A: My personal opinion is that every art gallery should have a Digital Camera even if they have a scanner as well!

Since scanners do have their place, let me discuss them first. A scanner is used to take a printed image and copy it into your computer. The image usually comes from a photograph but can also come from any printed source, such as a magazine.

Scanners are relatively inexpensive up front, usually between $200.00 and $400.00 They offer higher resolutions than all but the most expensive of today's digital cameras, and most graphics packages are able to use a scanner to read the image directly off the scanner. However, there are high costs associated with taking and developing photographs. They take longer because you have to wait for photographs to be taken and processed. And if you want reasonable speed, you'll probably need to install an additional card in your computer.

Resolution is the major positive feature of a scanner. If you're working on a new four-color brochure, you may want to use a scanner to put images into your desktop publishing package. As higher resolution digital cameras become cheaper, even this aspect will change.

If you look around, you'll see that scanner resolutions are usually given in Dots Per Inch (DPI.) Digital camera resolutions, on the other hand, are usually given in pixels (as in 640x480.) What's the difference? Well that depends on issues such as your screen size, printer resolution, etc. Without going into the math involved, just remember that more is better. For desktop publishing, the minimum scanner resolution you should look at is 600x600 DPI. You can always set a scanner to read less information but if you have a low-resolution scanner you can't make it read more. Professional agencies usually use drum scanners that can have resolutions of 2400x2400 DPI or more. These are very expensive and for most jobs are simply not required.

We have a UMAX scanner that we think is great. It does legal size images (if we ever want that) and goes up to 600x2400 resolution. I think it costs about $350.00. If you are getting a scanner, get one with a SCSI port (that's pronounced "SCUZZY".) This usually requires that you put a SCSI card in your computer but is MUCH faster than using your parallel port. It also cuts down on resource (hardware) conflicts within your computer.

The computer industry also has a standard called TWAIN that lets almost all scanners talk to almost all software packages. Make sure the scanners you look at are TWAIN compatible. Finally, check out the software that comes with the scanner. It is worth spending a little time with your computer seller to "play" with the software. Obviously, it has to be easy to use but it should also be able to crop (resize) the images, and save the pictures in different formats. For the Internet you will need JPG and GIF formats. On Windows you will also want to use BMP files. On a MAC you may want TIF files. Don't worry about the acronyms, just keep them in mind when you talk to your computer person. As in "Does the software support J P G ?" You'll get a "yes" or "no" answer. The file format is not a function of the scanner, just the software you use.

OK. So what about the digital camera? A digital camera is an ideal solution for a gallery. You take a picture and, literally, have the picture on your computer within seconds. If you don't like the picture, you take another. You don't wait till you finish a roll of film. You don't wait for developing. You don't wait for your professional photographer to show up. What you're buying is Instant Gratification! If you're taking pictures of pieces so that you can show a client what your inventory looks like, or send them a picture via email, this is a fantastic solution. Sculpture, pottery, glass, and hanging art are all easy to capture. Some inventory packages will show a picture of your piece with the title, subject, medium price, etc. on your computer screen.

Although you pay more up front, you end up saving money with the camera because you don’t have any film or processing fees. And because you print your images from your computer, you never run out of images or print too many. What are the negative aspects? Very few. Unless you buy a really high resolution camera, your printer (not the printer on you desk, the printer that does your brochures) might want a little better quality to do four-color separations. But for your computer, and the Internet, there are no negatives (no pun intended!)

Just a couple of years ago, there were only a few digital cameras on the market. Today, it seems there are too many to choose from! Aside from prices the main features I look at are 1) the resolution 2) the storage media 3) other features like zoom, flash, and any accompanying software.

I won't even look at a camera if it doesn't have an on camera preview screen. This lets you see how the picture has been composed without uploading the image to the computer. Even cheap cameras these days support at least 640x480 resolution. That's the same resolution as the standard Windows desktop. 640x480 is enough for a web site but not really enough to hand out to your clients if they want a picture of the piece you want to sell them. If you're purchasing a camera, try to get at least 1280 x 960. The best resolution I found (other than for a $10,000 professional model) was 1536x1024 on a Canon Powershot Pro 70.

Cameras don't have a lot of built-in memory and usually rely on some other means of storing the data. Sony had a really great idea and used regular floppy disks to store pictures on it's Mavica range of cameras ($499 to $999). You take the floppy out of the camera and pop it into your computer to read. Most other cameras use a "flash disk" that is really just a memory chip on a card. With these, you may need a wire (usually included) to connect the camera to the computer. As with scanners, the software that comes with the camera is important. You still need to resize the images and save them in the same formats mentioned above.

Besides the Sony range, you should have a look at Kodak's offerings. They have several models that range in price from about $500.00 to $899.00. If you have access to the Internet, try visiting www.buy.com. Once you're there, click on the BUYCOMP link and then click on CAMERAS (or SCANNERS.) They have a pretty good selection and when I was researching this article their prices seemed to be about $100 less than the camera stores I contacted for prices. They also give you the specifications on the cameras they sell.

One camera I heard about but couldn't check out was the Nicon 900-S. Apparently, Consumer Reports recently gave it an excellent review and now you can't find one anywhere. It has a 1280x960 resolution and sells for $799 in stores ($631.95 at buy.com if you can get it.)

Good luck, and get the camera!

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James B Archer President of Masterpiece Solutions, Inc. has been a gallery owner himself, and developed The Masterpiece Art Gallery Manager, a software system designed specifically for the art and related industries.