Hello Amy, I managed various digitization projects in the past 6 years, and a good rule of thumb is to push the limits of your digital acquisition hardware. We scanned a multitude of source material (lantern slides, nitrate negatives, positives, 35mm, etc., or over 60,000 objects) and do not limit yourself to any size, be it measured in pixels, Mega Bytes, DPI, MP, etc. Leave yourself some room ;)
Get the highest possible digital capture and go from there. If your scanner maxes out @4000DPI, why bother scanning it at a lower resolution, or targeting a specific file size? You can always produce a smaller size, but if a larger one is necessary you have to go back and handle the media source once again to recapture it for a bigger output size. The bigger the file size (70MB - 250MB is not uncommon) the better. In other words, the bigger the file the more information on the object is captured. Also, focus on one master format, i.e. TIFF is a very common format in this regard (do not compress the files) and if you apply color corrections on surrogates of the original scan, place the adjustments on layers (yes, TIFF now supports layers), rather than flattening the image to save file space. Whew, that was a lot. Well, if you have any other questions, please ask. Tom Arnautovic Collection Database/Imaging Specialist Crocker Art Museum 916-264-1176 >>> [email protected] 10/12/04 12:31PM >>> I am in the process of reviewing and updating our standards for master digital files as we switch to a new collections management system. We have not entered the realm of direct digital capture and are scanning primarily from 4 x 5 transparencies. If this sounds like your museum, please let me know what resolution and/or pixel length you are scanning at and why you chose those numbers. All replies are greatly appreciated. Many thanks, Amy Stidwill Visual Resources Manager Hillwood Museum & Gardens 4155 Linnean Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20008 (202) 243-3910 phone (202) 966-7846 fax [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to mcn_mcn-l as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to mcn_mcn-l as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [email protected]
