Photographing old manuscripts: technical issues

Dionysus

I'm just wondering does anybody have any technical advice on taking digital photographs of manuscripts which are 500 years old?

I asked the head archivist will her library be digitalising the manuscripts in question and she said that she had been informed that the ink was not conducive to digitalising them. I was surprised at this response having thought a digitalised version would be better than the existing version, and certainly better than that archaic microfilm; you can zoom in on digital versions, for instance, which is invaluable in decoding the old handwriting.

However, I am able to photograph them - around 300 manuscripts - myself and I'm looking for guidelines. Already, I'm conscious that I would be better off buying a camera stand to avoid any handshaking as the photo must necessarily be very sharp.

What other technical issues will I need to address in order to maximise the quality of the photographed manuscripts? Are there cameras which would be more appropriate for this task? What sort of light settings do I need? ....

Any expertise would be great. Thanks.

Eirebear

Sounds like your in for a painstaking job my friend!

I'm not entirely sure about this, but i would presume that 500 year old manuscripts may be fairly delicate when it comes to light etc? It could cause issues when photographing them in terms of flash and lighting which you may have to think about.

Hopefully some of the others will be more help than can be, im just posting what comes into my head really....

gloobag

Obviuosly you'll get better results with an SLR camera rather than a compact, I would also recommend off camera side lighting if you intend on being able to see the texture of the manuscript in the final photo.

5uspect

I would be easier with a good setup. Camera, tripod, some sort of stand to support the books. Also some sort of safe lighting would be eseential. With a sturdy tripod and book stand you should be able to do quite long exposures with gentle light.

A PC tethered SLR would be pretty good. You could control the exposure from the PC or even set up a sequence of shots, one every 5 seconds and then you could concentrate on simply turning the pages. failing that a cable release.

cnocbui

To do it properly you should use a Copy stand.



The lights should be at 45 degrees to the base, thus preventing light reflecting from the page intot the lens.

I think flashes would be fine and might result in less light exposure than constantly lit lamps.

Burnt

Earlier thread on a similar subject. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055458025

Tactical

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