>> I know about Wilhelm, and it's the marketing people who are > hyping print >> longevity. When I see a 50+ year old ink jet print that > hasn't faded, >> I'll believe that they have reasonable longevity. Over the > years many >> scientists, engineers, designers, and manufacturers have made >> innumerable claims, all based on then current knowledge and > information, >> and many of those claims have been proven wrong. > > And I still have properly stored colour prints that have faded > in less than 10 years. The marketing people are hyping print > longevity because of Wilhelm, not in spite of him. > William Robb
Yes, I'm afraid Shel and I disagree on this point rather strongly. I've followed Henry Wilhelm's work for years (although I don't know him personally), have read most of his book, and know a colleague of his quite well. Wilhelm has at times been an almost lone voice agitating for print longevity, fighting mendacity and resistance among the manufacturers and apathy on the part of the public. In the early days of digital, Wilhelm was a voiciferous and outspoken critic of the poor longevity of digital prints, and a great and important advocate of better LE as an important property of imaging systems. It isn't far from the truth to say that he singlehandedly brought print longevity to the forefront as an issue in digital imaging, and he has certainly improved the situation dramatically for the benefit of all of us--and of posterity. IMHO the entire photographic community owes a considerable debt of gratitude to this man. He is one of only small band of photo-technical people working today who will deserve a place in the history of the medium. --Mike - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
