Ayse{at}ada.com.tr said to Photo at 08-23-04  22:40
 Subject: historical manuscripts

 Ay> hi gang,

 Ay> is there a technique preferred for transferring historical/ancient
 Ay> manuscripts to digital medium?
 Ay> the guys that asked briefly think of using a digital camera and a
 Ay> table (etc) to put them on. but they can not decide the light to use
 Ay> to avoid the harm.

 I believe a lot would depend upon the documents themselves.  If they
 are fragile parchment that would crumble at the touch just getting the
 camera pointed at them would be a task.  If they are already under
 glass in a museum and you simply want copies, then I would say use
 your digital camera shooting with existing light.  The ability of my
 digitals exceeds any film I've had access to in exposure latitude.

 If exact reproduction of the original is secondary to preserving the
 information written on the documents, that gives you a wide range of
 computer controls allowing one to bring out detail and information the
 naked eye can't see.

 I don't think there is one answer that fits all situations.  Like
 someone else said here, ask at your local museum how they go about
 recording things of that nature for their microfilm library.

 If your going to wing it, get the picture without worrying about
 correct white balance etc.  All 0f that can be fixed in the computer.
 And like shooting film at a once in a life time chance to shoot,
 bracket, bracket and bracket.   Good luck with the project.  Keep us
 informed.

 Bob fer


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