A further thought ...

One issue with scanning is that sometimes, way down the road, someone wants
a poster-sized enlargement.  Unless you have ensured that the scanning be
done at extremely high resolution (which can be a problem depending on
where the digital image resides), the size of future reproductions is often
limited -- after you reach a certain size (never as large as needed, it
seems) the print comes out as jagged boxes or at least very blurry because
the digital sampling is a finite number of pixels.

The alternative, at that point, would be to have a photographer
re-photograph the print and make a new negative.  Film negatives can be
almost infinitely enlarged without a loss of quality.

So far, we are sticking to film negatives.

Janet Wencer
Hospital Library & Archives / Hospital for Sick Children
555 University Avenue / Toronto, ON M5G 1X8
Tel: 416-813-7654 x 6778


                                                                           
             Ellen Scheinberg                                              
             <EScheinberg@UJAF                                             
             ED.ORG>                                                    To 
             Sent by: "A forum         [log in to unmask]                    
             for discussion                                             cc 
             for the Archives                                              
             Assoc. of                                             Subject 
             Ontario"                  Re: transparencies vs. negatives    
             <[log in to unmask]                                             
             >                                                             
                                                                           
                                                                           
             2006-11-24 11:56                                              
                                                                           
                                                                           
             Please respond to                                             
             Ellen Scheinberg                                              
             <EScheinberg@UJAF                                             
                  ED.ORG>                                                  
                                                                           
                                                                           




Dear Heather,

We had the same problem with a fonds involving negatives from the 1950s
and 1960s. Our photo conservator made prints of them and then we scanned
the prints. Why do you need the transparency or copy negative? Wouldn't
the print and scan suffice?

Ellen Scheinberg
Director
Ontario Jewish Archives
Latner Centre for Jewish Knowledge and Learning
UJA Federation of Greater Toronto
416-635-2883 ext. 187
www.ontariojewisharchives.org

-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for discussion for the Archives Assoc. of Ontario
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Curator - IHM
Sent: Friday, November 24, 2006 10:36 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: transparencies vs. negatives

Good morning all,

My apologies for cross postings.  We have a quantity of acetate
negatives
which we are looking to have conserved.  The negs. are suffering from
vinegar syndrome and I am looking to have the images/subject preserved
before the deterioration damages the emulsion layer.  Upon speaking with
the
conservator we were given two options:  a new neg. could be made or a
transparency could be made.  The process to make the new neg. is
significantly more expensive than the cost for transparencies.
From a long-term accessibility, as well as an economic perspective,
which is
the better option?  We can have more images preserved as transparencies
than
as negs. and it is getting harder and harder to find someone able to
make
prints from negs., yet negs. are currently more accessible than
transparencies (we don't have a lot of digital imaging technology
available
to us).  I would be interested in hearing how other institutions have
dealt
with this problem.  What factors and information affected your decision
and
what resources did you find particularly helpful in determining your
choice.

Thanks in advance to everyone who is able to shed some light on this
issue
for me.

Heather Ryckman

Museums' Curator of Collections
Museums of Burlington
[log in to unmask]
905.634.4498 or 1.888.748.5386
905.332.9888 or 1.800.374.2099
www.museumsofburlington.com