Sandra Williams wrote:

>I'd like to know how everyone else handles the need for digital scans.
I've
>been calling around and I'm more confused now than I was when I started!
One
>place only does them from a drum -- cost starting at $250 each which is
way
>past my budget.  Also, I work in gouache that sometimes get thick in
places
>and might crack if it was wrapped around a drum.
>    My client needs the scan to be at least 300 dpi....

I shudder when I think of wrapping *any* original around a drum scanner
(and Gerry Hodge at the conference was most adamant in saying that gouache
originals should NEVER be drum scanned). I have a professional
photographer
who specializes in artists' portfolios shoot large format transparencies
of
my work.  He's very good, but very reasonable -- $45 for first 4x5 shot,
$20 for each additional shot of the same piece. 4" x 5" is fine for most
publication work -- 8"x10" are only really justified if you're planning on
doing fine art reproductions.  Then I get the 4x5s drum scanned.  Going
rate in Toronto is about $45.00 - $100 - and up -  per scan depending on
how much colour correction and tweaking you want them to do for you.  i do
a lot of my own system work and I have a friend who works at a place that
sells professional imaging equipment who does drum scans for me (I get
scans, he gets to put their equipment through its paces with images other
than photography, so we're both happy). I've become pretty good at finding
deals like this....=)

I find scans from slides too grainy for my taste, but then I'm only
familiar with PhotoCD scans, which invariably come back to me in dire need
of severe colour correction. I'm sure there are better options out there.

You aren't going to get publication quality images from a digital camera
unless you go for one of the studio-quality digicams, which are $5,000 and
up. The Nikon Coolpix 950  (around $1200) is the best consumer level
digicam in my opinion (from what I've seen it can do; I haven't personally
used one), but at 300dpi the images will be pretty tiny. Depending on the
job, this may or may not work for you.

Your client should be paying for any necessary photography and scanning,
BTW.....and their printers (and/or whoever the printers use for prepress)
should be the ones doing the tweaking and system work...

kat

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K.G. (Kat) Cruickshank, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Artistic and technical fish illustration.
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http://www.danica.com/kat
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