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Preservation negatives



I had a someone distrubing conversation yesterday with my contact at the
professional photo lab where I send my photo orders, and I'm wondering if
others are encountering this situation.  When I need a copy of a historic
image, and the only thing I have to start with is the vintage print, I send
it to this lab and ask them to make a copy negative (traditional film
negative) and make the prints from that interneg.  That's been the
proceedure for three years now.  Last week instead of getting the negative
back as usual, I got a small paper printout of the image referencing the
file number the lab had assigned to the scanned image (which they will hold
for one year).  The photographic prints I received had been made from the
scan obviously.

When I called to explain the error and let them know I needed the film
negative as originally requested, there followed a long explanation of the
(lab's) preference for digital imaging and detailed explanations of how the
images could be put on CD-ROMs, stored on my hard drive, done in low res
and high res, etc., etc.  -- all of which I knew and didn't need explained
to me.  I countered with the explanation that the archival field's current
recommendation continues to be a film negative FOR PRESERVATION PURPOSES,
even if a digital image is available FOR ACCESS PURPOSES.

The outcome is this:  the lab will continue to make film negatives at my
insistence, but I was getting the message that they will not do this
indefinately.  Furthermore, even if I send a vintage print and they make a
film negative for me, they will make the prints from a scanned image, not
from the negative.

Help!  What do the rest of you think?

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