Technical Information

STANDARDS
Two Cat Digital specializes in scanning photographs to digital files. These digital files can then be used for a multitude of purposes: archival storage, image databases, web viewing, desktop printing, professional photo printing and offset printing. Here is some information about our scans:

RGB vs CMYK: There are many companies that specialize in scanning for offset printing. These companies will scan to a specific output size and provide digital files ready for prepress. Most often they provide the files in CMYK color mode. These scans are fine for printing at that one size on a particular printing press. However, they are not ideal for any other purpose, including desktop and professional level photographic printing. This means that if you get CMYK scans from a prepress shop, you will need to rescan them later for any other usage.

We scan to the RGB colorspace because it is a larger gamut. This means there is more color information in an RGB file. It is also the colorspace that is compatible with viewing on a monitor. You can convert it to CMYK later if you need to, but always save your original RGB file (use "Save As..." and give it another name) because you will lose considerable quality if you need to convert back from CMYK to RGB.

Image File Formats: We scan to either TIFF or JPEG. TIFF is uncompressed and is the industry standard for highest quality. Compression causes loss of quality. Since TIFF files are not compressed, the files are larger and fewer fit on a disc. But media prices (and hard drives) have come down to the point where this is no longer a consideration. TIFF is accepted by every major imaging application. TIFF is the best choice for printing your files.

For web viewing and printing through consumer labs (like Kodak, Ofoto, Shutterfly, etc), JPEG is the most common format. JPEG is a compressed format and one can control the amount of compression. The greater the compression, the smaller the file and the greater the loss of quality. We use the highest quality level when creating JPEG files. JPEG is also the standard for files coming off digital cameras.

Media Quality: For our ARCHIVE, PRO PHOTO CD II AND PHOTO CD II discs, we have standardized on Mitsui MAM-A Gold archival discs. Mitsui takes archival quality seriously and accelerated aging tests show Mitsui MAM-A gold discs will last for 300+ years. We could buy much cheaper media but that wouldn't be fair to customers expecting to archive their images on disc.

For our inexpensive ROLL SCAN CD, we use Mitsui MAM-A silver CD's but offer an upgrade for a nominal charge.

You get what you pay for with media. Do not trust your important images to twenty-five cent discs.

Dust and Scratches: We make every attempt to remove surface dust from film before scanning. We use oil-free, filtered compressed air to blow the dust off. We also maintain our scanning facility as dust free as possible with a separate air conditioning system, HEPA level filtration and humidity control. Our technicians wear lab coats and gloves when handling film. But sometimes dust is very hard to eliminate and the sharper the scan, the greater the problem.

Our latest scanners utilize Digital ICE technology. For color negatives and E-6 processed slide film (Ektachrome, Fujichrome), Digital ICE virtually eliminates dust and most surface scratches. These scans are so clean that most people do not have to do any dust removal in Photoshop before using the digital images. This saves a tremendous amount of time. (Unfortunately, Digital ICE does not help with black and white film or Kodachrome slides.)

Our older scanners, like the Kodak Photo CD units, do not have this dust elimination capability and, despite our best efforts, there will be some dust cleanup necessary before you can print the files.

Color Management: Our normal procedure is to apply the Adobe 1998 RGB profile to ROLLSCAN, PHOTO CD II, PRO PHOTO CD II and ARCHIVE CD scans. On large projects we are happy to use some other profile. Some people prefer sRGB, although that profile has a smaller color gamut, meaning there is some information lost. Of course, you can set Photoshop to ignore the embedded profile or to convert it to your preferred profile. We just feel that the Adobe 1998 RGB profile gives you the most information to work with.

For Kodak Photo CD discs, the proper color profiles (transforms) come with Adobe Photoshop. If you need copies of these, or want to make sure you have the latest (they last changed in 1999), you can download them here: PHOTO CD PROFILES.

We highly recommend that you calibrate your imaging system. This will assure you repeatable results when opening our scans, converting the files for a specific use, and printing.