Re: Scanner selection


Michael Keller (keller@wvinter.net)
Sun, 24 Jan 1999 10:49:35 -0500


No, your computer (and Pshop) will still be working with a 24 bit image. You
scanner may scan at 30-36 bits, but your display is still limited to 24, as is
your output device. There's some magic here I don't understand, but your final
scan will be tweaked down from the higher res to 24 bits. I suspect that
having controls in the scanner s/w is what allows you to make use of those
extra bits. I think also that Pshop 5 also makes use of the extra bits. I'm
getting in over my head here!<g>

You might think of it as having a lens or film that has greater capabilities
than your print surface. Greater input power gives you more options at the
creative output end.

As for RAM, I scanned a friend's Cirkut print recently on my flatbed. It was
35" by 10" high, so I had to do five "bites" across my flatbed scanner, then
stitch it together. At 250dpi the final image was 75M. Manipulations and saves
were taking 5 minutes by the time I got that far. Obviously I was making heavy
use of the scratch disk. It took about 10 minutes to send the final file to a
ZIP disk via the parallel port!

Judy Seigel wrote:

> If I understand you correctly, Michael, then one might not want the
> bit-most scanner. I have had a personality warp from the computer --
> gotten EXTREMELY impatient. Can't bear waiting while Photoshop does a big
> file, the thought of a file BIGGER than 20 megabytes, as I assume it would
> be with a 36-bit scanner... well, maybe I'll get the Playskool scanner
> after all.



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