Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 14, No. 619.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
<http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
<http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 06:57:58 +0000
From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk>
Subject: film scanners
Thanks to Josephine Tarvers (Winthrop) and Emily Rose (Princeton) for
responses on my question about film scanners. Dr Tarvers recommended the
Polaroid SprintScan, which I find is well regarded -- but far too expensive
for our out-of-our-own-pockets budget, ca. US$2000. We do not want to spend
any more than 200 pounds sterling, i.e. ca US$160 -- but I am prepared to
be told I've been smoking too much of the stuff that dreams are made on.
She also recommends PhotoShop for touching up afterwards &c. Indeed,
PhotoShop is a beautiful piece of work, a gem and my treasured companion
when playing with images. If only all software could be as well made.
Dr Rose asks why we don't simply rephotograph the mss. Ideal, to be sure,
but these are scattered through various European libraries, who do not
easily hand over their treasures for such purposes; travelling to them,
staying for the requisite amount of time, arranging for the equipment or
photographer to do the work -- such expenses would make the Polaroid
hardware seem a trivial expense indeed. Should we be properly funded to do
the work, then, yes, rephotographing them seems certainly the way to go.
Meanwhile the microfilms can be purchased with available funds, scanned
somehow and the images used both to build a good prototype and to do
further scholarly work of the oldfashioned kind.
So, forgive me for asking again: is the Agfa e50 worth the price? Are there
any decent film scanners for under 200 pounds sterling? Should I smoke
something new?
-----
Dr Willard McCarty / Senior Lecturer /
Centre for Computing in the Humanities / King's College London /
Strand / London WC2R 2LS / U.K. /
+44 (0)20 7848-2784 / ilex.cc.kcl.ac.uk/wlm/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu Jan 25 2001 - 02:12:10 EST