Why our Fine Art Scanning Process

is one the Best in the Entire World:

It is because we use BetterLight® scanners

which are champions among the large format,

camera mounted scanners.

Their portability gives them a tremendous edge

over stationary, room-sized scanners.



Our Betterlight® Scanner has more than 16x the resolution

of the best 24 megapixel Pro-SLR digital camera.


We regularly scan images up to five feet by six feet

without a problem.

We also scan large murals.

If you try this with a "high" resolution professional

digital camera you will obtain inferior results.

No matter what you compare it to,

a BetterLight® digital scan outperforms every other "high"

resolution SLR digital or film device available.


The only thing that comes close to a BetterLight® digital scan is

an 8x10 fine grain photograph which is then scanned on a

high-end drum scanner. Check the cost for that photographic

process and you will quickly realize how affordable our

BetterLight® scanning prices really are.





BetterLight® Scanner
vs
Professional Digital Cameras

Imagine the difference in picture quality between a consumer grade 2 megapixel camera and an 8 megapixel camera. Quite a step up in quality even at the consumer level.

Now, think about the quality you would get if you had your art digitized with a 384 megapixel camera-mounted scanner. That is 16 times the quality that 24 megapixel studio digital cameras provide! We use the Super 8K-HS™ which is engineered to create file sizes as large as 1,100 MB and has ability to scan an area of about 60 inches by 80 inches at 200 dpi.

Yet a digital image's quality is derived from more than just a massive number of pixels. It is the technology in how those pixels are used that sets the BetterLight® system apart from digital studio cameras...

BetterLight® scanners are superior.
They Do Not Average a community of neighboring pixels
as standard studio digital cameras must do.


BetterLight® scanners are designed so that each pixel reports its own pure color.


Because BetterLight® pixels maintain their own identity, they also retain their individual sharpness.


Studio cameras that "average" a community of pixels leave fuzzy spots which are seen as an overall softness when compared to the Betterlight® images which remain tack-sharp under the same magnification.

Click Here for more really neat technical Info
concerning Digital Cameras vs the BetterLight® scanners.

BetterLight® Scanner
vs
Professional FILM Cameras

Film cameras that are less than 8x10 can not match the clarity that a BetterLight® scanner can achieve. Below is an example...

The Picture to the left is an image of rice paper which was scanned using a BetterLight® scanner.





The picture at the left is an image of the same rice paper taken with a professional 4x5 film camera using fine grain film.
The lens, distance, and other factors are equal to the image captured by the scanner.


©The rice paper image composites are used with permission

What makes the difference?

Ans: The pixels of the BetterLight's tri-linear sensor are smaller than film grain.
Film grain record clumps of light, while the BetterLight® scanner reports pixel-size data.
The same type of fuzziness occurs from studio digital cameras because their bayer pattern technology requires neighboring pixels to be clumped together.





Additionally, film has a built-in color bias

that approximates the lighting conditions

that will be used.

Film has an intentional color bias that affects its ability to accurately reproduce the original colors of your art.

How the film was stored, and the age of the unexposed film also affects its color accuracy.

An additional factor affecting the colors that appear on the film are the post-exposure development processes. And, although film types have defined manufacturing tolerances, each batch does vary slightly.





To compound the problem, drum scanners (that convert the

film to a digital file) cause an additional change of color because

of their own color-biased settings:


Once developed, the film must be scanned and that process introduces another imperfect color interpretation: The drum scanner's color profile that is used to interpret the scan of your film may not match your film brand, type, and batch.

Even if your film brand and type matched the one used to build the scanner profile, the age difference between your film and the scanners profile film will cause subtle variations because of deviations found between different film batches.

Below are samples of reflective targets for film scanners. Transparency targets have the same features but allow the light to pass through the target film. These expensive targets have an unstable shelf-life (just like the film you use) and must be replaced on a timely basis according to the manufacturer's recommendations.

The scanning target (and hence the drum scanner profile) is either made from, or is based on a specific brand, type, and batch of film used to make the target.

If your expected film characteristics are different from the color characteristics of the brand, type, and batch that was used to profile the drum scanner, then your results will be compromised.

FYI: When you have your art reproduction film scanned, it is always good to ask what film profiles they have available (In a perfect world, they will have a profile that exactly matches the brand and type of film that you are using (e.g., Kodak NC Portra, Fujichrome Type II Tungsten, etc.). If they do not mention the film that you are shooting with, then you will not get the results that you are expecting (without a lot of post process tweaking, and sometimes that is not enough to get the colors to match the original art).

So, with film, the color of your original art is modified during various steps before it becomes digital (i.e., before the computer can read it).

However, with a BetterLight® scanner, the colors become digital in one step. This ensures that the myriad of colors found within your original are more faithfully interpreted.


All of the above are the reasons we moved away from using large format film for
art reproduction.





In a nutshell, this is what is happening:
The entire color capture and reproduction process—digital or film—is imperfect and involves a series of tightly controlled conditions that are designed to produce the best results possible. Any deviation from those required conditions will cause further inaccuracies involving colors, details, or focus.


So, the question is, how much "color" and "detail" inaccuracy can you tolerate?
Who are your competitors in the art market?
Are they providing better-looking art reproductions?

If you are competing in the high-end range of art reprographics, then digital scanning is the only choice for color, for detail, and for cost.

We use a Lighting System that enables us to deliver some of the finest art imaging possible.


The color index of this system is about 95 CRI, meaning that

the colors in your art will be interpreted more faithfully.

But impressive image capture does not stop there....

We use world class camera lenses

RODENSTOCK LENSES

In addition to using some of the best lights and scanners, we also employ some of the finest lenses in the world: Rodenstock® APO-Sironar-S™ lenses. These incredible lenses provide superb contrast and faithful color interpretations of your art. The huge image circle provided by these type of lenses allows the captured image to sit comfortably within the prime choice of the image circle.