Preserving time on film

Like paintings and other fine art, books should be retained for posterity. But the file formats and storage media used for digital copies quickly become outdated. A laser image setter is being introduced in Zurich that can archive long-life copies onto color microfilm.

No one would dispute that the cultural assets of humankind should be preserved for future generations. This applies equally to old books as the traditional form of stored knowledge as to prints, drawings and paintings. Gaining access to valuable, sensitive originals can be very difficult even for a bona fide expert, and is often simply impossible for the general public. What could be more obvious than at least placing high-quality facsimiles onto modern storage media and producing duplicates at low cost? But even documents archived using current standards such as the TIFF file format and CD-ROM storage devices have a life-span of less than ten years. To keep from continuously making converted copies from copies, extremely durable media must be used such as color microfilm, still seldom used for archiving. The manufacturer Ilford claims that such a high-resolution film has a storage life of more than 500 years - unlike conventional color photographic materials. This is accomplished through a developing process in which extremely stable dyes are used. In lieu of the originals, these master copies can then be used over again to make conventional digital ones which can be distributed more easily.
But how do you produce high-quality exposures using such special film? If you want precision, laser is unbeatable, explains Wolfgang J. Riedel from the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques IPM. A laser-produced pixel is very color-intensive in the middle, spreading out to the edges. Even on close examination, you dont notice individual pixels, but homogeneous structures and surfaces. Riedel knows well what he is talking about - in his department the multi-award-winning Arrilaserwas developed. The device, originally designed to expose computer-generated animations onto cine film with unrivaled quality and speed, will now be adapted to suit the needs of archivists. The primary difference is the film itself and a nearly eight times higher resolution. A pilot project in conjunction with the public library in Weimar is currently underway.
Professionals and the interested public alike may acquire a more detailed picture of this new and promising archive system. On March 12-14, researchers of the Institute will present test images at the Professional Imaging, a trade fair for photography and pre-press in Zurich, Switzerland.
,Contact:,Wolfgang J. Riedel,Phone: +49 7 61 / 88 57-3 30,Fax: +49 7 61 / 88 57-2 24 ,E-mail: [e-mail]
Andreas Hofmann,Phone: +49 7 61 / 88 57-1 36,E-mail: [e-mail]
Fraunhofer-Institut fur Physikalische Messtechnik IPM,Heidenhofstrasse 8,79110 Freiburg, Germany,http://www.ipm.fhg.de/english/
For further information:,IPM: "Professional Imaging" trade fair,http://www.ipm.fraunhofer.de/english/meetings/meetings_aktu/imaging2003.htm
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