Open Raw will put people like me out of...
Open Raw will put people like me out of business--and it should!
I am currently making a decent living transferring old analog and digital audio tapes to computer files. There are literally hundreds of audio formats and hundreds of video formats (I don't do video, but I know a bit about it).
It's expensive for me to obtain and maintain a wide variety of playback machines so that I can transfer these tapes. It has taken me a lifetime to acquire the knowledge that I have about tape formats and their application and reproduction.
Even cassette tapes require special, out-of-production equipment to obtain the highest quality reproduction. I was chosen to transfer Princess Diana interview tapes for an NBC telecast in 2004.
Is this what will happen with our original camera raw files? Perhaps it will be even worse without any documentation. I certainly hope not. I am personally committed to digital photography, but the correct long-term storage format remains a big question mark.
Thank you to those who understand this problem and took the personal time to put together this initiative.
Let's hope that sanity prevails and we can have a universal format that is kept alive for a century or more so that we won't have significant challenges opening 100-year-old digital image files in their highest quality.
It has been made clear by actions in the audio and video industry that archival challenges have gotten merely the slightest nod from the major equipment manufacturers. There is time for the photographic equipment manufacturers to learn from the mistakes in the audio and video fields.
The good news, at least, in digital photography is that the images are files and you only need specialized software to read them. I haunt eBay for obsolete machines and even try to position myself at the right dumpster at the right moment.
Cheers,
Richard
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http://www.richardhess.com/tape/
A great lesson is the domesday book which was the first...
A great lesson is the domesday book which was the first census made in England in 1086, still a readable book today.
The computerised Domesday Book made in 1986 is virtually unreadable now due to changes in technology which made the original systems obsolete.
A special project has been set up to try to rescue the data. And it is hard, think how much harder it would be if the data and images on the laserdiscs were deliberately encrypted, or the threat of breaking "anti-piracy" measures made it a possible crime to even *try* to decrypt the information.
http://www.si.umich.edu/CAMILEON/domesday/domesday.html
Mr. Kevin Kamp hit the nail on the head when he gave us the...
Mr. Kevin Kamp hit the nail on the head when he gave us the Jigsaw example. It's GREED that causes problems in every area of business in America today. Profits are more important to these companies than the consumers who are putting bread on their tables. Thanks for your time...
Encryption also adds to the cost of a product. It's...
Encryption also adds to the cost of a product.
It's recovered with the sale of SDKs, but, it seems like an ass-backwards way to make money. They could be expending the resources to make better products.
Hey Ricahrd, You rock. The open raw must be. See back in...
Hey Ricahrd,
You rock. The open raw must be.
See back in the day it was up to you and me.
To catalog, to print, to take
now it's in the hands of all things digital and I wonder where it is going?
I love digital I take 500+ shots a month and I want something to last at least like film something that may develop to the next level and the generations may build on!
Open raw and open your hearts!
Alan