JPEG Chart: From Digital Camera to ArchiveVancouver's two daily newspapers, The Sun and The Province, did something unprecedented on June 1, 1995---they shut their darkrooms.
They were the first major North American dailies to totally convert to digital photography. Seven months into the great experiment, Province Managing Editor Neil Graham says there's only one complaint from the photographers---the part-timers want to know why they can't have digital cameras, too.
The sister papers have been happy with the quality they've received from their 18 Associated Press NC 2000 digital cameras. They're enthusiastic over the savings that came from eliminating consumables. And they have enjoyed tremendous side benefits, such as eliminating chemicals.
Of course, not everything has gone as planned. Going first means, by definition, entering uncharted territory, which in Vancouver's case meant entering "the land of many cutlines."
Relates Graham, "Now the photographer just stops at a 7-11 and phones in an assignment. We thought the photographers would be able to do more because there's no need to drive in the film. We hadn't counted on all the time they'd have to spend writing cutlines for every single frame."
In the old days---last spring---Vancouver's photographers did what photographers do everywhere. They'd shoot an assignment, take notes and then hand in a generic cutline that said something like, "May 22 food shoot: cheese shots, frames 20-32." After a photo or two was picked, the photographer would write the final cutline: "Camembert---the cheese de la belle France."
That no longer works. Since there are no rolls of film, the photos are all sent to the server, where each exists independently. And because the photos are retrieved by keywords and cutlines, no keywords and no cutlines equals no way to find that photo. That means that each photographer has to add keywords and cutlines to every frame sent---a time-consuming process.
Says Graham, "We have scanning capability if anyone brings in a photo. And part-timers use film. We can't have one of these expensive cameras hanging around for a part-timer."
A part-timer shoots the "Smile of the Day," for example. The part-timer goes out once a week, shoots a week's worth of smiles, then takes the film to a photo shop.
Graham does say that the papers are unhappy with their archiving system (not provided by AP). Since there is no film, the archive is crucial to the paper's ability to store nondaily photos.
The system's server has crashed repeatedly, says Graham. Photographers have been reluctant to allow their photos to be archived, and editors have taken to squirreling away needed photos all over the network rather than take their chances with the archive on deadline.
Chris Feola writes regularly on technology issues for TechNews. E-mail is cjfeola@aol.com.
Related item:
JPEG Chart: From Digital Camera to Archive©1997 Newspaper Association of America. All rights reserved.
