On Fri, 18 May 2001 13:29:25 -0500, L.D. Best wrote:
> Sam,
> AFAIK, Kodak has a pretty good stranglehold on the photo CD market. I
> think much of that out there for public access is their proprietary
> package.
> If any "photo processor" -- which isn't directly linked to Kodak -- is
> offering 'pics on disks' to the public, they are most likely very poor
> quality.
> Since Kodak uses a CD for each roll of film processed, that would appear
> to indicate some rather large files ... i.e. high resolution graphics.
Yes, very large files, > 4MB per image.
> You might drop by the Kodak site [there *has* to be one] and do a bit of
> digging to find out what quality digital imaging is standard for their
> process.
Thanks, L.D. I just checked out Kodak's website, http://www.kodak.com.
There they claim that Kodak's "I.Lab System" produces digital images
from 35 mm. film having a resolution of 1,024 pixels by 1,536 pixels.
That is certainly good enough for me. Also they explain that they use
a proprietary image format which they call PCD, or Kodak Photo CD image,
PAC file format. These images you can convert to JPGs or to some other
format if you buy their special proprietary software. I couldn't find
any information on pricing. If you convert the images to JPGs they will
be automagically compressed into much smaller file sizes.
Anybody else with enough venture capital to invest in the expensive
hardware could offer the same quality service and use non-proprietary
software. I don't know how Kodak could have done such a good job at
sewing up the market on this kind of service. Wherever there is good
money to be made, there are usually quite a number of entreprenuers who
want to compete for it. There is no reason to assume that the only
people in town capable of producing the most superb quality are the guys
from Kodak.
Sam Heywood
