# 6 - Scanning Your Work for the Web

Scanning Your Work for the Web

By Chris Maher

I've been focusing on the marketing aspects of selling art online in the past several issues. Last week a reader e-mailed me with questions on how to best get work digitized for use on the web. This issue will review the options and make some recommendations.

The first question to be addressed is, should you have others scan the work for you, or do it yourself? Service bureaus and copy shops like Kinkos can scan your slides or prints of your work, but the results will vary with the skill of the operator and the amount you pay. My local Kinkos charges $9.95 for a scan of a print, but has no capability to scan slides. A high quality service bureau like Duggal in New York (1-800-382-2222) charges $20.00 for a scan of a 35mm slide.

Don't forget you will probably need some kind of removable storage (like a 100mb Zip drive) to transport the scans. A single floppy disk can only hold 1.4mb, and image files can be quite large.

I think the best option for those who don't want to invest in scanning equipment is Kodak's Photo CD. You can have a batch of slides or negatives scanned and put up to 100 on a single CD. The cost is quite reasonable, between $1.50 and $2.00 per scan. Many labs offer this service, not just Kodak. Wal Mart's Photo lab is quite inexpensive, and actually does good work.

Having a scanner of your own has some real advantages. You can put work up on your web site as soon as you do it. If a customer calls and wants to see a design in full color, you can post it to the web in a matter of minutes. You can do desktop publishing, T-shirts, and creative design work all without having to wait for someone to get the scans done.

For most artists and crafts people, the tool of choice would be a flatbed scanner. These are quite affordable, and can give excellence results. I've been blown away by the quality of the scans that I've gotten from my Umax Vista S6E, and it's available for as little as $261.00. (6/15/98 - Price update- the successor to my Vista S6E is the Astra 610, and Umax just announced another price drop... to $79.00!)

TIP - Any time you plan to buy new hardware or software always be sure to check prices at Price Watch -The Street Price Search Engine (http://www.pricewatch.com/).

To find the scanner that's just right for your needs, check out the Ziff Davis' How to Buy a Scanner It links to a bunch of current reviews. Also check out The Macintosh Peripheral Page (http://www.flash.net/~wdarner/mpp/scannert.html). It has links to many reviews of scanners.

For a good list of general scanner resources go to A few scanning tips by Wayne Fulton. This site has lots of information that will help beginners choose scanners, and learn to use them for best results. Both the basics and advanced ideas are covered.

If your originals are transparencies you might need a slide scanner. Slide scanners are relatively expensive, low end Nikon CoolScans are about $1100.00, Polaroid SprintScans start at about $800.00.

Digital cameras are now excellent ways to put work up on the web. They output quality of all but the least expensive units exceeds the needs of a web site. Be sure to choose one that can focus closely if you do small work. Check out the Digital Camera Resource page and Steve's Digicams for great review of the latest cameras more information.

In general, if you only want to put work up on the Web, you can buy a digital camera or a inexpensive flatbed scanner. If you also want to publish your work on cards or flyers, or plan to do creative work on the computer, look at the higher resolution flatbed scanners and slide scanners. And don't discount the quality you can get from a PhotoCD. That may be the best solution if you are not ready to invest in an expensive slide scanner.

This page last updated: 09/02/04

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