To Leigh (or anyone else that wants to do RGB scanning of their
intellectual property for their WEB sites):
HOORAY FOR YOUR SHARING SPIRIT! YOU'RE A GOOD SCOUT!
I have noted recently in PC/MAC-Warehouse as well as PC/MAC-Connection
"magazines" that there are several companies making scanners that will do
both paper & 35mm slides --- they are relatively expensive. At least one
helpful responder seemed to think you were trying to copy slides.
I do a good bit of color scanning of 8.5"x11" transparencies. We have an
older (about 2 years) HP-Scanner with a white cover flap that does regular
8.5"x11" transparencies (and paper, of course) very well. There are a
number of companies that offer "auto-feed" scanners (again at a
substantially higher cost). I assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that they
could feed transparency material as well. Certainly, our old mono-chrome
scanner with sheet feeder could do this. What we found is that the "sheet
feeder" capability added so much to the cost of the scanner with
relatively little gain that we decided to add just a little more to the
cost of ONE scanner with sheet feeder and get TWO scanners without the
feeders.
As far as the memory used for the color scanned images goes, you need to
make a decision: do you just want to have a graphic that anyone can see at
just "screen resolution" {75dpi (WIN) or 72dpi (MAC)}over the WEB or do
you want/need "archival resolution" as well. By archival resolution, I
mean that you (or anyone on the WEB) could pull down a 300dpi (or better)
copy of your original transparency or paper graphic.
1) If you want the archival resolution, there is no other way but to
expend memory. Once scanned, the file could be compressed (usually with a
savings of at least 2/3 to 3/4, sometimes up to a factor of 10) and saved
or transmitted in the compressed form. THIS IS WHAT I REGULARLY DO. The
files are saved as .EXE (WIN) or .SEA (MAC) so that either I or those that
pull them down can have the original full quality.
2) If screen resolution is all you want, simply save the images (in almost
any application) as either GIF or JIF(JPEG) and that is all you'll have,
75dpi (WIN) or 72dpi (MAC).
BTW: I'm told that there is a new GIF standard that will do 150dpi ---
why? I either want screen or archival resolution --- nothing inbetween
seems to be of value!
If you really have the additional money and want to provide the maximum
latitude either for yourself or for those that might pull files from your
WEB site, I would suggest a copy of DEBABBELIZER(sp?). I have used this
program on the MAC, and I'm told that it (or its equivalent) is available
for WIN. The program will RELIABLY convert any image format to any other
image format.