Scan/Retouch/Print

With all the choices and possible combos there are out there for
scanners/retouch software/printers, has anyone seen or purchased
such a set-up to use with their PC which they feel is
outstanding? (i.e., allows art quality printing of brochures,
cards and stationery using standard paper, vellum, linen, or
some of the handmade papers?) Would greatly appreciate hearing
from you. Actually, this would be part II…what one does with
those great photo shots they have learned to take of their
jewelry and/or artwork.

Susan
Hanuman
The Ganoksin Project

Susan- I use a Umax Vista S-6E Color flatbed scanner. It’s not
the best on the market, but at $160.00 I couldn’t go wrong at the
time. It comes bundled with it’s own driver software as well as
Adobe Photodeluxe. Photodeluxe is a very user friendly Image
editing/retouching/minor modification program. The disk (CD ROM)
is in both Windows and Mac format, as is the driver software. The
machine comes with everything you need to connect, it even came
with some kind of graphics card, wich I have no idea how to
install, nor do I need to do so (Mac user). I highly reccomend
Umax to anyone contemplating (you can even use it as a
photocopier, in conjunction with your printer) buying a scanner.
The only problem I’ve found is that they don’t spend a whole lot
of money on advertisement so you have to know what you want, then
ask for it at your local “Computor City” -That’s where I got mine
and a friend got his.

Any Questions?

Tim Goodwin
@tmn8tr

Susan- I use a Umax Vista S-6E Color flatbed scanner.

I also have a Umax scanner Vista S8 model that works well.

There is a new color printer design on the market now- Alps has
a continuous tone printer that Rif, my computer guru, is speaking
highly of. Does each color in a separate pass, tops it with a
clear coat, and the result is like a photograph.

Rick
Richard D. Hamilton

Fabricated 14k, 18k, and platinum Jewelry
wax carving, modelmaking, jewelry photography

http://www.rick-hamilton.com
@rick_hamilton

Hi Susan, I use a Umax S-12 flatbed scanner, Adobe Photoshop 4.0
and Adobe Pagemaker 7.0 for these purposes. Yeah, I sunk some
dough into this setup, but I am pleased with the results. I
would caution, however, that these programs can have a steep
learning curve. I take all my own photographs of my pieces, then
scan and edit digitally, then place in my document - in this case
ads, a catalog and soon (or not so soon) to be released web page
for my store. I’d estimate I have about 1500 or so invested in
scanner and related software and that doesn’t even count the 17"
Sony monitor. Sigh. And I thought gold was spendy. Hope this
helps, Mike.

Hi Tim, Yes, I have a question… I have a scanner that is part of
the computer itself. only does 5x7 , but that’s enough. Ihave
been trying to get the image into the Orchid gallery - and no
luck so far. I thought I had to send it in a jpeg file… and
sent it out to some friends… only one was able to open it, and
she told me that the "file could be sent in a smaller format"
which meant absolutely nothing to me. I can retouch and print
but sending it off attached to email - I haven’t got a clue. Any
idea?

I thought I had to send it in a jpeg file… and
sent it out to some friends…

Send it to me, Joan, and I’ll have a look at it.

Brian
Brian Adam ph/fx +64 9 817 6816 NEW ZEALAND
http://crash.ihug.co.nz/~adam/
http://www.optisearch.com

Susan,

Are you planning on printing art quality colour prints directly
from your PC.If you are happy with reasonable quality printing,
an Inkjet will do the job. If you want top quality printing in
colour then a colour laser will do. But very expensive. Most
printers will only print onto 80 or 100gms paper. they will not
usually print onto hand made paper which is usually too thick. A
good flatebed scanner will with a resolution over 1200 DPI will
produce high quality images for you to edit. You will need a
lot of disk space if you a working in colour, and a PC fast
enough to cope with colur editing. A pentium 133 or over should
be OK, preferably with plenty of memory. Adobe Photoshop is
probably the best picture editor. Hope that helps Richard W UK

I have been using my Hewlett Packard scanjet 3c for a few years
now with excellent results. I research computer review
magazines when I want to make a purchase…They have at least one
issue per year that gives in-depth comparative reviews on
scanners & printers . They can be picked up at newsstands.

Here’s a good site for explaining image filetypes and best ways to compress
them.
http://www.webreference.com/dev/graphics/compress.html

Hope helps
Brian