Questionnaire on photodocumentation

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Photographic documentation survey: I would like to conduct a short
survey regarding conservation photography standards and practices.

At our lab we have been taking digital images for more than five
years and have taken great efforts to make our digital files and
prints as "archival" as possible. We have also continued taking B/W
35mm, since we know that if the prints and negatives are properly
processed and stored, this still remains a more archival medium.
However, we do not use the B/W images at all--we only file them away
in case they may be needed in the future. Thus, the time and money
spent on the B/W photography seems increasing wasteful and we
periodically question our decision to continue.

We are very curious to know what other conservators are doing.  It
would be appreciated if you took the time to answer the short survey
below and e-mail it to me.  I promise to summarize the results for
the list once I have compiled them.

    1.  Type of lab: (museum, private, library, etc)

    2.  Type of material treated: (paintings, objects, textiles, etc)

    3.  Do you take digital images? yes/no

    If yes:

    4.  What format do you save you files in? (jpeg2000, tiff, jpeg,
        raw, etc)

    5.  Briefly how do you archive your digital files? (saved on
        server, hard drive, cds, dvds, etc)

    6.  Do you take B/W pictures as well? yes/no

    7.  If you have stopped taking B/Ws when did you and why?

Also any other comments on the subject are welcome,

Samantha Alderson
Objects Conservator
Division of Anthropology
American Museum of Natural History


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 21:10
                  Distributed: Tuesday, June 12, 2007
                       Message Id: cdl-21-10-010
                                  ***