In order to preserve my digital images, I have to take some sort of action, moving them from PC to PC and storage medium to storage medium. I guess I could pay one of the many photo services $.29 per image to print my digital photos out just like my old 35mm prints. Then I'll be guaranteed good image quality and long-lasting prints.

But here's something else I've learned: The reason we made so many 35mm prints was because it was the only way we could experience all the images we had shot on unprocessed film. With digital images, that's no longer necessary. We get to experience them immediately, and then perhaps lose that burning desire to print them.

I recently suggested to an executive from Webshots, an online photo community site, that the company should start offering physical prints as a way of creating "secure" backup of photos. Imagine it. They automatically print all your digital photos (at least the ones you upload to their site) for a small yearly fee and store the prints in a warehouse somewhere. You can always order prints from your digital collection, and if your PC dies, you have no backup, your Webshots account lapses, or all of the company's servers die, your backup photos will still be available from the warehouse. I'd call it photo insurance. I'm sure others would call it the ultimate Luddite measure. Maybe so. I just think we're entering uncharted territory here. Traditional photos have a 150-year history. Digital photos have a decade. Which would you trust with your memories?