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Cultural Heritage

Preserving the past for the future

Cultural Heritage Imaging

Cultural Heritage imaging is rooted in the idea of preserving the past for the future. The need for digitization of historic collections in museums and libraries is rapidly growing, with increasing focus on public access, research and preservation of information for the future. Institutions with valuable collections often have a dedicated photographic studio for creating photographs of sensitive material, or for producing paper copies for researchers and scholars, protecting the original objects from wear and damage. Preserving the past for the future is often a race against time, as much of the material has a limited lifespan before it is gone forever, thus solutions that enable rapid capture are not only necessary, but often crucial.

All Cultural Heritage collections are unique and diverse. In order to address this diverse nature, Phase One invests in developing, implementing and delivering specialized and tailored solutions, designed to produce the best output quality, while ensuring material safety and efficient workflow. Explore the different types of collections that Phase One Cultural Heritage solutions address below.

Applications

Phase one cultural heritage

Archives and Manuscripts

An archive and manuscript collection includes documents, drawings, maps, manuscripts, photos, newspapers, musical scores, letters, post cards, and other flat objects in all sizes and shapes.

This type of work often requires a “set and forget” workflow where the camera and software are set up so that large numbers of flat objects can be recorded quickly while maintaining high resolution and accurate, consistent color and luminosity.

The high resolution of the Phase One Digital Backs allows capturing several smaller objects at the same time, thus increasing speed and efficiency.

Phase one cultural heritage

Rare Books

A large part of the Cultural Heritage community works on digitization of rare and delicate bound materials, such as books. Digitization of books often requires special attention to the binding, that can be fragile, and will determine how the material can be treated in the process. This fact can sometimes be the limiting factor when looking for fast capture turnaround.

Using a leveled glass plate with the camera set for fixed focus on a copy stand will accelerate the capture process, and photographing both pages at the same time with one or two cameras will also increase productivity.

Phase one cultural heritage

Transparent Film and Glass Plate Negatives

This type of collection includes vintage glass plate negatives, medium and large format negatives, transparencies, including 35mm mounted slides, microfilm and all other transparent material.

Uniform illumination of the materials with good color reproduction is mandatory so that all color information may be retrieved during processing, sometimes involving inverting the image from negative to positive.

There is a tremendous speed advantage in the instant medium format capture over scanning, which can speed up the process by a factor of 300 or more.

More applications
Phase one cultural heritage

Multi-Spectral Imaging

Multi-spectral lighting systems, in conjunction with the use of narrow-band optical filters and special image processing can be utilized to retrieve and discover information in materials that have been subject to damage or decay that is invisible under normal lighting conditions. This provides invaluable data for the research and conservation processes.

Phase One offers a number of unique camera solutions capable of capturing wide-spectrum color, as well as narrow-band achromatic images.

Phase one cultural heritage

Special Digitization

Many objects that are fragile or sensitive due to various types of damage and decay are often very sensitive to human touch and thus require careful handling. Using high resolution, high precision cameras and optics allow researchers and scholars to perform non-invasive investigation and analysis with minimal or no exposure to aggressive light rays or chemicals, and bring out data that cannot be retrieved with traditional imaging techniques.

3D scanning combined with advanced photogrammetry, image analysis and calculation tools are used for measuring and evaluation of damage in historical objects. The same technology is used for creating exact replicas of precious sculptures and art work.

Phase one cultural heritage

Fine Art

Collections with 3D and large flat objects such as sculptures, pottery, decorative arts and paintings, are often captured from a tripod in the photo studio or in the gallery and exhibition halls, ideally with uniform lighting to suit the object’s character and the curator’s requirement.

Best results are always obtained by using medium format camera solutions; either based on an SLR-type, or view cameras with tilt & shift movements. The fastest workflow solutions are comprised of a camera system such as the Phase One XF, available with the highest resolution sensors on the market, to capture the most detail and accurate color in a flexible set up.

Camera Systems

Phase One Cultural Heritage instant capture solutions for both flexible and high volume productions are well-suited for a broad range of Cultural Heritage applications. Learn about the XF and iXG Camera Systems below.

iXG & XF camera specifications
Camera iXG Specifications XF Specifications
Imaging Sensor Options iXG 50MP, 100MP and 100MP Achromatic IQ3 50-100MP & IQ1 50-100MP
CMOS and CCD options available
Lens Mount Phase One iXG
Available Lenses Schneider Kreuznach 72mm RS-iXG
Schneider Kreuznach 120mm RS-iXG
Schneider Kreuznach leaf shutter lens range (28 – 240mm)
Phase One focal plane lens range ( 28 – 150mm)
Shutter Type Integrated Leaf Shutter (reliance shutter)
Shutter Speed 1/250s – 30s 1/4000s – 60 minutes
Focus Positions Close range to near infinity
Focus Control Motorized & Encoded, controlled from software
Mechanical Mounts Threaded holes at top & bottom with dedicated L-Bracket
Triggering Options Hand release, host capture from software
Flash Output Via Secured LEMO connector
Live View/ HDMI* 1920×1080 25p/30p, 1280×720 50p/60p 1920×1080 25p/30p, 1280×720 50p/60p
Data Storage USB 3.0 Tethered to Capture One CH, PRO and DB CF card or tethered to Capture One CH, PRO and DB
Dimensions (mm) Focused to infinity: 150 x 120 x 100
Focused to close range: 180 x 120 x 100
152 x 135 x 160 (without lens)
Weight (g) 2300 (with 72mm lens and mounting bracket) 1390 (without lens)
Dynamic Range up to 15 f-stops
Sensitivity (ISO) 50 – 12800 (51200 Achromatic)
16 bit Opticolor+ Output Available on most digital backs
Auto Focusing Honeybee Autofocus (HAP-1)
Hyperfocal point focusing (lens-specific)
User Interface OneTouch UI
Flash Trigger Integrated Profoto wireless
Flash Sync Speed Up to 1/1600s

Capture One for Cultural Heritage

Capture One Cultural Heritage software is a professional rapid capture solution dedicated to the Cultural Heritage community. Built on the renowned Capture One software, the Cultural Heritage edition offers a highly specialized feature set that delivers a significantly faster reprographic workflow during both capture and post-production.

Phase One Copy Stands and Accessories

Contact Us

Contact us directly

T: +44 (0) 118 988 2020

E: sales@dtek.co.uk

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