>>> [log in to unmask] 02/23/05 7:56 AM >>> Are negatives now unavailable and useless? Hi Lynne; I'm quite concerned about how this trend is progressing--100 years from now, I expect there'll be a massive gap in the photo record from the turn of the millennium, because so much photography is now digital, and produces nothing tangible. Few "real" photos are being produced, or even hard copies of digital files--and most of those are for "disposable" uses in publications. Just today I received a message from our IT department to clear up files on our city hard drive, including " the entire memory card of Pictures [on] the network drive [when] you only need one or two pictures." Once those are gone, they're gone for good. I've got a bugaboo about how digital photography isn't really photography anyway--it produces a computer simulation, not a true representation. No matter what resolution you have, ultimately the image is just a collection of pixels. Pointillism works fine for Seuret's art--but it's a lousy way to document the world. Sure, it has it's uses, and just a few months ago I got some great advice from this list on purchasing a digital camera to record images of our artifact collection (I went with the Nikon D70, by the way--thanks for everyone's input. It's a good camera, but still has all the limitations of digital photography). But, when I want a long lasting image (ie., 100s of years), it's black-and-white 35mm for me. OK, off the soapbox now... Our archives sends photos out to a medical imaging lab attached to a university hospital when we need copies, re-prints or negatives made. So long as X-ray machines still need film, this may be a viable option for you. It doesn't even need to be a local lab--the one we use is in a city 500 km away. It takes time to ship things through the mail, but we get "the real thing" out of the process. Cheers, ------------------------------------------------------------ Tim McShane, Assistant--Cultural History Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery 1302 Bomford Crescent S.W. Medicine Hat, AB T1A 5E6 (403) 502-8587 [log in to unmask] Disclaimer: The information transmitted is intended only for the addressee and may contain confidential, proprietary and/or privileged material. Any unauthorized review, distribution or other use of or the taking of any action in reliance upon this information is prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete or destroy this message and any copies ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).