I have worked with Photo CD extensively in the past and thought I might
share what I know about the formats (note: this is a fairly long message).

There are three basic types of Kodak Photo CDs: Master, Pro and Portfolio
discs and a new one, Flashpix, which is coming out now.  Master and Pro
are used when scanning film and Portfolio accepts digital files.  Don't
know much about Flashpix as yet.

Master scans are made from 35mm film, the discs hold about 100 images,
you get 5 different resolutions per image ranging from 78k to 18mb and
the cost is about $1.00 per image to scan (that includes the
CD-ROM/Photo CD disc the scans are written to).

Pro scans are made from 35mm, 120 and 4x5 film formats, discs hold between
30-100 images per disc (depending on the number of resolutions you choose),
you get a choice of 5 or 6 resolutions per image ranging from 78k to
either 18mb or 72mb, and each scan costs about $7.00-10.00 (sometimes
including the disc).

For volume digitization projects most people seem to be using the Master
discs.  The 18mb file is generally sufficient for most uses.  Portfolio
Photo CD is more involved, as it accepts digital files, and can be more
costly (it is billed as an electronic slide show by some).

Prices can vary greatly with different providers and quantities.  The
biggest trick is what you do with the scans after they are put on the CD
for you.  You generally have to open the images and convert them to the
file format you desire (i.e. JPEG, GIF, BMP, TIFF, etc.) for your use.
All Photo CDs are accessible on modern CD-ROM drives, if you have
software to open the images (Photoshop or Corel Draw for example).

There are good points and drawbacks with using Photo CD.  Overall it
seems to work well for large scale scanning projects, especially if you
can document the collection pieces using 35mm film.

Hope this is helpful.  -Mary E.


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Mary W. Elings ([log in to unmask])
Pictorial Collections
The Bancroft Library
University of California Berkeley