mh2000
Well-known
my general rule for estimating effective resolution from Epson flatbeds has been about half, and I scan at full resolution and then immediately down sample and it smooths out noise and grain aliasing. 3700ppi isn't bad at all after good PP, especially for larger formats.
oscroft
Veteran
I mean no offence to the person who suggested it, but the idea of a *minimum starter kit* costing US$10-15,000 is a bit of an exaggeration.
An iMac, or entry-level Mac Pro with monitor, with some extra HD storage (a combination of internal/external depending on which Mac), a V700, and a printer (no idea which one) would make a great starter kit and would cost a lot less than that.
And it simply isn't true that you'll fill up terabytes within weeks (unless you scan everything you can get your hands on at maximum resolution TIFF, or other uncompressed format, and work 24 hours a day at it), so you can start with a modest amount of HD storage and add to it as and when you need it (you can plug 4 internal HDs into a Mac Pro, for example, and bigger ones always get cheaper if you wait).
120 scans very well on my V700 - you really should use it for a while and see the kind of results it's capable of before you even think of an upgrade.
They are, yes. After moving house I found myself with more spare cash than I'd intended to spend on new computer gear, I'd always wanted a 30" display since the very first time I saw one, and I thought if I didn't buy one then I never would. But there are some pretty decent LCD monitors from third parties at very decent prices these days - the 21" to 23" size range seems to be pretty competitive.
fefe
Established
I've been working with PC and Macs for the past 15 years. When I had to buy a computer for my dad to handle mostly his pictures, I bought a mac without having to think much about it. It might look more expensive, but everything ends up just being simpler and working for people that are not advanced computer users.
The additional cost (which is not large, especially if you are buying one computer every 6 years) is just invested in comfort, reliability, quality and design.
If you like spending time in front of the computer, you'd probably want a PC, there are more softwares, more things to tweak, and they offer greater potential for cheaper. If you just want to process your pictures with aperture/photoshop, scan, print... you probably want a Mac.
The additional cost (which is not large, especially if you are buying one computer every 6 years) is just invested in comfort, reliability, quality and design.
If you like spending time in front of the computer, you'd probably want a PC, there are more softwares, more things to tweak, and they offer greater potential for cheaper. If you just want to process your pictures with aperture/photoshop, scan, print... you probably want a Mac.
mfogiel
Veteran
chippy
For the V700, you have to fine tune the holder focus and keep the film flat with these, just to have an acceptable scan
http://www.betterscanning.com/scanning/models/vseries.html
As far as the printer goes, Epson 3800 will give you better prints than these you can get from the lab, if you know how to set it up, but it will be slower and more expensive for high volume
The calibration of the monitor can be done with this: http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/spyder2pro.html, it is more costly to get the paper calibrating kit, but FWIW I have used the factory Epson, Ilford and Haehnemuehle profiles, and am quite happy.
I would say, do not settle on a solution with a small screen - a big screen is mandatory for serious work, the laptops are only good for reviewing your digi shots on location.
For the V700, you have to fine tune the holder focus and keep the film flat with these, just to have an acceptable scan
http://www.betterscanning.com/scanning/models/vseries.html
As far as the printer goes, Epson 3800 will give you better prints than these you can get from the lab, if you know how to set it up, but it will be slower and more expensive for high volume
The calibration of the monitor can be done with this: http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/article_pages/spyder2pro.html, it is more costly to get the paper calibrating kit, but FWIW I have used the factory Epson, Ilford and Haehnemuehle profiles, and am quite happy.
I would say, do not settle on a solution with a small screen - a big screen is mandatory for serious work, the laptops are only good for reviewing your digi shots on location.
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chippy
foo was here
cheers mh
I can imagine what you mean with limitations between Elements and Photoshop CS4 (thanks for your tip). Do you know if there is much/any difference with the academic sold CS4 version?
but dont get your meaning between Lightroom 2 and Photoshop. arnt they programs for different uses? even though in Lightroom 2 you can work to some extent on an image, i thought its advantage was as a filing/storage system with meta tags ect?
i saw it at this site (below, it seemed a good site) and it has some video clips that explained it somewhat (they use it in conjunction with PS) and what i really liked was how photos are stored or grouped with notes atatched to each image and meta tags for easy locating. Does PS do this just as easy as well?
http://www.photoshopuser.com/lightroom2/
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chippy
foo was here
I have a gut feeling you may be right--compared to a local built PC that is.
when i bought this one a long time back and it was considered pretty high spec, i think it was only around $2500 (local built) with a LCD monitor which where expensive back then. compared to my fisrt IBM machine that was around $5500 and my next Gateway (no longer in Oz) top of the line machine that was about $6000 ,didnt enjoy seeing it turn into a $300 machine in quick time, which is why i was happy when i got this machine for a reasonable price. however its hard to ignore the advice given overall and in relation to the OS of the mac.
also after playing with it, it seemed easy to use, i also liked the web design software that comes with the mac (just software i know) but co-incidently, just lately i have been trying to learn how to make a web page. I downloaded some demo templates and have had a great deal of trouble, i also tried a couple of the free web spaces (like google free web pages and hosting) but i dont like them much and they are restrictive to make work with menus ect. the mac web design program was so easy and exactly how i imagined basic web templates should be. bound to be an equivelent in windows somewhere though i suspect, but many then expext you to have a few other programs to work them, like dreamweaver ect
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kevin m
Veteran
I have a three-year old 17" iMac G5 I bought on close out for $900. I bought 2GB of RAM for it and that's it. It's been running non stop for the last three years without a restart, glitch or headache, much unlike every PC I owned previously. I always joke that even if the thing dies, I'll keep it on my desktop running a screen saver, because it just looks so damned good. It's a classic of modern industrial design that just happens to work as good as it looks.
chippy
foo was here
OMG without a restart! thats incredible. mine too is on almost 24/7 and has been for the past couple of years, before that just most of the day. but every other day or so i have to shut it down because its sluggish to not moving at all