Better Light 7 manual

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Table of contents for the manual

  • Page 1

    Large F ormat D igital Scanning Camera S ystem Revision D March 2007 U ser ’ s M anual featuring… Digital Scanning Camera S oftware[...]

  • Page 2

    2 Ackno wledgements Better Light acknowledges and is grateful for the har d work and dedication of its employees. Additionally , Better Light acknowledges the contributions of its Beta testers and industry colleagues. is manual may not, in whole or part, be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, or con - verted to any electronic form witho[...]

  • Page 3

    CAUTION! PINCH HAZARD: DO NOT OPERA TE INSERT OUTSIDE CAMERA. A TTENTION! DANGER DE PINCEMENT : NE P AS EMPLOYER A VEC L ’INSERTION A L ’EXTERIEUR DE LA CAMERA. ACHTUNG! ZWICKGEF AHR: NICHT AUSSERHALB DER KAMERA BETREIBEN VERLETZUNGSGEF AHR. W arning: This is a class A product. In a domestic environment this product may cause radio interference[...]

  • Page 4

    4[...]

  • Page 5

    5 Contents P arts List .......................................................................................................................................10 Connector Identification ............................................................................................................... 11 Getting S tarted ...............................[...]

  • Page 6

    6 Automatically N aming Images ...................................................................................................31 Adding N otes to Y our Picture .................................................................................................... 32 Exposur e Ev aluation ............................................................[...]

  • Page 7

    7 Changing Existing Color Balances ......................................................................................52 Deleting Color Balances ...................................................................................................... 52 Altering Color Balance for M ood or Effect ....................................................[...]

  • Page 8

    8 Adding N otes to Y our Pictures ............................................................................................68 Exporting N otes .................................................................................................................. 68 Automatically S aving F iles to a Folder .............................................[...]

  • Page 9

    9 Appendices ....................................................................................................................................84 Appendix A - Cleaning the CCD Co ver Glass ........................................................................... 84 Appendix B - M anipulating Exposure ............................................[...]

  • Page 10

    10 P ar ts List 1. Control Unit (1) 2. Insert (1) 3. Double shielded cable (1) 4. USB cable (1) 5. Power supply(1) 6. Power cord(1) [not shown] 7. Filters (1 daylight, 1 tungsten) 8. Focus card (2) 9. V iewing overlay (3) 10. Holster (1)[...]

  • Page 11

    11 Connector I dentification[...]

  • Page 12

    12 Getting S tar ted Installing and Configur ing the ViewF inder ™ S oftware Insert the CD containing the V iewFinder™ camera contr ol software and copy the entire camera software folder and its contents to the Applications folder on y our computer’ s hard disk. Y ou may also wish to copy the additional items on the CD to your computer ’ s[...]

  • Page 13

    13 M emor y Requir ements e V iewFinder™ softwar e requires about 20,000K bytes (about 20 MB) of memory to operate, as shown in its Get I nfo window . System R equir ements Macintosh G3 processor or better Mac OS 10.4.0 or later PC (PC version of the softwar e is requir ed) P entium III P rocessor or better Windows XP or later Common r equirem[...]

  • Page 14

    14 Quick S tart Guide 1. Connect the camera insert to the control unit Plug the male end of the insert connector into the DB-25 socket on the camera control unit into the (marked as “DB-25 Insert Connector ” in the connector identification image on page 8). Make sure the plug is firmly seated in the socket before securing it to the connector [...]

  • Page 15

    15 3. Connect the AC po wer to the control unit U se only an approved po wer cord with a plug appropriate for the pow er receptacles of the region. e camera has an external universal pow er adapter , able to operate from any AC v oltage between 100 and 240 volts nominal, 47 to 63 Hz single phase, without changing switches or jumpers. e camera[...]

  • Page 16

    16 of the ground glass to position the viewing ar ea correctly . e outside of the mask can be trimmed with a pair of sharp scissors for a better fit in certain view cameras. 7. Install the infrar ed blocking filter F or normal color imaging, one of the infrared blocking filters supplied with the system must be installed on either side of the [...]

  • Page 17

    17 a lens shade is recom- mended to reduce possible filter flare. e infrared filter can be fitted to most smaller 4x5 lenses by means of a clip-on filter holder (not supplied), usually sold for use with 35 mm cameras. An easily available alterna - tive is to use photographer ’ s black tape or a large rubber band (using crossed loops to se[...]

  • Page 18

    18 12. P rescan Click the button to take a quick scan of the image. Check the prescan image to make certain that the intended image is displayed in the preview . Adjust the camera and software settings and make additional prescans until the intended image is achieved. 13. T ake the picture When satisfied, click the button to take the final image.[...]

  • Page 19

    19 P rescanning e usual method of operating the Better Light camera centers around the tasks of prescanning the scene, adjusting parameters to achieve the intended image, then scanning the final image. is method allows for iteratively adjusting the composition, lighting and exposure to give the photographer confidence that the image on scre[...]

  • Page 20

    20 F ast P rescans e F ast Pr escan checkbox in the main control area selects between normal pr escans (unchecked), per - formed at exactly the line time and color balance (sen - sitivity) selected, and F ast Pr escans (checked), which are performed at the highest sensitivity and shortest line time that will still yield the same color balance an[...]

  • Page 21

    21 Cropped P rescans P rescans always scan and refresh the entir e image area unless the C rop Pr escan box is checked. When the Cr op Pr escan box is checked, only the cropped area indicated in the preview screen will be scanned, which can greatly reduce the o verall prescan time. Out - side the cropped area, the pr escan image will remain unchang[...]

  • Page 22

    22 S uper View P rescans is is a feature that allows a quick scan of a prescan sized ar ea in the image at the current r esolution. is is a great feature for checking focus and depth of field without having to make a full scan and opening the image in Photoshop. When Super is checked, a r ed rectangle corresponding to the ar ea of a preview-[...]

  • Page 23

    23 Saving and Viewing P r escans After a prescan has been made the Save P r escan… option may be selected from the File menu. When selected, the current, adjusted preview image data is saved as a TIFF image file into the folder selected in the Save F ile dialog box that will appear . e image file is given the default name entered in the main[...]

  • Page 24

    24 Rulers Selecting S how Rulers from the Display menu will cause rulers to be displayed on the top and left edges of the preview image. Command-R (Control-R in Windows) can also be used to turn rulers on and off. e rulers are shown in the curr ent units selected on the Size tab panel. e origin for the rulers is set by default to the upper-l[...]

  • Page 25

    25 I mage Captur e S ettings Resolution T o change the selected resolution, click the R esolution Incr ease or D ecrease button. Each click will select the next higher or next lower setting. Click and hold either button to advance rapidly through the available selections. H old the Option key down and click on the I ncrease or D ecrease buttons to [...]

  • Page 26

    26 fewer , effectively larger pixels. is process always samples the entire image area, does not skip lines, and thus is immune to aliasing caused by subsampling (skipping pixels). ese lower r esolution selections average more CCD data values together to produce the larger pixels; this averaging lo wers the CCD noise levels, and increases the[...]

  • Page 27

    27 Line T ime ese up/down pushbuttons select the integration time for each line in a scan, and are the digital equivalent of the shutter time. As with film, the primary controls for determining exposure ar e the lens aperture and the line time (shutter time) along with the amount of light (which is also controllable to some extent in many studi[...]

  • Page 28

    28 e Scan T ime readout displays the o verall scan time for the selected Scan Ar ea, Resolution , and Line Time settings. e o verall scan time is simply the (actual) time per line multiplied by the number of lines in the scan. Remember that moving y our light in half the distance from the lamp to the subject will increase y our light level by[...]

  • Page 29

    29 Exposur e Lock Clicking on the Exposur e Lock button switches the exposure lock on or off. When on , changing the Line Time will automatically change the ISO to maintain the same exposur e. Changing the ISO will correspondingly change the Line T ime to maintain the same exposure. I t is a fast, accu- rate means to optimize the balance of Line T[...]

  • Page 30

    30 Scanning After the prescan image has been inspected and the exposure and other image characteristics hav e been adjusted to give the desired r esults (as viewed in the preview) then the final image is captured by clicking on the button. e camera will then begin the final scan process, storing the image on the Control U nit disk drive. e [...]

  • Page 31

    31 used for other operations while the scan continues in the background. If , during a scan to the cam- era ’ s disk drive, the program is exited, the scan will continue until its normal conclusion and cannot be canceled until the V iewFinder™ program is r e-entered. While the scan is in progr ess, the scan bar movement acr oss the preview area[...]

  • Page 32

    32 If Auto N aming is active, you can add mor e words, edit or r eplace the auto entry data by editing the entry in the filename field on the main control panel before the scan is made. e image file name will have a “.tif ” filetype extension automatically appended to the filename when saved to the host computer . e computer’ s ope[...]

  • Page 33

    33 Exposur e E valuation Digital S pot M eter ing e camera control software includes two types of digital spot meters . e first is a “live ” spot meter that displays information about the image as the cursor is moved within the pr eview area. S pecific areas of the image can be metered at any time by mo ving the cursor to the area of in[...]

  • Page 34

    34 Determining R elative Exposur e e digital spot meter can be used to quickly measure exposure v alues in an image and to help determine proper exposure and tone curve selection. After performing an initial prescan, meter an important shadow or highlight area (wher e detail must be maintained) to determine this region ’ s R GB data values, wh[...]

  • Page 35

    35 S tatic S pot M eter T ool During exposure, color balance, and tone curve selection, the same regions in an image often need to be metered repeatedly as changes ar e made. e digital spot meter features static spots that mark locations on the image and display the metered values for these points on the Color and T one tab panels. is allows [...]

  • Page 36

    36 Setting the S pot M eter S ize e number of pixels used to determine spot meter readings can be selected from the S pot Meter S ize popup menu above the histogram. e choices for displaying the data are either a single pixel (1x1), or the av er - age of a square group of pix els (3x3 or 5x5). In all cases, the centermost pixel is centered wi[...]

  • Page 37

    37 Histogram In addition to the location-specific image information pro vided by the spot meter , a histogram display presents overall image expo - sure information at a glance for the currently selected cr op area. is display has a horizontal scale from zer o to 255, representing the pos - sible 8-bit data values for the image data (either any[...]

  • Page 38

    38 against the left (zero) side of the histogram, the image is probably underexposed, and will be dark. Likewise, if a significant portion of the image data is above the desired value for highlight detail, the image is prob - ably over exposed, and will be bright. Data concen - trated near both ends of the histogram implies a high- contrast image,[...]

  • Page 39

    39 T ool Bar Magnify T ool e preview may be enlarged (“ zoomed in ”) by selecting the Magnify tool from the top set of buttons or by pressing and holding the Command key (Contr ol key in Windo ws) and clicking in the preview at the point of interest. e cursor icon will change to a magnifying glass with a plus sign ( ) in the center to ind[...]

  • Page 40

    40 M easur e T ool (Mac only) e distance between two points in the preview image may be measured b y selecting the Measur e tool from the top set of buttons. Click in the preview to mark the start of the distance to be measured and drag to the end of the distance. When the mouse is r eleased, the “ distance ” is given on the Size tab panel i[...]

  • Page 41

    41 T oneZones ™ T ool Selecting the T oneZones™ tool from the top set of buttons will colorize the pr eview image to allow for rapid assessment of the image tones. When the T oneZones™ tool is selected, the grayscale beneath the histogram display will be replaced by a color zone display and a popup menu. is easy- to-use exposure tool assig[...]

  • Page 42

    42 Sets of T oneZones™ may be saved, named and reused b y using the popup menu below the T one- Zones™ color bar . Once a set of zones is made, click on the T oneZones™ popup and select N ew Set - ting , then give the setting a name in the dialog box that appears. e set of T oneZones™ will be saved with that name in the P references fil[...]

  • Page 43

    43 Crop M ask T ool When working with cropped areas for scanning, a cr op mask may be displayed on the preview by selecting the C rop Mask tool from the top set of buttons or by pressing and holding the Com- mand key (Control key in Windows) and pressing and r eleasing the slash key (/) (aka virgule key). A crop mask will appear surrounding the cro[...]

  • Page 44

    44 When manual grid adjustment is used, the values in the grid spacing fields in the P ref - erences ar e automatically adjusted to reflect the manual settings. When opening the ViewFinder™ pr ogram again, the grid values will be those active when the program was previously quit (if the A uto Save P refer ences option is checked in the File men[...]

  • Page 45

    45 T ab P anels Siz e P anel Scan Ar ea & Cropping F or those instances not requiring the full scan area of the camera, fully v ariable image cropping is pro vided. Both proportional cropping (using the Scan Area up/ down buttons) and manual cropping (using the cr op tool or the Size panel) can be used to select any desired rectangular ar ea wi[...]

  • Page 46

    46 e crop r ectangle may be locked to maintain the aspect ratio proportional to the size indicated by the Scan Area displays by clicking on the Lock Crop Ratio button in the size tab panel. e button will change to a icon and the aspect ratio of the crop rectangle will be locked out to any manual changes. e crop rectangle may be mo ved whil[...]

  • Page 47

    47 on Windows) is held do wn while the Insert Direction popup is selected, or if the Rotate with Image option is checked in the P refer ences. Dimension settings can be stored and r eused with the Setting popup menu (F igure D). After selecting the units, the pixels per unit and the insert direction, selecting the “N ew Setting ” option from th[...]

  • Page 48

    48 Resolution is independent of the crop ratio. Once cr op shape and size is set, select the reso- lution (file size) that you wish to use. Ho wever , if y ou type in a different pixel density (e.g. pixels per inch) the crop box siz e will change since it alters the size of the file needed. Y ou can restor e the desired crop ar ea by lower ing t[...]

  • Page 49

    49 F aster Scans for F r ee! In many instances, the requir ed image file size will be smaller than the maximum available from the scanning camera. In these cases, it may be advantageous to r otate the inser t 90 degrees from its usual orientation and then use the crop tool to redefine the scan ar ea such that the shorter image dimension is parall[...]

  • Page 50

    50 Color P anel Color balance adjustments are used to neutralize unwanted color casts, and also to introduce intentional color casts for mood or effect. V iewFinder™ allo ws the photographer to adjust color balance in increments of 0.1 CC (color correction units), and also pro vides an automatic balancing function for rapid neutralization of col[...]

  • Page 51

    51 If a grayscale or car d is not used, a white background or neutral tones of the subject itself could be used for the color balance. (It is best to use an R GB value that falls in the linear portion of the tone cur ve, typically between 85 and 200). If not already ther e, enter the Color tab panel. If a spot has been recorded, the A uto Balance b[...]

  • Page 52

    52 Changing Existing Color Balances Any existing color balance setting can be altered by first selecting the setting from the Color Balance popup menu. en make any desired color changes by entering new color balance or filter values, or by performing another Auto B alance . en select Update C urrent S etting from the Color Bal - ance popup [...]

  • Page 53

    53 Reverting to a P r evious Color Balance e Revert button may be used to return to the set of color balance numbers in effect befor e the last Auto B alance was per formed. Revert will also change the filter numbers back to their pr evious values. is can be useful for experimenting with the filter values, allo wing you to tr y a set of va[...]

  • Page 54

    54 T one P anel T onal adjustments are most often used to make changes in the overall contrast range of an image, or to make changes to the placement of midtone values without affecting highlight or shadow values (or to make changes in highlight values without affecting midtone or shadow values, etc.). U nlike most of the exposure and color balan[...]

  • Page 55

    55 also reduced, since the dominant colors are “bright ”, and the secondary colors are “ dark ”, and this dif- ference is reduced along with the o verall image contrast. As contrast and color saturation are both affected b y tone cur ve changes, any attempt to profile the camera system must be done with a tone curve identical to the one b[...]

  • Page 56

    56 e second method for 16 bits per color images is selected by clicking on the small button. e current tone curve will be applied to the image in 16-bit mode. e resulting file size will be dou - bled as it was for “N one 14-bit”, but will open in the image processing application (e.g. Photoshop) with a normal visual range. Brightness/[...]

  • Page 57

    57 Y ou can change the pivot point of the contrast buttons by sliding the z ero position of the scale at the bottom of the tone curve. Drag the zero EV mar ker to the desired location, then hold the Option key ( Alt key on Windo ws) while the contrast buttons are clicked and the curve will pivot at the zero position. Manual T one Curve Adjustments [...]

  • Page 58

    58 Limit Line On the left side of the tone graph is a curved green line that never mo ves. is is the line that denotes the limit for conversion from the 14-bits/channel of the raw camera image to 8-bits/channel in the image file without skipping any values. If a tone curve is created or modified in such a way as to have the tone curve go into [...]

  • Page 59

    59 T one Curve Histogram While the T one panel is active, a histogram of the image data appears in a gray color in the tone curve graph. e shape of this histogram is different from the one in the main window because it is based on the raw 14-bit image data, not the converted 8-bit data shown in the prescan image. e tone curve histogram does [...]

  • Page 60

    60 Saving T one Curves After creating or modifying a tone curve, you may wish to save the new curve; either as startup preferences, or as part of a custom setting. S elect the New S etting option from the T one Curve popup menu (Windows), or the Add S etting button next to the T one Curve popup menu (Mac), at the bottom of the T one tab panel. Ente[...]

  • Page 61

    61 F ocus P anel is digital camera system provides an extr emely accurate method of verifying correct image focus after the device has been inserted into the view camera. F ocus can be checked and adjusted at any point in the image, using data from the CCD image sensor itself. While this method is no substitute for proper setup of the view camer[...]

  • Page 62

    62 Selecting a F ocus S ite ere are sev eral factors to consider when select- ing locations within an image for focus verification. e focus-quality algorithm displays the aggregate differences in intensity between adjacent pix els within the selected area; this means that best-focus determination will work best on high-contrast lines or edg[...]

  • Page 63

    63 As the focus is adjusted on a view camera, the image also changes size, and therefor e moves slightly as a function of its distance from the optical axis. e human eye-brain follows this mo vement during focus adjustments, but the digital camera ’ s CCD remains stationary , sometimes causing confusing focus indications as edges or bright spe[...]

  • Page 64

    64 In addition to the “ waveform ” graphic display , the pixel data fr om each line segment is analyzed by the computer , using algorithms that detect and amplify the differences in brightness between adja - cent pixels. e r esult from this analysis is displayed both as a number in large type, and as a bar graph. As the number increases, th[...]

  • Page 65

    65 be added to the displays. All three channels may be selected for simultaneous display . As mentioned earlier , this focusing system is so accurate that it is often possible to determine slightly different best- focus positions for each color , even when using the finest apochromatic lenses. Best focus must be determined by adjusting the focus [...]

  • Page 66

    66 I mage F ile Management and R etrieval Digital scanning cameras can easily generate gigabytes of image data in a single day . e transfer , handling, and storage of this amount of information should be carefully considered to optimiz e both time and efficiency . Better Light ’ s USB-2 based camera system stores all images onto a dedicated in[...]

  • Page 67

    67 e ViewF inder ™ F ile M anager Images stored on the digital camera ’ s internal disk drive can be accessed by using the camera control software ’ s File M anager dialog, which is started from the F ile menu, or by typing its keyboard shortcut Command-F ( Control-F in Windows). When this dialog window is displayed, the camera is queried [...]

  • Page 68

    68 If Auto S ave is activated and you wish to save the files to another drive or r emovable media, be sure to uncheck the A uto Save box in the F ile Manager window . is will temporar - ily disable Auto Sav e (it does not change the Pr eferences settings). e Save action can be cancelled (with Command-period , Control-period in Windo ws) if y[...]

  • Page 69

    69 Automatically S aving Files to a F older When the Automatically sav e scans function is activated in the Pr eferences , the files selected in the File Manager will be sav ed to the folder location you have specified in the Pr eferences . is saving pr o- cess will begin immediately when you pr ess Retrieve in the F ile Manager without a Sav [...]

  • Page 70

    70 Retrieving I mage Files e File Manager pr ovides a very flexible method of transferring image files from the camera disk drive to any destination folder on the host computer , including shared folders on other networked computers. If the A uto Save function is disabled, select (highlight) the desired file as described previ - ously , then [...]

  • Page 71

    71 Selecting the R etrieval T one Curve (USB controller only) Images are stor ed on the controller’ s internal hard drive in 16-bit raw mode (as though you had selected the “N one 14-bit” tone curve in the T one panel). When you retrieve the images to the host computer you choose whether to keep them in raw mode, or apply a tone curve, and ch[...]

  • Page 72

    72 Deleting Image F iles Images scanned to the camera ’ s internal disk drive remain on the drive until specifically deleted. is provides an extra lev el of backup protection for a job in progress, but can eventually clog the drive if images are not deleted r egularly . After retrieving the images, and verifying that the retrieved files are [...]

  • Page 73

    73 M enus F ile M enu F ile Manager ⌘ F (Control-F in W indows) Opens the F ile Manager windo w . Save P r escan ⌘ S (Control-S in W indows) Saves the pr escan image as a TIFF file (including the adjustments made to produce the cur- rent preview image). e default file name is taken from the filename field in the main ViewF inder window w[...]

  • Page 74

    74 Quit ⌘ Q (Control-Q in W indows) (under the ViewF inder window on Mac OS X) Closes the program. Edit M enu Cut ⌘ X (M ac only) Cut the selected text fr om the edit field to the Clipboard. Copy ⌘ C (Mac only) Copy the selected text from the edit field to the Clipboard. P aste ⌘ V (M ac only) P aste the Clipboard text into the selected e[...]

  • Page 75

    75 Display M enu Insert Dir ection Selects the insert orientation, as viewed from behind the camera. T oneZones™ Selects the T oneZones™ false-coloring tool. Crop M ask ⌘ (Control- in Windo ws) Selects the Cr op Mask tool. G rid ⌘ ’ (Control-’ in Windo ws) Selects the G rid tool. Display M ode Selects the mode for the display as one [...]

  • Page 76

    76 Zoom to 100% ⌘ 0 (Control-Alt-0 in Windows) Zooms the preview image to 100%. N ormalize Histogram ⌘ N (Contr ol-N in Windows) When selected, scales the histogram display to fit all the data into the display area. Controls on Right P ositions ViewF inder’ s controls on the right side of the windo w . Controls on T op P ositions ViewF inder[...]

  • Page 77

    77 Captur e M ode Selects the type of image capture: Color - a full color image is captured. Red - only the red channel is imaged. G reen - only the green channel is imaged. Blue - only the blue channel is imaged. N ote: this menu option is linked to the popup menu on the main ViewF inder window and duplicates its functionality . Clean/P ark Opens [...]

  • Page 78

    78 U ser P r efer ences Some of the operating parameters of the camera control software can be customized for easier use, as determined by the type of imaging being done, and the prefer ences of the camera operator . e default operation of several of the exposure tools, and the default settings of several scan options, can be selected and saved [...]

  • Page 79

    79 A folder may also be selected as the preferred location for saving pr escans when the Save P rescan… menu option is selected from the F ile menu. Click the P rescan F older… (PC) or Choose (Mac) button to bring forward a dialog box for selecting the pr escan folder . After selecting the folder , its name should be displayed to the right of t[...]

  • Page 80

    80 N ote that if the name for a saved prescan r emains unchanged after a previous pr escan with that name already being display ed in Photoshop, the new prescan data will o ver write the existing image file, but Photoshop will issue a warning that the (new) file is alr eady open (since its name is the same as the file already being display ed), [...]

  • Page 81

    81 G rid e default color and spacing of the vertical and horizontal rulings for the Grid tool can be set with the controls in the G rid area of the Pr eferences windo w . When the Color button is clicked, the System Color P icker window appears. Select the color for the grid lines and click on the OK button. On the Macintosh the S ystem Color Pi[...]

  • Page 82

    82 U sing Sounds At the conclusion of each prescan or final scan, a sound may be played. e Play sound when scan finishes and Play sound when pr escan finishes options may be used to activate this capability . e sound to be played is selected by clicking on the Choose Sound… button. A small window will appear with a list of the available [...]

  • Page 83

    83 T ime Lapse I t is now possible to make time lapse sequences. Check the T ime Lapse checkbox, then fill in the time in seconds between images and the total number of images to make. When the Scan button is clicked, the time lapse sequence will start. e first image will be captured, then V iewFinder will wait the specifed number of seconds, [...]

  • Page 84

    84 A ppendix A Cleaning the CCD Cov er Glass F irst, position the camera insert face up on a clean, stable surface. Use the Clean/P ark menu option to move the CCD to its cleaning position. e camera may r emain turned on during the cleaning procedure. W e recommend the use of e-wipe™ cleaning pads for the best results with the least effort. 1[...]

  • Page 85

    85 A ppendix B Manipulating E xposur e e Better Light digital camera system pro vides a ver y flexible set of controls for adjusting both exposure and processing. M ost of these controls are dir ectly analogous to their film photography namesakes, but several have not previously been r eadily available to the photographer , and none hav e prov[...]

  • Page 86

    86 Incr easing the line time is the “ cleanest” method of incr easing exposure. Doubling the line time yields one EV (f-stop) of incr eased sensitivity , but only increases the background noise level by 1.4 times. Color Balance (S ensitivity) Controls the relative sensitivity of each color channel; continuously adjustable in 0.1 CC (1/10 color [...]

  • Page 87

    87 e philosophy of stopping down to f/32 (or smaller) that was often done with film and strobes is not the best practice for high-r esolution digital capture. M ost lens manufacturers say that the best overall image quality is obtained 2 f-stops belo w “ wide open ” (e.g. f/11 is best on a f/5.6 lens). As the lens is stopped down to small a[...]

  • Page 88

    88 A ppendix C Line T ime Settings Selected Line T ime Actual Line T ime ____________________________________ Exact 60 Hz 50 Hz 1/3000 sec. 0.33 msec. 0.33 msec. 0.33 msec. 1/1500 sec. 0.67 msec. 0.67 msec. 0.67 msec. 1/1000 sec. 1.00 msec. 1.00 msec. 1.00 msec. 1/800 sec. 1.33 msec. 1.33 msec. 1.33 msec. 1/600 sec. 1.67 msec. 1.67 msec. 1.67 msec.[...]

  • Page 89

    89 A ppendix D Resolution S elections model 4000E-HS file size (MB) resolution pixels lines 24-bits 48-bits 100% 3750 5000 53.6 107.3 80% 3000 4000 34.3 68.7 60% 2250 3000 19.3 38.6 40% 1500 2000 8.6 17.2 20% 750 1000 2.1 4.3 preview 750 1000 2.1 4.3 model 6000-HS, 6000E-HS file size (MB) resolution pixels lines 24-bits 48-bits 100% 6000 8000 137[...]

  • Page 90

    90 S uper 6K-HS file size (MB) resolution pixels lines 24-bits 48-bits 150% 9000 12000 309.0 618.0 137% 8250 11000 259.6 519.3 125% 7500 10000 214.6 429.2 112% 6750 9000 173.8 347.6 100% 6000 8000 137.3 274.7 87% 5250 7000 105.1 210.3 75% 4500 6000 77.2 154.5 62% 3750 5000 53.6 107.3 50% 3000 4000 34.3 68.7 37% 2250 3000 19.3 38.6 25% 1500 2000 8.[...]

  • Page 91

    91 S uper 8K-HS file size (MB) resolution pixels lines 24-bits 48-bits 150% 12000 15990 549.0 1097.9 142% 11333 15101 489.6 979.3 133% 10666 14213 433.7 867.4 125% 10000 13325 381.2 762.5 117% 9333 12436 332.1 664.1 108% 8666 11548 286.3 572.6 100% 8000 10660 244.0 488.0 92% 7333 9771 205.0 410.0 83% 6666 8883 169.4 338.8 75% 6000 7995 137.2 274.5[...]

  • Page 92

    92 A ppendix E S tatus Indicators P ow er e camera controller has an LED that indicates the status of the pow er to the unit. is LED also indicates whether the Better Light rechargeable battery is charging (if connected). Controller P ower LED Color M eaning Off N o power is being applied Solid green P o wer is on Solid red Battery is chargi[...]

  • Page 93

    93 A ppendix F P anoramic Adapter e Better Light P ano/WideV iew can capture images for three types of panoramas; scene, rollout and object. Scene panoramas are when the camera is turned to capture an image of it ’ s surroundings. A rollout panorama is a single image of the surface of an object as it is turned. An object panorama is a sequence[...]

  • Page 94

    94 necessary to know the exact number of rotation degrees in advance. U se the rotate stage buttons at the bottom of the tab panel to position the camera before the desired start of the panorama. en put a value into the P review Extent field that will be gr eater than the actual desired value. T ake a prescan. U se the crop tool to select the d[...]

  • Page 95

    95 Rollout P anorama Har dware S etup F or a rollout, the camera is fixed to a tripod and the stepper stage unit is placed on a firm, non- skid surface in such a manner that it will not turn as the motor is activated. A flat platform is attached to the stage armature then mounted to the stepper motor stage. e subject is positioned in the cent[...]

  • Page 96

    96 Object P anorama Har dware S etup e hardwar e is assembled just as it is for a Rollout panorama. Softwar e Operation F or this operation, begin by selecting the Auto N aming option, A utomatically Save Scans and a Scan Destination F older in the Pr eferences window . is option will take a series of object images at fixed positions around [...]

  • Page 97

    97 A ppendix G Error M essages (not to be confused with Macintosh OS error message numbers) Camera Err ors “Camera r eported error: Busy ” e camera is busy doing something that prevents the r equested action. is message is usually encountered after exiting from a scan to the camera ’ s disk drive and subsequently attempting another scan[...]

  • Page 98

    98 “Camera r eported error: V alue Error ” e camera controller returns this error when an incoming parameter v alue is successfully con- verted to a number , but is out of range or otherwise inappropriate. is message should never be encountered in normal operation. “Camera r eported error: Math Err or” e camera controller returns t[...]

  • Page 99

    99 “er e is not enough free space on this volume to save the selected file. ” is error message may be encountered when attempting to r etrieve a file from the camera ’ s disk, saving a scan to RAM, or saving a preview image. e file volume (the user ’ s hard drive, remo vable media, network drive, etc.) does not have enough r oom[...]