Experiments in archival-quality image compression

The film used was Kodak Ektar 100, the camera body was a Nikon FM, and the lens was a 35-135mm f/3.5 Nikon zoom. The film was processed and scanned to Photo-CD (tm) by Kodalux Processing Services. Image processing software was from the BRL-CAD® Package, GIF encoding was via the Utah Raster Toolkit, and JPEG encoding was via CJPEG from the Independent JPEG Group.

Using the "-Q90" parameter to CJPEG, "archival quality" image content was preserved while achieving at least a 5:1 reduction in data file size compared to the original RGB (.pix) file original. "Archival quality" was subjectively determined by blink-comparator testing against the original RGB file.

You are invited to inspect the full-size images closely for any compression artifacts; I don't think you'll see any.

These photographs were taken the week of 30-August, 1993, while cruising to Bermuda on NCL's ship HMS Dreamward.