Originally Posted by IanT

I paint pictures and want to make them into posters. To digitize them I was using a cheap $75 Fuji camera from Walmart but at 14MP when I made 24x36 posters they were an abysmally low dpi, I forget but something like 128dpi and the posters looked terrible.

In town a place wanted $175 a pop to scan my paintings on a fancy-pants scanner, so I got a 1940's Graflex Speed Graphic and the learning curve was about a month since I know zip about photography. I shoot transparencies and it's 4"x5" format. That's 20 square inches of negative - ya baby!

The camera is actually ultra easy. The film holders present the most fun. I've made two test runs of a painting to get the settings tweaked. So far I love the transparencies but the scans into my computer using an Epson 4870 are not useable because the color is ugly. They yield sufficient dpi though: scanning at about the 6th from the best resolution they are 320MP (yes, 320 megapxels) and use about 850MB which gives me 500+dpi on a 24" x 36" poster. I ended up needing a lot more MP than I thought at first!

I also like that the camera adds an analog mush to the painting akin to recording audio to tape. The lens is out of focus on the edges and I like that a bit.

I've attached a pic of the camera (taken with Fuji $75 camera) in a contraption I made that mounts in a Black & Decker Workmate. It holds the camera steady because after you focus you need to slide in a film holder and while you shoot you're doing it blind. Since the film holders slide in with some force it would be extremely easy to jar the whole thing. I'm using Fuji Velvia ASA 50 film and the colors are unbelievable. Unbelievable also is that a 1940's wooden camera covered in leather with a leather bellows and a 1940's Weston light meter all worked perfectly from the first shot in the hands of a total novice.

The camera was about $235 and each 4x5 slide costs about $10 after all is said and done. I buy the film in Manhattan, shoot the pics in Hawaii and then send it to Rochester N.Y. for developing. (shakes head)

Check out the cameras here: The Aero Ektar Project - Workout Those guys are using WWll 7" airplane photography lenses on their Speed Graphics. Nice!