>We are about to digitize images of works of art to create a computer
>imagebase for use on Macintosh computers.
 
I would like more information about your project before making any
recommendations.  Specifically:
 
- How will you use these images: Quick reference? Large screen public
display? Digital Prepress? Analytical research? Archival storage?
- How many do you need to scan? Do you have staff you can devote to the project?
- Will they be on a network? What kinds of client computers are connected?
- Perhaps most important: what's you budget?
 
Here is a bit about what we do and why:
 
We do perfectly acceptable screen-resolution 8 bit color scans here with a
Quadra 610 with 8mb of RAM and an Hewlett Packard flatbed scanner.  We had a
IIcx, but the 610 is much faster.  We have Photoshop on an 840av, but don't
use it for routine scans to a database for browsing.  We don't scan at
higher resolutions because it just takes too long for our purposes (and
sucks up RAM and hard drive space).  The MicroGallery in London apparently
uses 8 bit images with tweaked color tables.  Screen redraw on high rez
images is just too slow for public or research access without expensive
video boards in every computer.
 
>What about Kodak Photo-CD as an alternative to in-house digitizing?
 
The Photo-CD is fast and inexpensive for getting relatively high resolution
images in digital form.  If you have a few thousand slides, even if you
don't have a need for the resolution, use the Photo-CD.  The savings in
salary alone are worth the cost. Apple's CD drive is a good box.
 
If the materials are more complex and high resolution is not an issue, you
might want to look at Apple's new digital camera.  Cheap, supposedly easy to
use, and a very fast way to get low-rez (browsing quality) images onto a
disk.  I've only seen the PR so far, so I don't have any direct experience.
This is much better than the Canon camera which is analog and needs a
digitizing board to download images.
 
>I'd also welcome advice about how to deal with copyright issues with
>digital images.
 
The simplest solution for now is not to let anything with a resolution of
higher than 320x240 outside the museum (that's a quarter of a 14"
screen)--then write off any uses of those images.  No one serious will use
them.  If you mark them with your name they are good advertising.
Guy Hermann   | Mystic Seaport Museum | What am I? A barnacle on the
[log in to unmask]   |  Mystic, Conn., USA   | dinghy of life.  --Popeye