I have scanned a large number of old photographs. What is the best graphic file format for storing them for a long period of time. Some of my TIFF files have developed a black band acros them. Thanks for your thoughts on this.
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I have scanned a large number of old photographs. What is the best graphic file format for storing them for a long period of time. Some of my TIFF files have developed a black band acros them. Thanks for your thoughts on this.
Hello Photopal,
Welcome to Talkgraphics.
Are your tiff files written to a floppy disk or tape or CD or DVD? The black bands may indicate the media is deteriorating which would affect any file format.
I've heard that tiff is or at least was an ideal format for achiving digital photos.
Perhaps photopal is pulling our leg. Files (images) don't deteriorate over time if left unedited, no matter what the format is.
Good point Paul. That is why I was thinking it must be the media they are stored on rather than the format.
I wish I were pulling your leg. I scanned several hundred photographs into PhotoShop Elements 4.0 and saved them as TIFF files. They looked fine. A week or so later I looked at them and a couple of them had developed a black horizontal band across part of the photo. They were saved to the computer hard drive. Could this be a sofware problem, rather than a graphic problem? I also saved the photos to a DVD. These images are OK. Thanks for responding.
I'm sorry photopal, if files of any type are left untouched (barring a fault of the media they are stored on) they will not deteriorate. I'm afraid TIFF files do not degrade over time.
If you are genuinely seeing this behaviour, something is causing it and it's not the file format.
Paul
Were you using Photoshop Elements when you saw the black bands?
No, I went to the folder where the graphics were and saw them there.
Which program opens the images when you double-click them?
Microsoft Photo Editor.