Digineg™

Yes, DIGINEG^® is proud to offer two Partner Programs.

DIGINEG^® is an affinity partner of the PPA (Professional Photographers of America). PPA members receive exclusive special benefits on the DIGINEG^® PRO service. Visit the Using Member Benefits section at www.PPA.com to get the inside scoop.

Members of WPPI (Wedding & Portrait Photographers International) receive a special discount on the DIGINEG^® PRO service. For details visit the Member Update section at www.wppionline.com

DIGINEG^® is a milestone in digital image preservation. DIGINEG^®’s unique service uses high-tech film recorders to transfer digitally acquired or digitally born still image or video material to archival-quality 35-mm film. It’s essentially the same process our parent company, acmeworks digital film inc., has perfected over the past decade working with major entertainment studios. While digital media can degrade in as little as a few years, DIGINEG^® can safely preserve your images or data on film for hundreds of years.

DIGItal and NEGative. The name combines two successfully proven workflows. More and more photographers are moving to a digital capture and workflow. Digital media are fundamentally unsuitable for long-term archiving, whereas an analog archive is a proven reliable solution.

A portion of each fee earned by DIGINEG^® is deposited into a trust account administered by a qualified third party. In the event that DIGINEG^® ever ceases operations, these funds will allow for film to be scanned and the digital files returned to the photographer.

DIGINEG^® is a physical archive, not a virtual archive. As a resolution-independent medium, film allows you to easily access your image at any time, regardless of how computer technology evolves in the future. As long as you have a source of light, you’re in business.

Elephants symbolize many qualities we strive for at DIGINEG^®, and many characteristics that are important to our clients.

• character
• strength and stature
• trust and reliability
• longevity
• wisdom and courage
• generations, family and long-life
• hard-working
• long memory (an elephant never forgets!)
• ... and, when an elephant’s trunk is up it means good-luck!

One retrieval per order (can be one image, multiple images or the entire order) is included in the cost of the DIGINEG^® Standard Archive Service. If further retrievals are needed, there will be a fee for this service.

DIGINEG^® owns the film upon which the images are created. The photographer retains the copyright that governs their use.

Yes, there are tools available to download, at http://www.digineg.com/markets/digineg-pro/marketing-tools.html
If you have a need for something you don't see here please contact us at customerservice@digineg.com and we will be happy to work with you to develop the materials you need.

You select the thumbnail images in your private, secure gallery on your profile page and we scan the film version to make a new electronic file in the prevailing digital file format of the day, and send it to you. The film goes back into the storage vault.

Prior to the 20-year milestone, DIGINEG^® will contact the photographer or their designate with an offer to continue the archiving service. The photographer has the option of renewing the agreement, transferring the copyright to their original client, or canceling the service altogether.

Yes. Film under DIGINEG^®'s care is never destroyed. Once the client clears up any outstanding storage fees, we will send a digital file of the photos they request.

Once your digital images have been transferred to film, the film reels are moved to secure long-term storage. Your film-archived images are stored in a climate- and humidity-controlled vault and are protected against fire, flood, loss, theft, digital failure or any imaginable hazard for decades to come. If at any time your digital storage fails, or you no longer have a digital file of a required image, we scan the film version and make a new electronic file in the prevailing digital format of the day, and send it to you. If for some reason you or your client should require a set of film negatives, provisions can be made to accommodate the request.

We certainly don't expect every photo you take to be archived. For the family memory-keeper, be selective... choose the "keepers", photos that capture emotional and personal memories, images of moments in time. Professional photographers should select images that are commercially or artistically valuable, or images that if lost could be detrimental to the photographer's business (example: the loss of images could initiate a law suit).

When your digital images are recorded to film, low-resolution thumbnail images are created and placed in your private gallery on you secure page on the DIGINEG^® website. As an extra security feature there is a watermark of the elephant logo embedded in the image. The intent of the gallery is to be a reference for you of the images safely archived with DIGINEG^® and if your original digital image file is lost, the thumbnail image is a reference for image retrieval.

Pricing information can be found on the DIGINEG^® website once you have created a profile in the secure client profile area. Creating a profile is quick and easy, has no obligation, and will allow you to check out our ordering procedures/policies, etc.

Once you create your personal profile at www.DIGINEG.com, you can place your archiving order online and send us the images via the medium of your choice (eg: CD, DVD, portable external hard-drive or upload to our secure FTP site).

Yes, our ARCHIVE YOUR INVENTORY promotion is meant to assist you with safely archiving your backlog of digital images. The images to be archived with this promotion can be sent to DIGINEG^® all at once, or for the photographer with a large volume of inventory, the images can be sent in separate orders over a six month period. The ARCHIVE YOUR INVENTORY promotion is offered at 50% off the DIGINEG^® Standard Archive Service list price. When a secure client profile is created on the DIGINEG^® website, you will receive an email with the promotion coupon and ordering details.

No, DIGINEG^® does not charge any membership fees. Our prices are based on a per image fee for archiving and long-term storage.

No, there are no minimums. As well, let your workflow and volume determine how often you submit orders.

This may be the case with non-motion picture film. But with the film DIGINEG^® uses, motion picture intermediate duplication stock, the opposite is true. In fact the volume of polyester intermediate film sales has steadily increased over the last number of years. A contributing factor is the heavy investment in film preservation by the entertainment industry.

The DIGINEG^® process uses ARRIlaser film recorders to transfer the digital image data pixel by pixel onto 35-mm archival-grade polyester based intermediate negative film stock with an effective ISO of 3. This process can record 4096 pixels by 6144 pixels with each laser for a total 'effective pixel' image of 25,165,824 pixels, or approximately 25.2 'effective megapixel' image per color channel per frame. This means we can record up to 25.2 megapixels of green data, 25.2 megapixels of red data and 25.2 megapixels of blue data in each frame of film, because each laser exposes a separate emulsion on the film concurrently. This is easily understood when an image is shot as 'separations'.

Whether there is any measurable loss in quality when going from digital to analog and back to digital is purely subjective in the eyes of the viewer. The film DIGINEG^® uses has the capability of holding more data than the current digital cameras. We have performed numerous tests with DIGINEG^® PRO as well as DIGINEG^® FAS images, where prints made from both the original and the scanned back digital files were compared side by side. Ninety percent of those who viewed the prints could not see a difference. In most cases, those who did see a difference chose the scanned back print as being the better image. This comparison aside, the reason for the archive is if ever the original digital file is lost, you could retrieve the image from the archived film. Remember, there would be no original to compare to, so even if a slight shift did occur, wouldn't that be better than no image at all?

On the DIGINEG^® website (www.digineg.com/markets/digineg-fas/testimonials), there is a testimonial from a latent fingerprint examiner after he compared an original digital file with a scanned back digital file.