Some thoughts on digital printers: mostly, they do keep getting better and 
better, particularly in terms of print stability. My first generation 
printer here was an Epson 1200, then a 1280, now an R1800. We would notice 
fade from the 1200's prints in a few months, especially the backlit film 
in the light boxes on the wall. I have had few fading issues with the 
1280, and the R1800 is a pigment-ink printer, which is supposed to be even 
more permanent. Even with the 1200, however, I have some signs and photos 
that have been on display, in lighted cases, for about four years now; 
would we see that they have faded if we printed new ones and compared? 
Probably. But on display, they still don't look faded.  One rule I make is 
always to use only the manufacturer's ink cartridges, never the third-party variety, and
always to use the manufacturer's paper. Most printer manufacturers are 
quoting figures for how long prints are supposed to last, based on 
accelerated-aging tests. Are these accurate? Probably most of us won't be 
here, or at least not working in museums (maybe on display?) by the time 
we "really" find out.

About digital cameras: With a 4-megapixel Olympus point-and-shoot, I make 
13x19 prints that "everyone" thinks are medium-format film. The camera is 
only one part of the story. Other posters have noted various other bits. 
Let me summarize in terms of what the graphics folks refer to as the 
"dgital workflow." 1) Always use the minimum JPEG compression in the 
camera (if the terminology is puzzling, just look for the setting that 
gives the fewest images per memory card). Then, get in the habit of NEVER 
doing anything to the original camera file except to do a "save as" as a 
TIFF (uncompressed or without lossy compression). 2) Do use adequate 
lighting. It's tempting to photograph under "room light," because most 
digital cameras adjust their "film speed" automatically and you won't have 
any sense that the light is a bit low--but as the camera moves to higher 
"speeds," you will begin to see more and more digital noise in the images. 
This is the sort of colored confetti that starts appearing, especially in 
the shadows, as the camera electronics work overtime to amplify the 
available light to record an image. Most digital cameras allow you to lock 
them on a specific ISO setting; dig through the menus and set yours to the 
slowest (lowest) speed. Pay attention to the readout that tells you what 
shutter speed and aperture the camera is using, and turn on more lights as 
needed.

For my own work, I use a high-end digital SLR that produces raw files. 
Although it is one extra step to produce TIFFs or JPEGs that can be 
handled in normal fashion, the process is getting easier. The latest 
version of PhotoShop (CS2) has "plug-ins" for the raw formats of most 
SLRs, so one no longer needs a separate program, from the camera maker, to 
do the conversion. I suspect there are batch-processing programs out there 
to automate the whole deal--you can bet that fashion photographers who 
take hundreds of images per session don't sit around and do this one at a 
time....We use ACDSee to batch process our images of the collection into 
thumbnails, web images, and so forth; I haven't checked to see if the 
latest versions provide for taming raw images.

Establishing a definite workflow for handling digital images helps assure 
that you're always doing "best practice," that, once you get a good 
formula you can repeat it, and that you can change one variable at a time 
in an orderly fashion to get (more nearly) the results you want.

     **********************************************************************
      *                     Michael R. Sawdey, Ph.D.                     *
       *  Executive Director, The Schingoethe Center, Aurora University *
        *      University Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies       *
         *  Dunham Hall 002, 347 S. Gladstone, Aurora, IL 60506-4892  *
          *   630-844-5656   FAX: 630-844-8884   [log in to unmask]  *
           **********************************************************

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