There are many considerations to be taken into account, and the best
solution will be particular to each institution and project.

I've noticed a few references to the heat produced by incandescent lights
on a copystand. For the record, flash is highly preferrable to incandescent
in most copystand setups. Flash generates almost no IR and it's UV can
easily be filtered.  In greater sharpness (compared to incandescent, which
commonly requres slow shutter speeds -- subject to vibration, etc.)
frequently results. The sharpness advantage is due to exposures that use 1
extremely brief pulse of flash light, which can be as short as ~ 1/5,000
sec., depending on equipment.

Of course the camera/strobe approach requires additional expertise. But the
lighting setup can often be done once and "locked down" for use by less
imaging-experienced staff.

Erik
MoMA

On Fri, Jan 23, 2015 at 11:50 AM, Frank Kennedy <[email protected]> wrote:

> As was passed on to me by the NEDCC, the light exposure from a flatbed
> scanner is similar to having the original object on exhibit for one day.
> With that in mind, you can decide. A camera copy stand will likely use
> powerful incandescent lights which are highly damaging, but for such a
> brief time that the result is the same - like one day on exhibit. LED lit
> type scanners produce very little UV light and the scanning can be
> considered harmless. As others have pointed out, be careful with handling
> and the forced flattening of any curled prints which will crack the
> gelatin. We've scanned many thousands of old B&W prints this way.
> Personally, I find the results from a flatbed visually superior to the
> results from high-end photography, with the added benefit of no skew or
> fisheye..
>
> Frank Kennedy, IT Manager
> Norman Rockwell Museum
> 9 Glendale Rd., PO BOX 308
> Stockbridge, MA 01262
> 413-931-2216, fax 413-931-2316
> http://www.nrm.org
>
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-- 
*Erik Landsberg*

*Director, Imaging and Visual Resources*
*The Museum of Modern Art*
11 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019
212-708-9489
[email protected]
www.moma.org
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