From Silver to Silicon

Will film survive? Yes, says a British scientist and photography

expert. From Silver to Silicon is an interesing article in the British

mag Amateur Photographer of 22 December 2001, by scientist Geoffrey

Crawley - former B+W chemist for Paterson, and BJP editor for 21

years. A very technical article, but among his comments, Crawley

writes: "Most photographers - but not all - still find it preferable

to work in black and white (in the darkroom). It gives a direct

hands-on satisfaction that the computer keyboard, pre-set program

routines and monitoring on a VDU somehow lack - especially if they

already make everyday use of a computer in the workplace... As to the

future, the full superseding by electronic means of silver halide

systems could only occur if means are found to make still smaller

pixels for the photo-sensor and more rapid and larger capacity image

storage. Even then, film is likely to co-exist, as people enjoy having

alternatives....And remember - it is what an image says that is most

important, not the means use to make i