Wal-Mart no longer offers one hour film developing.

[WB2WIK]

No, the original storage media can't.

We know that even average silver based photo prints and negatives can last 150 years under ordinary condtions.

Will a CD ROM from Walmart last that long? or a Flash Card (anyone still using them ten year later?)

Digital data will only survive if someone takes the time and money to recover it while still in a common format, and transfer it to a new common format and store it on a new common media. That won't happen to anything in a drawer or cardboard box in the attic.

Example: The ARRL sold digital versions of QST for home use a few years ago for hundreds of dollars per set. Now that software won't run current OS's. How survivable is that?

I agree with you; that's why I said "in theory." 1's and 0's can be stored all sorts of ways that can last so long we don't even know how long because no digital media has been around as long as photographs. But "in theory," it's just code and should last forever if someone has the ability to replay it.

That's really the problem; technology has changed so much and so often. Most studios consider their "long term retention" to be LTO tapes. If stored in a cool, dry environment away from magnetic fields that might last 200 years or more. But will anything be around to play them back two centuries from now?

[K8ERV]

. But will anything be around to play them back two centuries from now?

Will there be anyone around to watch them? Or want to?

TOM K8ERV Montrose Colo

[KB4QAA]

tThe only thing guaranteed to last 200 years is a flame war on QRZ about constitutional rights!

[WB2WIK]

Will there be anyone around to watch them? Or want to?

TOM K8ERV Montrose Colo

I won't be around, but I'll bet someone would want to.

Can you imagine if we could see video of what happened in Biblical times? That would be pretty neat.

Then, I'd know where the Ark was so I could find it and put it up on eBay.

[WA8LGM]

I have an older Olympus SP-550UZ. Makes a good press camera for the paper I work for. However, it feels kinda funny to call it an "older" camera.

Anyhoo, however, I do miss my old Hasselblad 555 220 format camera and its battery pack, and all the other film cameras I used to have.

One of the photo stores here in Cleveland (I think the store is called "Aperture" or something like that) sells nothing but film cameras. The owner told me that there is a company out there somewhere that makes most of the popular format B&W and color films, including the Polaroid-style instant films. But for the life of me, I can't remember what the name of the company is who makes them.

FYI: My first camera was a Brownie that my Grandfather gave me. A couple of years later he gave me my first real camera, a Pentax k-1000. Still have it and, yes, I still have the old brownie in my display case.

[K2NCC]

I had no idea ANY place still developed film!

[2E0OZI]

I go to a specialist Frank, but yes less and less places do it. Ilford still supports B/W quite a lot I believe - in a world of 6+ billion people there are still quite a few "arty" types who like to use real film.

The fact is though, like steam engines, film cameras cannot compete on value for money. Our little compact digital holds 630 or so photos - if I actually paid someone to develop that many stills from 35mm here it would be something like £200!! One day I will get a DSLR but its so far down the list of priorities in life as to be out of sight.... The old FE60 can still take a good shot.

[WB6YWU]

Where does the '2.25" format' come from?

rdb.

[WB2WIK]

I had no idea ANY place still developed film!

Many labs here in L.A. do; also in NYC and many other places.

I'm fortunate to live very close to one of the major labs that does very good work, and inexpensively.

I remember "the good old days" when Kodak had a "drive-through" facility in Fair Lawn, NJ: You could drop off 8mm or 16mm movie film on a spool in a bag on the way to work (or tens of spools in a bag, it didn't really matter) and come back at lunchtime to pick up processed film. I used to do that often. They also processed Kodachrome, Ektachrome and everything else they made in all formats, in a few hours for a few dollars.

Those days ain't coming back.

[SM5JAB]

No external lab is necessary. I develop both B/W and C-41 at home. For B/W there is the old Rodinal (in bohemian Fomadon R09 incarnation), for C-41 the Tetenal kit works well. I do mostly medium format (645/690) and some large format 4x5". Film is still there. My grandfather's glass plates scan very well to this day: http://jabcam.wordpress.com/2012/06/...es-from-1920s/ I doubt another storage medium would have survived that long. Moving digital pictures is tricky, if you miss one generation of disk interfaces or medium the information may be lost for all practical purposes