Either accelerated ageing tests in 1aboratories, or practical uses and results in different walksof 1ife, showed that CD-R cannot per form as a reliable medium for storing archives, althoughthe preservation life of CD-R witnessed continuous improvement; microfilm still stands to bethe best choice as a storing medium for preserving archives.

This paper reports a study on the use of microfilm for taking photographs of trace objects having a subtle gradation which can only yield a very low contrast image on normal panchromatic film,thus offering very useful information for crime detection.