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phodog
March 6th, 2004, 04:39 AM
This is new to me so I thought I would share. I copied it from the Imaging Resource Newsletter which you can get here:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/IRNEWS/

I love forward thinking.


Joel
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THE DIGITAL MASTER

"We have a view at Adobe that we need to come together as an industry and define a digital master," Lamkin said. "And what I mean by digital master is a format that is permanent, that has permanence, that 100 years from now people will be able to go to a written record that says this is how that format is declared and interpreted."

This new format has to be able to evolve "as the changing technology evolves." The format has to flexible, giving you everything available in the RAW format. And it must be a secure format for the digital world, securing "the rights around that format." Finally, it must be forward looking and a format that "we can all come together as industry" to support. "We think that this is vital to the preservation of your hard work today and into the future," he said. So it's an idea germinating at Adobe today to which the company will devote a lot of energy to promoting industry wide, he said.

To sum up, he continued, we've seen a huge amount of change over the last 15 years of Photoshop. "Digital photography will continue to change at a rapid pace. Hardware's getting better and faster with higher capacity." We'll be able to do a lot more in five years. There are a lot of challenges ahead and they will be addressed in both hardware and software but, he urged, we have to come together as an industry to help solve them. Adobe is firmly committed to its founding idea: "helping people communicate better, democratizing the communication process. Photoshop is the platform for communication and digital photography," he added. The concept of a digital master "will allow us to translate our commitment to our customers to provide the best digital darkroom on the desktop" and "preserve all of the creative expression that comes out of that digital darkroom for generations to come."

ianmcc
March 6th, 2004, 10:25 AM
Sounds like a calm gentle way fo saying that Photoshop/PSD will be the format. If we're not careful we run the danger of turning Adobe into another Microsoft. Some say they are already there.

phodog
March 6th, 2004, 10:36 AM
Point taken.

However, I think it is very important now to be concerned about the format, security, and longevity of our images.

Of course I may just be paranoid.

ianmcc
March 6th, 2004, 01:13 PM
Yeah I worry about that too... But at the same time, support for the various media could be just as big an issue.

The first of my images I ever had scanned back in 92 are somewhere in the attic, on floppies. Their Jpegs. If I could load them I could open them. I have an old Mac around just for the floppy drive!

phodog
March 6th, 2004, 01:47 PM
I re-read your first response, and I am a little embarassed because I realize that I copied the blurb out of context. I think what Adobe is iproposing is a cooperative effort from all of the camera manufacturer's to create one RAW format. There are too many variables. Each company has their own raw format. This may cause problems down the road when we have no support for faded or merged manufacturers.

If you get a chance go check it out on the site.

The part I copied is at the very end.


Joel

jknights
March 7th, 2004, 11:42 AM
If you want a file format that is persistent and commonly readable here goes.


TIFF is readable by most image viewers. This woudl be my favourite of choice to guarantee always available readable.


JPG is also readable but due to teh compression algorithm probably does really cut it as far as lack of artefacts.

After that there are other proprietary and open formats but they klack the universality of TIFF.

Adobe will say that PSD and also PDF are there and universal. I wont agree or disagree only say that unless PDF is given as an open standard then it will always find detractors nomatter haow good it is.

jknights
March 7th, 2004, 11:43 AM
If you want a file format that is persistent and commonly readable here goes.


TIFF is readable by most image viewers. This would be my favourite or choice to guarantee always available/readable.


JPG is also readable but due to the compression algorithm probably does really cut it as it introduces artefacts.

After that there are other proprietary and open formats but they lack the universality of TIFF.

Adobe will say that PSD and also PDF are there and universal. I wont agree or disagree only say that unless PDF is given as an open standard then it will always find detractors no matter how good it is.

phodog
March 7th, 2004, 12:37 PM
I agree that tiff and jpg are going to continue to be supported for a long time, but that requires me to convert my RAW files. I think it is fair to say that the RAW file is the new "digital" negative. It is a untouched original. I fear however, that one day I will need an antique G5 to open and convert my RAW files from today. I understand the lossless nature of tif, but I am not prepared to convert all my images for archiving. I feel that is too limiting.

Joel