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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Jul 14, 2013 - 03:15pm PT
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What happens if technology bites the dust one day and there is no way to look at digital formats?
You've got a valid concern, but I don't think there's much risk with digital photos because they're so portable. Think about what it takes to copy digitial photos - a click or two.
I have a bunch of VHS tape material that I converted to digital video (DV) format with a lot of work. Now I have a bunch of stuff trapped on DV tapes - and it's all still inaccessible. Only recently have desktop computers developed enough memory to start storing hours and hours of digital video on hard drives. But now I gotta get a DV player to transfer all that video to my hard drive if I ever want to see it again.
Once digital material it's on hard drive, it should be fairly easy to transfer to any other format regardless of the changes in technology.
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goatboy smellz
climber
Nederland-GulfBreeze
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Jul 14, 2013 - 03:31pm PT
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FWIW, keep them around, your daughter may not care but maybe they will inspire her kids.
I know I treasure seeing my great grandfather on horseback in Chicago and the other minding his Armenian marketplace.
I don't look a my digital pictures as much because they are digital.
The hard copies passed down are up on the walls and seen everyday.
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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Jul 14, 2013 - 04:34pm PT
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Yeah. Don't toss them. Scanners are getting better all of the time. Also, if you want to publish a pic, it is much better to keep the slide. This slide has been in the arms of Patagonia, but has been printed so many times that it nigh paid for the trip.
Does anyone else here have a shot in "Unexpected"? It is a coffee table book with the best Patagonia catalog shots from the years.
Grossman is in it, along with a bunch of other climbers. This pic has a full page and has been in about 5 mag articles:
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goatboy smellz
climber
Nederland-GulfBreeze
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Jul 14, 2013 - 04:51pm PT
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If you have ever had to bury a friend or relative and go through their house, it's mostly a bunch a stuff, some of it sentimental most of it is not, except the photos. The photos help those greiving and left behind.
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stunewberry
Trad climber
Spokane, WA
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Jul 14, 2013 - 06:40pm PT
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The cardboard frames are really good for removing copperheads, if you know the trick. Take them on your next wall.
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 14, 2013 - 06:44pm PT
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Ha! I'll try that! ;-)
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go-B
climber
Hebrews 1:3
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Jul 14, 2013 - 07:53pm PT
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Save um good for the Antiques Roadshow!
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Double D
climber
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Jul 14, 2013 - 08:52pm PT
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This was prolly mentioned in the up posts but the reality of color film is that it deteriorates pretty bad after 20 years. Just blow up an old image on a high-res scan and you'll see halo's all over the bright areas. Ok for small images, not so good for large prints.
Memories are best left to campfires.
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 14, 2013 - 09:03pm PT
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I've filled half a garbage can already.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Jul 14, 2013 - 09:40pm PT
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It is sad, but not a shame
To play the old-time memories game
You should feel free to toss the lame
But the good ones save to put in a frame
To increase your fame, To broadcast your name...NOT!
Mark, just do it as you see fit.
But Lilabiene is right on, too.
Ledge Rat, scannig is soooo boring, and yet it gets juices flowing, doesn't it?
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PAUL SOUZA
Trad climber
Central Valley, CA
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Jul 15, 2013 - 12:23am PT
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Mark,
I've known too many people that have had their hard drives crash and lose over 5 years worth of memories.
I'm actually going the opposite way. Printing all my good photos.
A photo will last 100+ years.
Just my 2cents. ;)
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 15, 2013 - 12:39am PT
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They are already duplicated on another drive. The individual files are about 45 mb each but the whole folder is only about 13 gig. A13 gig folder is easy to back up in many different places and given that a terabyte hard drive costs only $80 these days, I don't mind buying a few and having many duplicates.
Besides, 98% of the slides are already in the trash can, and I ain't about to do any dumpster diving for them!
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Jul 15, 2013 - 09:55am PT
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Yeah- I ran a similar thread a while back. It just gets to be too much storing everything. I'm not a photographer, but I've also got a zillion folders of artwork from art-school I don't know what to do with. At some point I'm going to just scan 90% of them, back it up on a second drive, make a few copies/mail off to relatives, and toss the rest.
I am, however keeping all the original B&W/vintage originals. There's just something really cool about old photos and they'll all fit in a few albums.
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Jul 15, 2013 - 11:17am PT
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When my pop passed, I had a huge set of pictures to go through. It didn't take me long, most were of folks I never knew. Of course there were a few gems, but by and large, the photos are for the ones that took them.
I have hundreds of Kodachrome pictures of mountains and lakes and forests from all the back-packing trips I took in high school. Man, those bore even me now...
It's drudge work to go through the hundreds of digital photos I now have. With film, there was built-in cost that made you be more careful with the pictures you actually took. Now, it's "take as many as you like, it's free...."
Yikes, the time to process all those photos on the back side ain't free!
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 15, 2013 - 12:00pm PT
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The money photos are the ones I scanned (about 500) and all the rest, butt shots, shots where the climber is just a small spec, underexposed and overexposed shots, sunrises, sunsets, trees, flowers, cliff shots, did not get scanned.
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Barbarian
climber
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Jul 15, 2013 - 12:37pm PT
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Mark,
I feel your pain. I have several thousand 4x5 negatives that were taken by my dad. I would love to scan them all and create a searchable database of the images, but just cannot find the time. The scope of the project is so overwhelming, I can't even begin to work on it.
Many of these negatives are somewhat historic in nature: railroad photography beginning in the 40's (with a significant number of images documenting the glory days of the California Zephyr). I'd hate lose all of that, so someday soon I will have to bite the bullet and get going. The upside is that I will no longer have to house all of that film and the associated 3x5 cards that hold descriptions and exposure data.
Of course there are all my images to go through as well...
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 15, 2013 - 12:50pm PT
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My presentation at the Facelift this fall is what spurred this on. I've been off and on scanning photos for the last few years whenever I could get someone to loan me a scanner.
This last go-round has been nice since the scanner software has advanced to the point where its auto white balance, exposure modification and dust cleaning are all quite good. Most slides are perfect right out of the scanner and the few others are easily adjusted in Adobe Camera Raw (and yes, yes, yes, I know all about Lightroom).
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nopantsben
climber
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Jul 15, 2013 - 01:42pm PT
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When's your facelift presentation? you better post some more of your photos here! :-)
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 15, 2013 - 01:54pm PT
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September 25th.
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mongrel
Trad climber
Truckee, CA
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Jul 15, 2013 - 02:40pm PT
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This isn't exactly a digital/film question, but what's with the Salewa ice screws in that photo of racking up for Zode? Expecting an early winter storm? Must have been Badass to do the wide pitch with nothing bigger than a 4" bong.
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