Film processing confusion in need of being educated...

[Sirius Glass]

I do not understand throwing away negatives or slides. They are the highest possible quality, original media of priceless memories. Whatever viewing technology we have in the future, the negatives will always yield the best image. Want to be able to revisit something decades hence? Keep the original.

 

[grat]

A few months ago, a user on Reddit stumbled across a small collection of negatives and slides of photos taken by Bunny Yeager, specifically her very colorful self-portrait with a large format camera. The 4x5 Ektachrome 100 transparency is in pretty bad shape-- lots of cracks and spiderweb, and the whole thing has shifted massively towards "red".

The countless copies floating around on the internet may not have the absolute gob-smacking resolution or quality of the original-- but the original has deteriorated significantly as well.