Reader's Comments - Index of - Free

Choosing a Computer System for Digital Imaging
shaddow mask monitor is much more apropriate for viewing and editing photos on
screen and picture also looks more natural and ergonomic (less irritative). But I
have to say that this is so when evaluating high priced shaddow mask monitors like
those from EIZO which I generaly prefer.
-- Joze Volf, February 16, 2002
For those choosing Windows, I would also strongly suggest steering clear of any
Windows 9x/Me platform and choosing Windows XP. Solid as a rock, and a true
multitasking/multiuser OS.
Re. file systems, I have to disagree with one of the comments that you should
choose FAT32 over NTFS on an XP system. When formatting, FAT32 volumes are
limited to a maximum of 32Gb on Win2K/XP. This is a significant limitation,
IMHO. While NTFS does need defragmenting for best performance, this can be
done easily enough. I use a product called DiskKeeper that runs in the background
and keeps my disks defragged automatically. There are many other benefits of
NTFS, including transaction logging, automatic rollback, security, compressed
folders, virtually unlimited partition size, etc.
-- Gary Voth, February 18, 2002
It always amazes me to hear anyone worrying about "archival" print stability from
a print made originally from a negative/positive already scanned into very high
quality digital form. The digital form which is saved on hard disk, cd, or now dvd
will last forever and can be transferred to many other storage device with no loss of
information. But more to the point: you can reprint the digital file anytime you
want and expect nothing but dramatically increased quality every time you print it.
You will throw away many evolutions of cheap ($ 100 to $500) ink jet printers
before you have to worry about achival quality of the prints you've made. You will
be printing them again in 1/10 the time at 10 times the quality of the print you are
now worried about having archival qualities. What strikes me as most important in
this review is the time and cost of "my labor" to produce prints from home
equipment. As much as I hate the cost of letting professionals do it form me, I still
think I'm better off spending my own time taking new photographs than sitting in a
small room fighting with my computer. Someday, however, I'm sure I will have the
latest Mac, scanner, and printer!
-- Larry Kincaid, March 3, 2002
Overall a very well done article. I use PaintShopPro instead of PhotoShop. PSP
(from Jasc Software) handles all my photo manipulation needs and makes TIFF
files which are 100% compatible with Photoshop files. PSP costs less than
http://www.photo.net/photo/computers (19 of 33)7/3/2005 2:19:07 AM