Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/06/04
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Leslie England writes: > I would like to create an internet site and show > some photographs. What kind of scanner would I need > to buy with enough quality to do justice to the > Leica equipment/lenses? In some respects, you cannot do justice to any 35mm photograph with an image intended for display on a Web site. The resolution of images on Web sites is severely limited by the limited screen sizes of visitors (the most common size is 800x600 pixels, and that is terribly tiny for proper display of any kind of photograph). Even a cheap 35mm camera can blow away this resolution, so obviously showing Leica work properly is impossible. You _can_ get better dynamic range and color rendition in an online display than is possible on paper, however, if the scan is clean and properly prepared. For best results, scan film directly--do not scan prints. And use a good (read expensive) scanner with plenty of dynamic range, _especially_ if you are scanning slides. Drum scans are best, but probably not practical for online display. The scans will be huge compared to the final size you require for your online work, but you can downsample them as necessary. I like Nikon scanners, and they are quite popular, but others may have varying opinions; Nikon is also fairly expensive, so beware. You mainly need a good, clean scan, a copy of Photoshop, and a fair amount of practice (all three of these are equally important). In time, you can get online images that will look very beautiful indeed; almost as nice as the slides from which they are prepared. The only drawback is resolution, which will not come anywhere near that available for film (or even for digital photography) in the foreseeable future.