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<snip>I am interested in knowing what digital camera other projects are using, and how you would rate the cameras that you're using.<snip> At Lambeth we are digitising plans and drawings using a Phase One LightPhase C645 on Contax 645 body with 45mm Zeiss lens. This is a single-shot (rather than a scanning back) camera, which takes around 10 seconds to capture an image and another 6-7 seconds to "develop" it. This means we can take digital photographs quickly - and in a timber-framed medieval building the effects of traffic & other vibrations on the equipment are minimised. If we had chosen a scanning back, which can take up to 6 minutes to take a shot at this resolution, often colour artefacts (random blobs) appear on the images owing to vibrations in the building from the traffic - or even from people walking across the floor! Pixel resolution is 3056 x 2032 pixels - the resulting tiffs are at 300dpi in 24bit colour. Average image size is 18Kb. The camera is mounted on a fully automatic column, by which the camera height can be adjusted. The column, camera and reflective lighting are fixed to a base unit (pictures of similar set-ups can be found on the "recent installations" page of our supplier ICAM archive systems <http://www.icamarchive.co.uk/>). The table also includes a ruler system by which original documents can be centered quickly and accurately. The camera is controlled with its own dedicated software. We are extremely pleased with the equipment, which suits our particular environment and the needs of the material being digitised very well. We choose this camera & supplier after seeing full demonstrations of three systems, including one using a scanning back (which is how we know about the serious effects of the vibrations!), and speaking to other people using the particular products and suppliers. The camera, lighting and base cost around 25,000 UKP. We use glass to flatten some of the material (the majority of which is bound in files & has sharp creases); other loose material is in melinex sleeves for conservation reasons. We experimented for a couple of months with the lighting conditions and are now using 4 Osram Dulux 24v bulbs which give a warm, Tungsten-like light; baffles have been used to even out the light across the entire table. We have not experienced problems with reflection from glass or melinex in the images. Finally, we have made available detailed information, including the metadata we are recording for digital photographs, in our faqs at http://www.churchplansonline.org/. Hope this is helpful Best wishes Sarah Wickham Church Plans Online Project Assistant Archivist Lambeth Palace Library London, SE1 7JU http://www.lambethpalacelibrary.org http://www.churchplansonline.org CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This message is intended solely for the addressee(s) in the first instance and may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, delete the message from your system immediately and do not disclose the contents to any other party.