To achieve the best possible art reproduction prints you need PERFECT art digitisations! Delicate and valuable artworks are not actually 'Scanned' any more - they are 'Digitised'. We use a 396 MegaPixel, $50,000.00 'museum standard' digital reprographic camera and 3D soft studio lighting...

Flatbed and drum print scanners can damage your precious art...
You can NOT use a print scanner to digitise canvas and watercolour art for reproduction. Apart from the possibily of media sticking to the glass a scanner uses a narrow strip lamp that creates harsh shadows from the surface texture of the watercolour paper and canvas. If you print back onto textured paper or canvas you get 'a picture of texture' on top of the 'true texture'. Ugly!  'Digital Reprography' utilises multiple diffused studio lights for shadow minimisation. See this example...

Scanners cause texture shadowsSoft light reprography minimises them
Enlarge Image.......

High Definition Digital Reprography using a 396 MegaPixel scanning camera...
Our custom built digital reprography system uses a super high resolution 'BetterLight' scanning back located in a 4" x 5" perspective adjustable studio camera fitted with the world's best Schneider apochromatic optics.. This set-up produces incredibly detailed images that far surpass the resolution of even the latest consumer Pro DSLR cameras that photographers use! Our studio copy rigs also allow us to precisely 'shift; artworks in any direction in case we want to digitise very large art in smaller sections and use custom 'stitching' software to join the sections for almost unlimited resolution! Finally the colour accuracy of our ICC profiled systems reduces the number of proofs needed for accurate colour and tonal reproduction and a Gretag Macberth colour chart is included with each image or batch of images for BASIC print matching. (This chart helps print houses, who may not have the original artwork for colour matching, adjust the colour balance of their print systems).

VIDEO: A run-through of art digitistion procedures using our Betterlight Art Scanning Back ( Courtesy of 'Bellevue Fine Art' )

Digitising large artworks at actual size in high resolution creates HUGE image files...
Digitising large artworks at full resolution requires capturing detail far beyond the resolving power of any consumer level lens or digital camera which is why we digitise in sections. We can digitise smaller artworks up to 1,200dpi and maintain a full 300dpi for art as large as 1.5m x 2.0m. That's a file size of 2.34g as a 16bit TIF file! Click Here or on the image below to see the 300dpi samples...

Free online galleries with private access or for marketing. This sample has full size images for inspection!

What 'TRUE' resolution do you need for the highest quality art digitisation?

Firstly what is meant by 'true' resolution? Sadly some photographers with shoot with 'consumer' digital cameras and low quality zoom lenses and just sample up the files to generate fake high resolution figures. Upsampling gives big files but fuzzy, low detailed images and poor quality low contrast reproduction prints. Even worse the consumer zoom lenses used will create image distortion and unsharp, dark corners. Your artwork has to be digitised at high resolution to begin with using the best digital reprography and optical systems of the type used by European museums - and Digital Masters Australasia!

Our standard 300/360ppi services are recommended for the reproduction of the finest details from pen & pencil drawings, technical illustrations,maps and finely detailed art that will be reproduced on smooth matt,ccotton rag, lustre and glossy papers but if required we can digitise at even higher resolutions so that the artworks can be enlarged 2 - 3 times or even mural sizes!

In some cases larger works can be digitised at 200ppi a less cost if they are 'large detail' paintings that won't be viewed closer than the normal overall viewing distance.

Our ultra high resolution "Digital Mastering' services:

A complete 'print-ready' art reproduction service with frame distortion corrections, dust, blemish and edge reflection retouching. You don't get a 'raw' uncorrected scan that needs lots of fixing and proofing before it can be printed (like some other companies do)!

Ideally artworks should be mounted or stretch framed. We illuminate the artworks with large high powered striplight softbox daylight balance studio lights and digitise with a Betterlight 396 Megapixel digital 'scanning' back on a 4" x 5" technical studio camera with Schneider Apochromatic Macro lenses. The same systems as used by European museums for art archiving and limited edition fine art reproductions...

Works can be digitised to reproduce at 'life size' or 'over size' or 'reduced size' with output resolutions was low as 75ppi (screen resolution) to, 300ppi (commercial print resolution), 360ppi (fine art Giclee printer resolution), 600ppi (double resolution) or even 800-1,200ppi  depending on the original's size, the level of detail in the work, the required reproduction print size and the final print viewing distance. For an accurate quote just email us with a list of the original's sizes, media descriptions and your target reproduction sizes. If you eMail me I will work out a solution tailored exactly to your needs.

Basic Pricing for Digitising Artworks at life size 360ppi for smaller works with fine art Giclee printing, 300ppi for larger works woth commercial and canvas printing or 600ppi for 2x - 3x enlargements or lower cost 200ppi digitisations that have proven to be perfectly sufficient for very large artworks and less finely detailed artwork reproduction prints and canvases that dont require close viewing from a few inches away...


For a Precise Quote on Your Art Digitisation Needs...

Just eMail us with your artwork size, a description of the media type and any enlargement requirements for your reproductions.


What Do You Get?

The 'Digital Master' files are supplied as 16bit 'full colour range' Adobe RGB TIF files with blemish clean up retouching, basic colour matching and they all include an ISO colour reference chart for a basic colour matching when the original artwork is not available. We also include an 8bit JPG file with 'No Quality Loss' compression for general use and mult-media needs.

All our 'Digital Master' image files are print ready and supplied to you to do with as you wish.There is NO obligation to use our Fine Art Trade Guild certified archival print services but you may want to order proof prints as an indication of any unusual colour matching issues.

Close individual colour-to-colour matching via proof printing and precise adjustment is available as a billable option. For the digitisation of collections of artworks onsite or in the studio we can bill at hourly rates - please eMail David Myers personally for a consultation and an estimate of costs.

Additional Imaging Services Available...

Critical additional 'Colour-to-Colour' Matching 'Sessions' for art with any difficult or UV brightened colours that needs to be the best possible print match to the original. Adjustment layer corrections. masking and retouching to make extra 'versions' = $12.00 per image matching session plus any A6 hard copy A6 pigment proofs at $8.00 each.

Additional Custom Sized Files: Tailored to your print size, web and colourspace needs, 16bit TIF, 8bit TIF or JPG = $10.00 each.

Large File Transfers via 'WeTransfer" FTP of full size approval JPG proofs and master TIF files. Up to 2Gb Total = No Charge

Online Gallery on our own server to promote your art. Much better than reducing. compressing and emailing files! = No Charge
Updated as you get additional works digitised. See a basic example here: Click to view a sample. 

About Image Finishing: Image Optimisation, Retouching and File Conversions.

Many photographers shooting with digital equipment just povide un-named 24bit JPG files 'dumped' on a CD. Even worse files are consumer sRGB (Web colours) rather than professional Adobe RGB (Print Colours) This is not acceptable! We digitise and optimise images using 48bit Camera 'RAW' files which are then carefully 'Optimised' to meet the artists's exact reproduction needs and colour standards. This is what we do...

01.     RAW digital files are converted to the correct ICC colour space: 16 bit Adobe RGB TIF for print and sRGBJPG for web.
02.     Image is straightened, cropped, scaled and has the resolution set to the final reproduction needs. WE NEVER CROP!
03.     The density and gamma is adjusted on a calibrated monitor for optimum print or web reproduction.
04.     Batches of similar images are colour graded so that every shot matches in tone and colour range.
05.    'Clarity' filtration and 'Unsharp Masking' (sharpening) is applied to show the full image details an meet print requirements.
06.     Any dust spots and lint on the artwork and edge reflections are retouched out and any warped edges straightened.
07.     If required additional files are created for different print sizes with Adobe RGB profiles and re-sharpened.
08.     If required we contact your print house to convert additional files to their preferred CMYK print settings.
09.     If required additional files are created for web & presentation needs (sRGB profile) and re-sharpened.
10.``` Files are 'Archived' with your job settings so we can provide any later additional imaging work and on-demand prints.

Our colour managed 'Optimisation' procedures are performed on high-end Macintosh systems using pre-press calibrated monitors. We keep your costs down using custom procedures that speed up some procedures with batch processing. We also offer high end digital airbrush retouching and 'PostScript Clipping Path' deep etching services. Naturally we provide online proofing and large file transfer services and all files are archived for over seven years. That is the DMA difference - full service and support!

Also see: Archival Fine Art Printing and our 'BIG Canvas' Print Promotion