Secrets of direct digitizing

[Pierre Zagatti]

Doug Yanega wrote:
>

>
> As I commented to Ken Philip at one point, it looks more like the main
> problem is COST. You're describing a complete system that requires about
> $10,000 - given that the cost of taking slides (even if you take several
> per specimen to ensure good focusing, shadows, and color balance) and
> scanning them is around $1.50 per finished image, you'd need to take
> something like 7,000 images before you'd be just breaking even on the
> purchase of the system (and you won't have the original slides in hand,
> either, if something happens to your files). I have no idea what your final
> number is going to be for this project - do you think you'll eventually get
> your money's worth?
> Just curious as to the economics of such high-tech investments,
>
> Peace,
>
> Doug Yanega    Depto. de Biologia Geral, Instituto de Ciencias Biologicas,
> Univ. Fed. de Minas Gerais, Cx.P. 486, 30.161-970 Belo Horizonte, MG   BRAZIL
> phone: 031-448-1223, fax: 031-44-5481  (from U.S., prefix 011-55)
>                   http://www.icb.ufmg.br/~dyanega/
>   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
>         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82

Doug,

You are absolutely true about the cost of such a system, but we NEEDED a
color video camera, for scientific and academic purposes (the camera mounted on
the microscope is linked to a video monitor to show some dissections to our
students...). Obviously a mono-CCD camera would work, but this recall to me
the discussion with my wife to explain why I bought some Leica Trinovid
binoculars
for my butterfly/bird watching hobby against Nikon binoculars, 2 times cheaper
but not 2 times worse.
More seriously, after discussion with Nikon specialists at Apple Expo in Paris,
it appears that digital photo cameras using all the Nikon lens series will
become
available in 98-99, for less than 1500 $. Here is the future of digitized
images
for the entomologists, either professionals or not.

--
Pierre ZAGATTI
INRA Unite de Phytopharmacie et Mediateurs Chimiques
78026 Versailles Cedex
FRANCE
Tel: (33) 1 30 83 31 18
e-mail zagatti at versailles.inra.fr
http://www.jouy.inra.fr/papillon/