4 Technology questions

Calman

1. What is the best software package for photo restoration/editing?

2. What is the best scanner for publishable photo quality?

3. What piece of hardware do u need to transfer photo slides to disk, and which is the best one? (scanner won't do it)

4. What's the best printer for publishable photo quality?

irishgeo

Originally posted by Calman
1. What is the best software package for photo restoration/editing?

Photoshop

woolymammoth

1. What is the best software package for photo
restoration/editing?

its a case of personal preference really. different packages have
different features, but i like Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro.

2. What is the best scanner for publishable photo quality?

any scanner with a high dpi. what you should look into is the
software that comes with the scanner, how friendly/complicated it
is, what it'll let you do. from personal experience i've found HP
software to be most user friendly.

4. What's the best printer for publishable photo quality?

again, a printer with a high dpi. i can't really say 'cos i don't do a
whole lot of photo printing. i have a HP deskjet 970cxi, bloody
great printer. does some pretty sharp prints. but if you're doing
publishing then you might look into getting a laser printer. afaik
(and i could be wrong) i've been told the print seems to 'jump off
the page better'.

i'm open to correction on any of this by the peoples who know
better. i know you're out there. you're watching, waiting for the
rest of us who don't know this stuff so that you can pounce in
and go HA, thats not how you do it. don't think i don't
know. i know.

/me shakes fist


grrr....

sci0x

Originally posted by Calman
2. What is the best scanner for publishable photo quality?

CanoScan 3200F - 1200 by 2400 dpi.

Mac daddy

Originally posted by Calman
1.
4. What's the best printer for publishable photo quality?

Xerox phaser 8200 solid ink printer
Or a laser printer much sharper than a inkjet.
All depends on the budget you have

sci0x

Originally posted by Calman
1. What is the best software package for photo restoration/editing?

If you have a low budget you could try Microsoft Digital Image Suite 9.

SantaHoe

Originally posted by Calman
3. What piece of hardware do u need to transfer photo slides to disk, and which is the best one? (scanner won't do it)

You'll need a slide scanner, pretty hard to come by - but they do exist.
You might check out Kodak, Agfa, or another of the usual suspects.
I believe Agfa have a service whereby you can post your slides to them and they'll scan them for you, then mail you back a CD-ROM.... it's very reasonably priced aswell.... faaaar cheaper than investing in the hardware, unless you're planning to provide this service yourself or something
Best thing to do there is to ask a 1-hour photo place for more info.

cerebus

Originally posted by Calman
3. What piece of hardware do u need to transfer photo slides to disk, and which is the best one? (scanner won't do it)

I know you can get specialised slide scanners - these could be expensive though. Nikon do a line of machines called "Super Coolscan" which give great results, but are pricey.

I've had okay results using a flat bed scanner - if you shop around you should be able to find one that comes with slide scanning accessories. On the one I've been using (Epson Perfection 1260) you have a flat plastic sheet that you slot the slide into (there's a slide-sized hole). Then you place a light source over the slide (this light source is plugged into the scanner and acts kind of like a light box). I've seen HP and Canon sell something similar.

The results are reasonable - I can send you an example if you want to see what the quality is like.

I'm not sure if you can buy these sort of slide scanning accessories seperately - but the whole scanner/slide accessories bundle was ~150$ so not too bad.

tman

i got a slide scanner myself a few months back, €200 for a silverscan something or other.
scanning a lot of slides is soooooo ****ing tedious:(
i wouldn't reccomend a silverscan btw