DIGITAL CAMERAS

For TV 4 (a cable access channel) we use the Sony S-85. For both publication to the web and conversion to an NTSC TV signal it does an excellent job. Bobbie's digital camera is a 4 meg Olympus E-10. I cannot say enough nice things about this camera. She has made some excellent 13x19 inch prints with it! The 8.5x11 inch prints are suitable for publication after a little messaging in PhotoShop. My current cameras are the 12 meg Nikon D2x  and the Fuji S2 (Nikon N80 body).  I use the Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro - a legend for sharpness; the Nikon 50mm f1.8 - Nikon's sharpest and cheapest lens; the Nikon 12-24mm f4 super wide angle, the Nikon 17-35mm f2.8; and the Nikon 70-200 VR f2.8 (VR = vibration reduction). All are extremely sharp lenses.

SCANNERS

Digital darkroom means exactly that. So, my old slides and negatives are scanned as 4000 dpi images with the inexpensive  Nikon Coolscan V ED. These images are then stored on hard drives. If the images aren't going to be used for awhile they are stored on a portable  hard drive, such as the Seagate 200 gig.  We also have two flatbed scanners for scanning real objects as well as prints. The latest is an Epson 4870 which does an excellent job on medium and large format chromes. Of course we could always have our chromes professionally scanned with a drum scanner but we have found that the 4870  scans are very close to drum scans!

COMPUTERS

I use a Dell XPS (Pentium 4) running at 3.2 gig with 2 gig of RDRAM on a mirrored array. If one drive fails, everything is still on the mirrored drive. Bobbie uses a Pentium 4 running at 2.0 MHZ with 1 gig of ram and a SCSI hard drive (Seagate Cheeta at 15,000 rpm).

These computers are set up with very fast video cards each with 128 megs of video ram. We both use a RW/R CD writer as well as DVD.  Both computer were set up for SPEED in manipulating large graphic files. 

SOFTWARE

For the most part, PhotoShop CS (8) is used to produce both the straight photographs and the highly manipulated and composited photographs. This is the industry standard and has so many features that few professionals ever master it completely! It is a VERY powerful program. I also use Corel Draw, Bryce, and Image Styler. This web was produced using FrontPage 2000.

PRINTERS

We have three color printers, The Epson Photo EX,  the Epson 1270, and a wide format Epson 7600 (capable of 24" borderless prints of any length). Although the quality is excellent with the Photo Ex, the 1270 produces prints equal to professional lab results using Cibachrome (Ilfochrome II) or a fine mat black and white photo paper. The 7600 is the ultimate printer, producing unrivaled color and b&w prints with archival qualities of over 100 years (for b&w)!

Using an 8x loupe it is impossible to see any "dots" on Epson's new Heavyweight Mat or Premium Glossy paper! And this paper is archival for 25 years as tested by Wilhelm Testing Labs. For comparison the standard of the industry used to be Cibachrome at 26 years.

The 7600 can use either dyes or pigmented inks. The prints rival (and usually surpass) anything available at any price, darkroom or digital. Ultachrome Inks produce an archival life from 75-85 years to over 100 years for black and white. The Photo Dyes, on the other hand, can produce a D-max of 3.08 with color prints. This high D-max surpasses anything previously available from the darkroom or any other means. Using 720, 1440, or 2880 dpi, the dots simply can NOT be seen.

MOUNTING AND FRAMING

We use a Logan commercial mat cutter and a Seal Jumbo mounting press. Our frames are the standard metal frames or custom wood. Some of our stuff looks really good in old barn wood frames.

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So there you have it. Fine art color and black and white prints in your own "darkroom" without getting your hands wet! (no chemicals to mix, no chemicals to smell, no running water, no large darkroom, and a lot cheaper - well maybe not the way I did it.)