So just how long will RAW be around?

[shreds]

So whatever format we use, when we have gone to the darkroom in the sky, who is going to care for your pics?

The majority will have limited value to relatives and are likely to get dumped just like the millions of silver halide images created in the twentieth century.

Take great pics, get them accepted by Getty and they will deal with your archiving!

[MrB]

The point Dan makes regarding storage hardware should be of concern, and add to that possible problems regarding the length of time that storage media will reliably retain digital data. It is easy to imagine our children forgetting about them until they have become unusable, for whatever reason. Unless you want to risk having everything in The Cloud, perhaps any images worth keeping for our descendants should be printed - quality should be mostly retained for at least several decades by which time, if they wish, their technology should be able to reproduce or restore them to their original quality.

Philip

[Black Pearl]

The RAW format has been around since the start of practical digital photography - the Nikon D1 was the first mainstream DSLR and the tipping point for film vs digital at about 14 years old and it shot NEF's so I can't see any reason for it to stop.

As to a single RAW format between brands then how about a single lens mount between brands?

Never going to happen

[xpatUSA]

Engineering (drawings, illustrations), oh sure, when I was a boy I drafted for a company that was a vendor for the city, all sorts of engineering prints, by hand - soon after, a specialized software was in effect (don't remember the name, but proprietary anyway), then again soon after that AutoCAD came out for a near $4,000+ for the program, then soon after that, another new program now used, and if not a new program an expensive update. What I'm getting at everything changes and we are stuck either updating or losing out.

Of course in a pinch, you can always ask the government for a copy of your pictures.

Excellent! If the NSA doesn't have 'em, Angela's lot might . .

As late as 2004, RR Inc's medium of drawing exchange with Vendors was TIFF via FTP - pretty slow back then. As a consultant, I got to review and mark them up, have them scanned and to send them back by the same route. Pretty 20th c. really.

There was a 3D CAD-program called MAPICS but I have vague memories of our CAD guys exporting some 2D images as TIFF to send out as part of purchase specifications.

[jcuknz]

Excellent! If the NSA doesn't have 'em, Angela's lot might . ..

[Glenn NK]

So whatever format we use, when we have gone to the darkroom in the sky, who is going to care for your pics?

The majority will have limited value to relatives and are likely to get dumped just like the millions of silver halide images created in the twentieth century.

Take great pics, get them accepted by Getty and they will deal with your archiving!

With all due respect to those who do multiple backups on various formats and worry about saving all those "treasures"; Really now - who is going to go through all those images and look at them - let alone print them. Or perhaps even care about them.

I stopped using film in 2006, and I haven't looked at one of the negatives or colour positives dating back to when I started shooting 35 mm in 1962 - if I haven't looked at them, who is going to?

We have boxes of slides (positives) that my mother-in-law shot, and my wife will keep them, but the next generation isn't going to care too much unless they are the images of ancestors.

When it comes to your flowers, landscapes, etc. I think it's expecting too much from others to take care of them and/or utilize them.

So, does this make worrying about formats a bit of a moot point?

Glenn

[davidedric]

I'm pretty sure it will be around longer than I am, and if not I'm sure there will be a way forward. My images are mainly just for me, so after that I really don't care too much.

[skilsaw]

Thank you Dan, I can see you have thought about it yourself. I have 6 coolers (40 to 60 gal) full of prints from the 40's until digital came out. I have 36 CDs stored with them. I fear for my kids, kids and what they will have to do to see the CD's some day, let alone the fading prints. Your right, I should not worry about it, it is what it is.

Thanks,
Bob

If it is important to you, talk to an archivist, or museum curator about how they preserve old images.