RPS Imaging Science Group

I was asked for some recommendations on a cost effective telescope to use to take pictures of the moon and planets with a DSLR. Pretty difficult to find. One option is something with low weight to mount on the camera using a standard tripod mount. However, you need a good long focal length to get a serious image size – I use 1200mm. This requires something more substantial and a bespoke mount for this.

I recalled the work of HJP Arnold, ex of Kodak and a great astrophotographer. His book, aptly entitled “Astrophotography” was published by Philips but now seems to be out of print. You may find it in a local library (ISBN 0-540-08312-7) or check it out underhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/Astrophotography-H-J-P-Arnold/dp/0540083127 . It is a very readable but authoratitive introduction to the topic. Enjoy!

The Digital Print. The Complete Guide to Processes, Identification and Preservation. By Martin C Jürgens. Thames & Hudson ISBN 9780500514986 25.30 x 20.30 cm 328 pages. For more details see http://www.thamesandhudson.com/9780500514986.html
This book, published in the UK by Thames & Hudson is first and foremost a quality product. Hard backed and printed on smooth, heavyweight paper stock it reproduces both the text and the many pictures and diagrams well. In an era of poor quality book production this stands out as an asset to the bookshelf.
But what of the content? The book is laid out in 4 parts plus detailed appendices and does not disappoint. Clearly meant as a reference book, rather than to be read end to end there is content here of interest to both the photographic student and the established conservator. It can however be read as a journey to the understanding of the digital print and its failure mechanisms.
Part 1 “Understanding Digital Prints” covers the history and current applications of digital printing plus the component materials of the print. For me the history was a great read as I remember lots of the illustrations from university days. The components part of this section introduces 2 visual strengths of this book – Martin’s clear diagrams and the liberal use of cross sections visualised using a microscope.
Part 2 aims to summarise the major digital printing processes used for photographs. The illustrated chapters cover technologies such as inkjet, electrophotography and conventional silver halide based systems. These are well written but my only criticism would be that it is too comprehensive. As a reference work for the future it would be easy to confuse some of the minors with the mainstream technologies.
Part 3 details the visual inspection techniques that allow a viewer to distinguish the various printing technologies. As such it is particularly applicable to conservators and collectors. This section is well laid out with 2 page summaries of the characteristics of the main technologies at the end.
Part 4 then looks at all the issues that pertain to the preservation of the print. The typical failure routes (heat, light, pollutants and humidity) and the standard tests for these are documented accompanied by a good series of illustrations. Finally an excellent series of recommendations are given based on Martin’s wide knowledge and experience of these materials.
The book contains a comprehensive reference list that is of great value for those with access to suitable library resource plus a large identification flowchart in a pocket inside the back cover. The volume is a valuable resource for the photographic printer, conservator and collector and I thoroughly recommend it.

Just read an interesting article from NanoMarkets entitled Time for a Dose of Market Realism in “Printed Electronics” – see http://www.nanomarkets.net/perspectives/articles.cfm?articleID=222 . Apart from the sweeping generalisation that “technology revolutions always begin with more hype than substance” there is a lot of merit in this article. It differentiates between the traditional thick film electronics business and “real” printed electronics. The problem is that the existing market for the former is much greater than the latter and looks to remain so for the foreseeable future. The article makes a call for greater realism in the expectations for printed electronics.
There are some areas where the technology is finding commercial applications such as printed photovoltaics and narrow conductors. However, full mainstream applications still look to be a long way off. Wound up in this is the issue of definitions. There has been some confusion between printed, organic, flexible and plastic electronics. IMHO this has been purposefully done by some commentators to try and show some progress in the field. True it doesn’t matter if you have a purely application focus (do I care how my e-book reader functions) but if you are seeking to integrate this technology into a printed process then printing is the key differentiator.
This is where the conference circuit can let you down. There are plenty of “conferences” in this field that contain mainly marketing hype disguised as technical content. The meeting that I use for technical content is the IS&T Digital Fabrication conference – see http://www.imaging.org/IST/conferences/df/index.cfm . Hope to see you in Texas this year!

In a past life I spent a lot of time working on photo based optical data storage technologies. I still retain an interest in this and follow the conference calls. The next SPIE meeting on this caught my eye – see http://spie.org//app/program/index.cfm?fuseaction=conferencedetail&export_id=&ID=x15617&redir=x15617.xml&conference_id=910353&event_id=910325&WT.mc_id=RODS102QAE . I note a paper looking at Lippmann technolgy – an old photo technique for holography. Let’s not forget about the knowledge we have accumulated from AgX photography!

Bond and cast coat papers from a SEM

Getting into some more inkjet media issues. This is an SEM image of 2 types of paper used in early inkjet media. The bond paper has a rougher surface but the cast coated product contained a network of cracks. This made a big difference to the printing characteristics. For more information see http://www.imaging.org/ScriptContent/store/epub.cfm?abstrid=30285

Busy day yesterday. In addition to an RPS Imaging Science Group meeting I had an email about a Printed Electronics Summit in San Jose – see  here for details. Looks like an interesting meeting – I may see you there!

Some time ago I wrote about this meeting. The Institute of Physics Printing and Graphics Science Group in collaboration with the University of the Arts London MATAR Centre (see http://www.matar.co.uk/) organises a periodic International conference entitled “Preservation and Conservation Issues in Digital Printing and Digital Photography”. Registration is now open at http://ppp10.iopconfs.org/Registration/page_37015.html.

For the photographers amongst us, here is an interesting document. The screw that holds your camera to the tripod is subject to its own ISO standard – ISO 1222. See http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=33323&commid=48420 for details. If you want to get a copy, hold fire. The 2010 version will be out soon!

I find this information doubly useful for attaching imaging kit like telescopes onto tripods.

Just seen some more details on the International Congress of Imaging Science meeting in Beijing – see http://www.csist.org.cn/en/Conferences/Upcoming_conferences/2009/0911/193.asp for details. The keynotes look interesting, including one from Phill Green at University of Arts London.

May yet make the trip!

The new ISO 5 density standards are now featured in a press release from ISO – see http://www.iso.org/iso/pressrelease.htm?refid=Ref1276. This page contains lots of useful links to the other photography standards too.