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Quote:

Originally Posted by DGlenday (Post 13725034)

At one point a few years ago, while I was working from home, I spent 6 months scanning all of my (many thousands of) old negatives and slides. I used a Nikon scanner that is purpose-made for negatives and slides.

The good news:
All of my old pics are now digital, and are backed up in half a dozen places.

The bad news:
The deterioration of the negative and slide stock was interesting:
- Some were so grainy it was almost impossible to make out the pictures. A LOT of photoshopping (GIMP, Paint.net, ACDSee, and various other tools) helped me bring them back to the quality of a really bad but viewable picture.
- Others were almost as clear as a modern-day digital image.
- These had all been stored in the same container, in the same dark, cool, and dry location.
- Some of the film that deteriorated badly was bought at the same time, from the same store, and were the same make and specifications, as others that had aged well.

Weird.

But in summary - I would urge you to scann all of your old pics ASAP. Or if you don't have the time to do it (and it's a very slow process), there are labs that will do it for you. Not as well, or with the care you would apply, but you'll save those memories.

Sometimes you can rescue a colour image by decomposing once it's scanned, you run decompose, this will leave you with 3 monochrome images, one for each channel, pick the best channel, the dyes in colour film do not fade at the same rate, blues tend to fade the fastest. I've noticed that from 1977 -- my oldest stuff, about 90% of the colour negatives are faded beyond the point of recovery, although many even older prints are still pretty good. The Black and white stuff, that was processed by a lab has a 95% survival rate. The stuff, I processed myself, has a 100% survival rate. The Kodachrome is 100%.

Amateur films from that period were designed to last long enough to get them printed, they were not designed to last more then a few years. Considering that many of the toxic chemicals from that time, like formaldehyde can no longer be used in photography, I would give newer colour film a shorter life span, not a longer one. Most of my images I want to keep, from over the years is B&W, and the life span on those is something beyond mine.

If someone reading this is thinking, what about movies like The Wizard of Oz which was released in 1939, it's colour and has survived well. The Wizard of Oz was filmed in Technicolor, so essentially the original is on B&W film (a beam splitter and 3 colour filters, in front of 3 B&W negative films ) these are then merged back together for printing.

Most likely the ones that deteriorated badly, had large expanses of image that were blue (it's the yellow dye that fades the fastest), while the ones that did not had a lot of red based colour.

Quote:

Originally Posted by missjean (Post 13715212)

Bigbadwulf - The tunnel photo, is that mist? It's all fuzzy going down the center of the tunnel.

I'm assuming the bottom of the tunnel has water in it and fog formed over it.

Even if the images have been scanned, it's important to keep track of them, back them up and be prepared to do what it takes to make them accessible as technology changes. I've just figured out that my current PC with Vista is refusing to acknowledge jpegs on CDs, including a large number of Kodak Picture CDs. I also have a few Kodak Photo CDs from the early 90s and I am able to open those PCD files.
I'm sure I'll find a solution and am happy that it's not the CDs - no problem with backup PC running XP.
I have a blue million (exaggeration) slides and negatives yet to be scanned. Scanned a hundred or so on my Canon 8600F a few years ago and the results were pretty good but it is a tedious job.

Hitching a ride over Cheasapeake Bay on the back of a tow truck in 1981:
http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z.../Scan10072.jpg

Beautiful photos! (except for the spiders)

Acadia National Park
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=233967

Quote:

Originally Posted by arkansasgal (Post 13717212)

http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/...forcontest.jpg

Mt. Magazine in Arkansas

Nice shot! I have some I took from Magazine a couple of summers ago, starting here: http://lphilpot.zenfolio.com/p106604...9b276#h8e9b276, + 14 more or so. I'd link directly to them, but they're on Zenfolio and I've had no luck with direct link. Of course, it was typically hazy that July afternoon - Your's is much clearer.

I remember staying on Magazine as a kid, before the old lodge burned down. Since then, it's been either at Queen Wilhelmina or Mt. Nebo (or very occasionally, Devil's Den).

Quote:

Originally Posted by CraigB (Post 13719581)

^^

Wow. That's real Old Testament stuff.

No doubt! I'm looking for Charlton Heston in there somewhere... :)

Breathtaking sunset tonight in Fayetteville, Ar around 5 pm.

http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/...sasgal/004.jpg

Great photos. I enjoyed them, just wish I had that talent.

Quote:

Originally Posted by missjean (Post 13729477)

Beautiful photos! (except for the spiders)

You mean you didn't think the spider photos were good? You're hard to please! How about these?

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...f/DSC03772.jpg

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...tuff/close.jpg

Excellent shots TomD77. Is that using a macro?

MissJean,

Those "Banana Spiders", as we call them are all over Florida and are quite large. I have seen some almost as large as the photos of them. I don't mind them in the yard when they make their web from tree to tree, it's only when they attach to the house that I tear down the web. I live in the middle of a wildlife preserve, so you sort of expect all sorts of insects to invade your property.

Quote:

Originally Posted by locolobo13 (Post 13731156)

Excellent shots TomD77. Is that using a macro?

Thanks! Yeah, shot with a 100mm macro on a dslr.

I'm not a spider fan but I let these Golden Orb Weavers stay around my property because they eat tons of flying insects and I've tons to spare.

Plus these spiders stay put, I always know where they are, not like another spider from the Orb Weaver family common to my native North Georgia. That spider is red, ugly as sin, big as a silver dollar and they are real bad about building their webs smack at eye level in the middle of the doorways overnight!!!!! I got reacquainted face first with the breed when visiting my brother in November. It freaked me so badly I finally found my coffee cup in the bushes 50 feet away.

Ozark Roadies portaging over a washed out road in the spring of 2011

http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/...bikeforums.jpg

Nice planes, Tom! Aircraft are one of my own favorite things as well.

http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1199/5...5a7989bc_b.jpg
Generations apart by Yo Spiff, on Flickr

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2622/4...b3cee15f_o.jpg
DC-3 by Yo Spiff, on Flickr

Egad! I didn't know F22's were that big. I've seen them on the ground but no possibility of getting close, without getting shot that is.

Until a couple of years ago I lived within a few miles of Lockheed Marietta (Georgia), where the 22's were built. See them pretty commonly.

http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/...sasgal/049.jpg

Magnolia Falls area near Mossville, Arkansas

http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/...sgal/139-1.jpg

Boxley Valley near Boxley, Arkansas

http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/...sasgal/062.jpg

Ice formations in Magnolia Falls

Beautiful sunrise this morning in the Ozarks.

http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/...sgal/002-1.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7030/6...780c7255_z.jpg
Morro Bay by ccorlew, on Flickr

It rained to much to ride on Saturday and Sunday in Morro Bay. That's the Morro rock barely peeking through the mist.

We went wine tasting and ate cheese. This second shot is from my iPhone, amazingly enough.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ibRQFb2if0...a+and+wine.jpg

Yo Spiff! Actual photos! None-snapshots! I've been waiting. Thanks!