This
book is essential if you now use, or intend to use, Kodak Photo
CD's to record and store your valuable images. Book Review: "The
Official Photo CD Handbook"
For example, the Kodak Photo CD was invented
for hobby photographers to store their family snapshots. This system
was not developed for professional photographers to store
their irreplaceable chromes.
I
have thousands of images stored on Kodak Photo CDs because, at 50
cents a 35mm slide, this is an economical solution (Adtech, in Houston,
gives this special price if you send in lots of 500 slides or more.
Their work is high quality and we recommend their services). I can
send these CDs to anyone in the world, and they can see my images.
But
what you lose is what the Kodak system removes from the scan in
order to cram so many different resolutions onto the tiny disk.
Maybe this is okay for 35mm slides of your grandchildren, but I
sure would not want my medium format or large format chromes emasculated
in this manner.
Besides,
today you can store your images on Pinnacle
Micro Apex disks which hold 4.6 GB, and you can store them at
100% of the scan. Also, you can read, write, erase, and change your
images, something you cannot do with a Kodak Photo CD. Furthermore,
you can store 5.2 GB on a DVD drive, and within 2 years double that.
But MO drives are expensive, and the disks cost about $130. You
can buy blank CD-R disks for $1 each. At this reasonable price you
can make multiple copies to insure you data is safe. You sure don't
need any Kodak software to do any of this. Your scanner or camera
delivers the image in a format that can be saved as a TIF (TIFF)
in Adobe Photoshop.
Since
we live in 1999, however, we have to be realistic about what is
available today. If "The Official Photo CD Handbook" is
still in print, we highly recommend you order a copy: Peachpit Press,
Tel 510 548-4393, fax 510 548-5991.
Since
it is likely that you already have lots of Kodak CD's (before you
realized how Kodak rearranged, gutted, and repackaged your pixels),
to do the best to rescue your files consider obtaining the special
version of Silver Fast that can handle digital images on Kodak Photo
CDs. Actually most people do not know that there is a right way
and a wrong way to open a Kodak CD, and it is not the obvious easy
opening method that you probably use naturally. Some aftermarket
books provide the special manner of opening, correctly, a Kodak
Photo CD, but if you have Silver Fast then you have everything you
need. Silver
Fast is made by LaserSoft Imaging, www.LaserSoft-Imaging.com
|
|
|
DVD-RAM
or DVD-ROM? Which is best?
CD-RW
or CD-R, what are the differences?
RAID,
what is a RAID and why is a RAID system an easy solution for
massive digital storage?
Perhaps our experience with working out which digital
storage devices are best for the Digital Imaging Technology
Center can help you too.
|
Review
of Adobe Photoshop 5
for Photographers, Martin Evening, Focal Press
book
review gateway (open but still being expanded)
Peachpit
Press Web site
review
of Kodak slide scanners
directory
of midrange and high-end flatbed
and drum scanners
index
and directory
of all internal links for cameras and scanners
where
and how to store your digital images? RAID,
DVD,
or CD-R
?
lots
of links to information on desktop
publishing hardware/software, www.laser-printer-reviews.org
home
page, www.cameras-scanners-flaar
www.digital-photography.org
Reviews
of a professional manner of scanning 35mm slides, the Fuji C-550
Lanovia, on www.flatbed-scanner-review.org
|
Showing
actual
3-D objects (rabbits) and then showing the resulting
scan.
Scanning
40
35mm slides all at once.
|
Comparing
a 3-D object scanned with a 1200 dpi scanner and the Fuji
5000 dpi scanner. |
The
Fuji is
large enough to scan an object up to 45 cm long. Here
we show how this scanner handles a large 3-D object, a carved
wooden effigy of a jaguar. |
| Enlargement
of a scan of a native Mexican handicraft to reveal the full
detail in depth of focus that the Fuji C-550 Lanovia can
achieve (horse). |
Two
especially beautiful scans done with the Fuji scanner, on
the bottom
of this page of all the internal links to this site. |
Scans
of architectural history
(Missouri Ozarks) done with Fuji scanner. Bottom of the
page. |
| Scanning
4x5 chromes with the Fuji results in ability to enlarge
small details to poster size (jade). |
General
discussion of the Fuji Lanovia flatbed scanner. |
Mention
of the drum scanners which Fujifilm also makes. |
|
now being prepared, FLAAR reports by the Senior Review
Editor on flatbed scanners for prepress, photo archives,
and museums. Additional reports evaluate what scanner(s)
are best for digitizing your slides and photos for
digital printing, especially fine art giclee.
|
|
