Re: film choice: durability

[Fred Ward <fward@erols.com>]

Mr. Wouk expresses an accurate account of film life. Kodachromes and 
black and white are the only films that last. All others, as far as I 
can tell from reading, deteriorate and fade in a matter of years, not 
centuries. A good rule of thumb seems to be 20-40 years. Much depends on 
storage. You want dark, cool, dry storage to increase life. Freezing may 
work, but intruduces other problems. 

So, what to do. This does not seem to me to be a reason for avoiding 
Ektachromes. It does tend to focus attention on recent advances in film 
technology and the need to compare. Kodak says the new films last longer 
than the original Ektachromes. Other companies say the same or refuse to 
say anything. Anyone shooting Agfa or Ansco films in the 1950s or 60s 
knows they are long gone and worthless. 

Would you be willing to give up storage life for better color. Most 
professisonals do, which is a major reason why the E-6 process exists 
(that and the ability to process it yourself or have a small lab do it). 
Everyone has known since the 1930s that Kodachromes are the only color 
films that last. Having to have a huge lab process the film in only a 
few sites around the world and having to deal with some color problems 
are the reasons most photographers use E-6 films. 

And what of color negatives????   They present yet another problem. 
Apparently they fade faster than anything else. How do you feel about 
seeing your family history fade away? Think that is annoying or wrong? 
Then consider what happened when the movie industry switched from the 
massive, expensive, cumbersome, but superb original Technicolor process 
that uses 3 simultaneous b/w films passing through a gigantic camera. 
You got gorgeous color on all the original color classics from GONE WITH 
THE WIND, WIZARD OF OZ, etc through the 40s musicals and into the 1950s, 
when color negative was introduced with THE ROBE. 

Every multi-million dollar movie made since has been shot on color 
negative. And people and companies with billions of dollars invested in 
libraries see them falling apart. A recent $20-30 million restoration 
project was undertaken to bring MY FAIR LADY back to its original 
condition, and it is not that old a film. So, some of the good folks got 
together to jointly sue Kodak for selling them film that does not last. 
They say they would never have switched or made films with color 
negative if they had known the process was so unstable. 

And we think we have problems.......

Fred Ward