[MacDV] Film Strip Scanners

[Danny Grizzle]

On 12/28/02 10:11 AM, "Steven Romero" <leromero71 at earthlink.net> wrote:

> Does anybody have any experience with these and can show me a little light
> as to which way to go?

Don't underestimate the difficulty, time requirements, & hardware necessary
for working with large numbers of still images.

You will need:

  1) A film scanner. Cheap ones ($200) are low resolution,
     TV quality. Better ones ($2000) are suitable for archiving
     and high resolution applications such as publishing. Hi res
     acquisition is better, even for low res applications like
     video.

     I have a Nikon Super CoolScan. Nikon has a long history with
     film scanners. Current models include infared features which
     can minimize problems like scratches.

     If you don't mind older SCSI instead of Firewire, you can
     get amazing bargains on closeout film scanners. B&H Photo was
     selling a discontinued Canon $2000 film scanner for less than
     $300, SCSI only.

     Do not be deceived by flatbed scanners with transparency
     transparency adapters. These are invariably crude, poor
     quality scans. They are also slow, usually.

     Good images begin with good scans. This means tuning and
     tweaking individual images. Time consuming, requiring a lot
     of expertise. Color separators who scan images for magazines -
     this is a career specialty, one of the highest paying
     positions in the printing trades, for a reason. Most people
     don't have suitable knowledge to make critical decisions.
     Do you understand how the resolution of your scanner, your
     monitor, and your intended application interrelate? Do you
     understand color theory & color management systems, phosphers
     & pigments, additive & subtractive color theory?

     Most people approach this very simplistically: "I know what I
     like." True... I know I like music from a piano, but building,
     tuning, and playing the piano are a large subject. I'd compare
     color correction to tuning a piano, except tuning a piano is
     easier, considering there are objective ways to measure pitch.
     Color correction, on the other hand, is entirely subjective,
     totally dependant on operator skill.

  2) A massive hard disk. I use a LaCie d2 120 GB ($269 street)
     for this application. Buy at least one big disk; extras if
     you can.

  3) An archive plan. CD-R? DVD? Tape? Must take into consideration
     impact on cataloging software.

  4) A plan to catalog images. They are useless if you can't find
     them. Extensis Portfolio and Canto Cumulus are the mid-tier
     choices. (Far better than freebies like iPhoto & software
     supplied with various scanners & digital cameras.)

     <http://www.extensis.com/portfolio/>
     <http://www.canto.com/>

     Pros & Cons

     iPhoto is excellent, except it falls apart when managing
     large image collections, or when it becomes necessary to
     relocate images collections to offline media such as CD-R,
     or split collections onto new hard disk mechanisms.

     (File management is a problem with all image catalog
     programs -- you better watch your p's & q's, or else
     your catalog is out of sync with actual physical location,
     should you move image files manually using conventional
     OS drag & drop.)

     Portfolio & Cumulus both offer $$$$ industrial server
     capabilities, but may fall short of needs of a major
     application such as a news organization or stock agency.
     Portfolio is more accessible to the consumer, in my
     opinion, but Cumulus has better meta tag capture &
     management, which may be important in the age of digital
     imaging. Both are roughly comparable, and may leap frog
     each other one version to the next. Plenty of reviews
     online.

  5) Software. I use these tools:

     Photoshop <http://www.adobe.com/photoshop/>

     Debabelizer
     <http://www.equilibrium.com/Internet/Equil/products/DeBabelizer/>

     GraphicConverter* <http://lemkEsoft.com/us_gcabout.html>

     VueScan* <http://www.hamrick.com/>

     Panorama w/Image Pack <http://www.provue.com/>

     * Macintosh only. All programs compatible with OS X.
       Panorama runs in OS 9 Classic mode only -- a pain,
       perhaps, but this superb software compensates.

  6) After all above, things start to get complex. Because you
     will want to manage multiple resolutions, show your image
     collection on the web, etc. Thumbnails, preview, and hi res
     versions. Galleries, various color spaces (RGB, CMYK, etc.)

     My point: even if you have all the tools (I do), serious
     still image management is a major, time-consuming, and
     expensive undertaking.

Danny Grizzle