Preserving fragile cultural heritage at University of Manchester | Phase One

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• published: 25 Oct 2013
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We visited senior photographers James Robinson and Gwen Riley Jones at the John Rylands Library at University of Manchester. The library opened in 1900 and was built as a gift for Manchester. The library use Phase One and Capture One Pro software as a complete package from start to finish when digitalizing the cultural heritage stored in the library. They use the Phase One 645 DF body, the iXR body and the IQ180 digital back, because they need the highest amount of pixels available. James Robinson: "For the whole time the unit was here, we have a record of everything they have used. Obviously, now we have gone on to digital and we are using the Phase One 645 body, the IXR body and the IQ180 back. The library holds every written form ranging from B.C. with Sumerian tablets and clay tablets all the way up to modern printed material and photographs. Prior to digitization, anything that we do has to come through the collection care department for assessment. When an object is required for digitization, the collection care department assess it's suitability. They do that by looking at the structure of the binding, seeing if it needs any repair and also doing any repair if necessary. This is all of our equipment that we use: Two IXR bodies, DF body, and we have two Air bodies. We have a variety of different lenses ranging from the Schneider 28mm leaf shutter lens, we got the 80mm lenses. The 55mm is incredibly useful for photographing large items. The 120mm macro lens is really good. We use a number of different set ups. The camera is all plugged in and tethered straight into the computer so all adjustments can be controlled from over there. We can adjust the focus, the aperture, shutter speed, we can check the white balance settings and the color control and of course fire the shutter. On this kind of setup we use the IXR body, primarily because it allows us to get through so much material. The camera is incredibly hard wear and you haven't got the mirror in there. It's a mirrorless body. If we need to do any longer exposure on an item we don't have interference from that. Before we get down to any actual photography of the item, we'll take a shot of the color checker. We'll do that through the computer. That will allow us to get the right white balance and we'll be able to focus on that. Now we're in Capture One Pro. We'll go into the Live View mode. We can use the focusing tools there to get it perfect. We can adjust the settings of the camera for the correct aperture, shutter speed, and ISO pretty much instantly once that image is in there. We can start making checks and after we've done a lens cast correction, we're ready to go. Once we have everything photographed into the computer, some of the things we need to check is if everything is in focus and sharp, that all of the color settings are right. One of the handy tools we use a lot is the Keystone Correction Tool to make sure it's completely flat and level. We don't put the images through any other kind of software or processing. We try to capture it exactly how the object is. That is one of the key elements for us. Using the IQ180 gives the incredible detail we need." Gwen Riley Jones: "One of the projects we are working on at the moment is one of the biggest projects we have ever undertaken. It is the digitization of Cardinal Newman's Archive. Working on collections like this, we need the best kit for the job. For this setup we're using a traveller's conservation cradle and an IXR camera with an IQ180 back and an 80mm Schneider lens. We use the IQ180 because it's the highest resolution digital back on the market. We use the IXR body because it's mirrorless and speeds up our workflow, and Schneider lenses because the glasses got uncompromised quality. The great thing about the setup is that it is portable, we can take it with us on location. We can travel lightly. One of the great things about the cradle is that it supports the book throughout the digitization process. This book is highly illuminated with a lot of gold and different color pigments within the text. One of the great things about the IQ180 is that you get almost microscopic detail. Researchers use this to analyze the text in various ways, so they can look at the handwriting in really fine detail. Pigment researchers look at how the pigments are formed and true color reproduction is important for this kind of work." James Robinson: "We have been using Phase One and Capture One Pro software as a complete package from start to finish. From the actual beginning of the shoot all the way through to the final output which is excellent. It is an incredibly efficient way to work." Special thanks to our valued partners at DTEK Systems (http://dtek.co.uk/) Phase One - http://www.phaseone.com Try Phase One: http://www.phaseone.com/demo Download Capture One: http://www.phaseone.com/download