I see this as being particularly significant because I'm given to understand that b/w photographs as artifacts age very well, and in general that colour photography does not. I'm fairly certain that there are any number of colour photographs from the 60s that will be shiny paper in another 20-40 years, due to the cheapness of the processing, the chemicals used, and the way they've been stored in the intervening years. I'm given to understand, anyway, that the CW is that if you want an actual physical artifact photograph that will last a long time, you want high-quality b/w. Anybody care to inform me (politely) that I'm talking out of my ass?
Are there any other manufacturers? Who makes photographic paper?
My understanding is that various types of colour paper (and slides) have different lifespans, some of them actually quite long (especially if kept in the dark and temperature-controlled instead of being displayed), and some painfully short ... but that yes, properly made BW prints are the longest-lived of the bunch.
At least for one's personal collection. In theory, converting to digital using the highest resolution currently available, and then having generations of archivists carefully copy the scans to newer file formats and media technologies as each previous version becomes obsolete would be even better, but that depends on the works having enough cultural significance to warrant that kind of ongoing effort and not having one's society fall apart at some point in the future.
If I can find it again, someone published an extensive comparison of the expected lifespans of various image media.
And BW paper is made by, IIRC, Agfa, Forte, and Ilford, and I'd have to go look to see whether Konica, Fuji, or 3M does as well. But I haven't heard anything about Forte recently, and Agfa just filed for bankruptcy protection (though Ilford did the same a while ago and came out the other side of that process) ... some folks are predicting that we're going to wind up with a single manufacturer who'll be able to stay viable once all the competition dies off, in which case we'll still be able to get paper but won't have as many choices. I don't grok economics well enough to know how reasonable that prediction is.
Re: OT: Ahem, you might want to see this...
Re: OT: Ahem, you might want to see this...
I see this as being particularly significant because I'm given to understand that b/w photographs as artifacts age very well, and in general that colour photography does not. I'm fairly certain that there are any number of colour photographs from the 60s that will be shiny paper in another 20-40 years, due to the cheapness of the processing, the chemicals used, and the way they've been stored in the intervening years. I'm given to understand, anyway, that the CW is that if you want an actual physical artifact photograph that will last a long time, you want high-quality b/w. Anybody care to inform me (politely) that I'm talking out of my ass?
Are there any other manufacturers? Who makes photographic paper?
Re: OT: Ahem, you might want to see this...
At least for one's personal collection. In theory, converting to digital using the highest resolution currently available, and then having generations of archivists carefully copy the scans to newer file formats and media technologies as each previous version becomes obsolete would be even better, but that depends on the works having enough cultural significance to warrant that kind of ongoing effort and not having one's society fall apart at some point in the future.
If I can find it again, someone published an extensive comparison of the expected lifespans of various image media.
And BW paper is made by, IIRC, Agfa, Forte, and Ilford, and I'd have to go look to see whether Konica, Fuji, or 3M does as well. But I haven't heard anything about Forte recently, and Agfa just filed for bankruptcy protection (though Ilford did the same a while ago and came out the other side of that process) ... some folks are predicting that we're going to wind up with a single manufacturer who'll be able to stay viable once all the competition dies off, in which case we'll still be able to get paper but won't have as many choices. I don't grok economics well enough to know how reasonable that prediction is.