Digital Capture: $15 to $90
First, the image you intend to reproduce must be "captured," or turned into a digital file. The cost varies depending on the method of digital capture and, to a lesser degree, on the size of the captured file. Your choices are dictated by what you are reproducing.
Is it original artwork?
A Direct Digital Capture is the most logical way of digitizing an original work of art. At JLI we use the services of Barry Norris Studio, LLC in El Prados, NM. His Direct Digital Capture system, a Better Light scan back camera, scans the image through the lens of a large format camera. The first advantage is that it does away with the interim step of film, which degrades the image to some degree. The second advantage of Direct Digital Capture is that the capture cannot get dirty or scratched so the cost of preparing the image for print is often considerably less than an image captured on film. If there are multipal pieces of art and the individual pieces are not too large, we can often capture more than one piece at a time to lower the cost.
Direct Digital Capture: $60 to $90
Is it film?
Most artists have archived their past work on 4x5 transparency film, and 4x5s remain the source material for many of our prints. Provided the photographer did a professional job of shooting the artwork (properly lit with good sharpness over the entire image), we achieve spectacular results. We scan our 4x5s (and all film sizes including 8x10) using our Epson Perfection V750 PRO film scanner.
Film scans: $15
Is it a physical image (a document or photographic print)?
Most of our "reflective" - or flatbed scanning - involves restorations of old photos where the hard copy print is the only thing available. We use a top of the line Epson reflective scanner.
Reflective scan: $15