We've been asked by a potential client if we can offer scan in JPG 2000 or JPEG 2000 format. The answer is yes.
If you'd like your jpgs as JPEG 2000 then just ask. We've always been able to supply this format for medium format and print scans, now we're extending this to cover all scans. Just ask, we'll do the rest.
The later jpg format offers better resolution on compression compared with "ordinary" jpg files.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Nikon SF-210
I've ben asked about our experience in 35mm slide scanning using the Nikon automatic slide feeder attachment, SF-210. Typically the question comes from someone who's frustrated with their unit, or wanting justification for spending over £500 on a bit of plastic having already spent the best part of £1,000 on a scanner.
The problem is slide jams. Yes, they happen to us too. The best preventative measure is to watch and listen to the unit, you can hear it as it struggles to feed a slide. Nimble fingers can help it on its way.
The best way to prevent jams is to get the gate adjustment correct via the knurled knob on the side of the slide feeder. Sort your slides so you have a batch of the same thickness and you'll be well on the way to smooth scanning.
Decent plastic mounts scan well, cardboard less so but generally OK. The worst are bent cardboard or card that has become "fluffy" over the years, the thicker card does catch on the mechanism.
People focus on the mechanics of the feeder and yes jams cost us time too. But what costs us more time is the rather hopeless way Nikon's sacnner software handles jams. Resetting that takes much longer and its a noticeable thorn in the side of smooth 35mm slide scanning.
The problem is slide jams. Yes, they happen to us too. The best preventative measure is to watch and listen to the unit, you can hear it as it struggles to feed a slide. Nimble fingers can help it on its way.
The best way to prevent jams is to get the gate adjustment correct via the knurled knob on the side of the slide feeder. Sort your slides so you have a batch of the same thickness and you'll be well on the way to smooth scanning.
Decent plastic mounts scan well, cardboard less so but generally OK. The worst are bent cardboard or card that has become "fluffy" over the years, the thicker card does catch on the mechanism.
People focus on the mechanics of the feeder and yes jams cost us time too. But what costs us more time is the rather hopeless way Nikon's sacnner software handles jams. Resetting that takes much longer and its a noticeable thorn in the side of smooth 35mm slide scanning.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Concentrate
Sometimes clients ask for advice - the most frequent topics are creating slideshows and assembling photo albums. I had their questions in mind when last weekend we vistited friends (that's not the Royal we, they're more my wife's friends so we went together).
"Would you like to see our photoalbums?" Genuinely I could say yes, and two Bonusprints albums were pulled off the coffee table. I started to flick through the images. Oh dear.
First impression, this is boring. Each page had been crammed with photos, consequently each one was the same size and very square. Now square is hard to compose for, and that did nothing for the images.
Second, this is a mess. What they'd done, and I can see it seemed like a good idea at the time, was get bound all the photos they'd taken this summer. They'd taken a trip to St Petersburg, there was some family celebration, a weekend away in Lille, and a relative held a retirement party. And more.
My brain was in overload, it was just image after image, we jumped from one location to another, from a Russian square to a marquee in Reading. I quickly lost the thread of what was going on. OK, it's easy to criticise but how would I have done it better.
Just concentrate - on one subject. Our Trip to Imperial Russia would have made a great album, and the viewer would experience the warm glow of knowing each page helps you explore a brilliant holiday. They had enough shots to fill an album and I suspect if you go to St petersburg you'll be hard pressed to take a bad photo. Then selectively invest in a few enlarged images. Go on, throw caution to the wind and have a single image on one page. That would have made a big impact.
What of the second album? I'd say the same should apply. Have one album, albeit smaller, for the events they'd taken shots. I would have skipped old Fred's retirement bash, but a few snaps of their kids over the summer would have been worth flicking through.
Next time I open iPhoto to compose a photoalbum I'm going to go for the event, the whole event, nothing but the event.
"Would you like to see our photoalbums?" Genuinely I could say yes, and two Bonusprints albums were pulled off the coffee table. I started to flick through the images. Oh dear.
First impression, this is boring. Each page had been crammed with photos, consequently each one was the same size and very square. Now square is hard to compose for, and that did nothing for the images.
Second, this is a mess. What they'd done, and I can see it seemed like a good idea at the time, was get bound all the photos they'd taken this summer. They'd taken a trip to St Petersburg, there was some family celebration, a weekend away in Lille, and a relative held a retirement party. And more.
My brain was in overload, it was just image after image, we jumped from one location to another, from a Russian square to a marquee in Reading. I quickly lost the thread of what was going on. OK, it's easy to criticise but how would I have done it better.
Just concentrate - on one subject. Our Trip to Imperial Russia would have made a great album, and the viewer would experience the warm glow of knowing each page helps you explore a brilliant holiday. They had enough shots to fill an album and I suspect if you go to St petersburg you'll be hard pressed to take a bad photo. Then selectively invest in a few enlarged images. Go on, throw caution to the wind and have a single image on one page. That would have made a big impact.
What of the second album? I'd say the same should apply. Have one album, albeit smaller, for the events they'd taken shots. I would have skipped old Fred's retirement bash, but a few snaps of their kids over the summer would have been worth flicking through.
Next time I open iPhoto to compose a photoalbum I'm going to go for the event, the whole event, nothing but the event.
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