A few observations to the outstanding comments already made. Preparing a
"digital darkroom" is, in many ways, much more expensive and difficult than
an emulsion based darkroom. A high quality photo printer is only the
beginning. Serious software is required if you are going to take this to
heart. While expensive, the money is only the beginning. The learning
curve is long and steep. Be prepared to commit a lot of time to whichever
package you choose.
Scanning is a major investment. Resolution and bit depth continue to
improve. I consider 2400 dots per inch at 30-bit depth a bare minimum for a
final print sixe of 8 x 10. More is not necassarily better either - it
depends on the final output device. And a monitor capable of delivering a
large size image at scan rates higher than 60 kHz to minimize/eliminate
flicker is a necessity if you plan on spending more than a few hours a week
at it.
Storage is a substantial matter. Full frame scans can easily exceed 20 mega
bytes in size, stacked and manipulated images much larger. You can fill a
large HD in a NewYork minute at that clip. Some form of removable mass
storage media is required. Tomoko seems very pleased with her MO drive and
I'm sure they work well. CD-R or CD-RW has a growing market share, and the
Zip drive continues to thrive. The point is not which particular
technology, just that some answer to the storage problem is needed. And
that costs.
Finally, the raw horsepower needed to handle large, high quality images
files is impressive. I put my 350MhZ, 64MB Wintel box on its knees when I
start working more than 3-4 images at a time. The well configured digital
darkroom is substantially more costly than an emulsion one. Both require
highly specialized equipment. The key advantage I see in digital is you can
see the results of changes so quickly on screen. You can play around more
without processing anything and print only those that look like what your
mind's eye saw. And someday, without a doubt, the archival storage problem
will be solved.
John P
______________________________________
there is no "never" - just long periods of "not yet".
there is no "always" - just long periods of "so far"
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