Adobe DNG Converter and Camera RAW plug-in

Why not use the standalone DNG converter? Get the latest DNG converter, it'll recognize most RAW files. When you import from the camera, do it through the DNG converter, rather than Photoshop.

An advantage is that it will flag any corrupt files, so you can try to recover them before you reformat the card.

of course this is all very well but my one concern with switching to digital away from film is the fact that not all new softwear packages are compatable

you only have to look at the windows system to see what i mean 95 and 98 are not fully compatable with xp i have loads of old soft wear which is not compatable with my laptop which runs xp pro

windows 95 forget it most 98 stuff won t open

so will you be able to open files in the future or will we all have to constantly update (and rerecord for whant of a better word) archive files

the risk with digital is losing work that is stored on disc or cd i know if thay are stored correctly then the shelf life is quite long but even SONY admitted that the shelf life of the laquar on cds and dvds is only about TEN YEARS tops regardless of who its stored due to oxidisation

on the other hand film cellulode seems to last far longer when stored in the right conditions upto ONE HUNDRED YEARS plus so do you think that film will be replaced by digital or is digital just a passing phase

what you said abot film is true but in practise most people don't store properly and the life expectancy is about ten years before noticable degredation occurs.
then there's situations like mine where our seperation enraged my ex to the tune of tens of thousands of slides and prints and digital files being burned or destroyed. along with pretty much everything else I owned.

If you really have any doubt whatsoever, for anything but exceptionally specialised requirements where film is a must, digital will prevail. It is likely that, even the specialist requirements will have to be satisfied with digital images in the not too distant future. Film is not dead . . . yet . . . but it will be . . . . digital technology conquers all . . . eventually. What most people seem to misunderstand is that digital technology is in its infancy and is continually evolving at a mind boggling rapid rate. When was the last time any really innovative change occured in film manufacture ? ? ? In 10 or 20 years time, digital technology will be so advanced that even the new 10MP Pentax DSLR will look soooooo outdated and there will be so little demand for film that, to produce it, will not be cost efficient.

good point we have already seen the withdrawl of fuji iso 50 slide film due to a lack of chemistry availability

i have invested in digital and the 10 meg is on my to buy list when its launched

i also see the benifits no more messing in a cramped smelly darkroom now i sit nice and comfy with a brew and my laptop NOW THAT IS PROGRESS

also the storage`space benifits from large cabinets for slides to a pocket for your CD/DVDs

the picture taking aspect is a major plus point when shooting a wedding for instance you see the results streight away and can reshoot the shot having now noticed the tree sticking out of someones head

the other point is the processing costs digital is currently more expensive but you can shoot 100 images at a wedding and then reprint 40 appose to shoting 100 and having four rolls of film developed

but for now i will shot film and digital side by side until i have to give up one or the other after all black and white is having a revival at the minute