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Imaging technology is a fast developing field.  I tend not to update my facilities regularly.  

Technologically speaking, my  philosophy is to take a leap ahead only occasionally, and to 

replace most of the equipment at the same time.  This avoids problems of backward compatibility, 

that I have found can be a great pain, and I think in the long term is probably more economic.

COMPUTER
The 3 GHz computer, with 200  Gbyte hard disc space, and  1 Gbyte RAM is not uncommon nowadays, 

and  readily copes with my demands of digital imaging.   For back-up I use a 250 Mbye external drive 

and DVD-R discs We seem to have passed through a phase like the one that occurred some years ago 

with word processing; namely that the average computer will readily cope with all the demands of the 

home digital imaging enthusiast.

SCANNING

 I also have an old  Canon slide scanner and an old Agfa flatbed scanner but use them only for 

 family snaps and other general duties rather than for quality photography.

 CAMERA

 I have an 8 Mpixel Nikon 8800 digital camera, which is very versatile and pleasant to use.  

I see little point in using cameras with even higher resolution, as my eyes would not detect 

any difference in prints up to A3+ size.   The  colour resolution is excellent.  It provides faithful 

 reproduction of hues and  is sensitive to delicate changes of shade in highlights and Shadows.  

Files may be stored in RAW, TIFF or JPEG formats.

EPSON P2000

The P2000 is a versatile 40 Gbyte storage device which will fit into the pocket.  Apart from being able 

to play MP3 tracks,  A/V sequences and movies it is a useful storage device that will read compact 

flash and SD cards and is generally a good companion to the photographer.

CHOICE OF IMAGE RESOLUTION 

For prints, I normally store and print files using 300 pixels per inch, but that's being cautious and 

probably 180 ppi would suffice.

VDU
The 19 inch  CTX flat screen monitor can display images of widths up to 1280 pixels,  at 32 bit 

colour resolution.    As I normally print at A3 or A4 size, only a section of  an image can be viewed  

on the monitor at its full resolution, but I don't find this to be a significant handicap as it is easy to 

zoom in when dealing with very fine detail.

PRINTER 

The Epson R1800  inkjet printer with its 8 inks produces excellent  images ranging in size to A3+

 Epson produce various papers of archival quality but I sometimes use other archival papers for 

special effects.  .In brief this printer provides all the technical qualities that I seek and I seldom 

have to think about the technical aspects of printing these days.

 ARCHIVING

 I hold back up copies of all the digital images that I take on DVD's and keep all the images that 

I don't reject on the computer's 200 Gbyte hard drive.   I find that the latest forms of JPEG compression 

are quite satisfactory, although for my best images that I might rework in the future I use TIFF format.  

RAW files are fiddly and time-consuming to use and as camera manufacturers use proprietary 

versions it is not a universal format. I use RAW (or Nikon's proprietary version NEF) only for 

contrasty  lighting conditions where detail is needed in both shadows and highlights.  The files 

are large and consume lots of storage capacity.   I find that I seldom return to images to rework 

them, preferring to move on and produce new ones.  However  DVD discs will each hold 

4.7  Gbytes and constitute an inexpensive storage and back-up medium, so I keep all my images 

anyway.   There are of course different varieties of CD and DVD discs, so one needs to be aware of  

backward compatibility problems with older computers.  Developments in storage media continue, 

but for me further improvement will have marginal benefits as my needs are covered.   I do 

wish, however,  the manufacturers would agree on a common standards for both DVD discs and  

RAW files.

THE RAPID SPREAD OF THE PC!

Such is the rate of progress of digital imaging that  the majority of the members of my 

local photographic society have digital imaging facilities and the competition rules been 

amended to cater for both conventional photographic and digital images.  A digital imaging 

sub-group,  IMAGinE  was started by enthusiasts, back in 1995 and in 1998 we held  public 

exhibitions of up to 125 of our prints.      More recently  we have tended not to distinguish

between digital and other photographic processes in the Society as a whole and we join 

together to arrange exhibitions.   Digital imaging has come of age and is now mainstream

Web sites: -

Harrogate Photographic Soc. http://www.photographic.harrogate.net/

IMAGinE   (under development) http://www.harrogate.co.uk/dig

Be aware of the amount of time and effort it takes to organize a print exhibition if you are 

thinking of mounting one for the first time, but in any event --

HAVE FUN!