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I believe it is the scanner's responsibility TO HISTORY replicate the original document as much as possible. Raw scans are a gift. I hope there is nothing "clamorous" about my wanting scanners to respect the rare historical material they take the time to capture so that others can use it and enjoy it. Tampering with these scans is a poor choice. |
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Eubiecat, if you think I have any responsibility to you...whatsoever...you are sorely mistaken. Other than common courtesy, of course. How about a 'thank you'? |
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My 2 cents --
1) A scanner has no obligation to anyone other than himself. His personal preferences may not agree with those of the readers, and sometimes that represents a lost opportunity, but that's the way it goes.
2) It is a mistake to assume that a raw scan accurately reflects precisely the way the comic looks. There are simply too many ways the light and scanning software can change things.
3) Count your blessings. |
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Thank-you very very much! |
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First, before anything else -- thank you for your scans, and the time and effort you place into making the scans available. The effort can be thankless, and is certainly time-consuming. If I had not had to sell most of my collection some years back -- and had other parts of it thrown away by a landlord as "trash that was taking up room" -- I would be adding my own material. As it is, I am very grateful to those who take the time to provide us with these historical mementos and memories.
As someone who does a fair amount of scanning myself, I can see both sides of the argument. However, as a reader, I believe the legibility and readability of the issue is a primary focus. A scan, after all, is no more than a representation of the condition of *one* book over time. Arguing for "pure RAW scans" means that if a book is missing one or more pages, has tears, watermarks, acid damage, etc., that should be the limit of the scan -- no fills, no mends, no color adjustments, etc. If the "scan" is a digital copy of a microfiche, then that's what it is -- whether or not it is unreadable is, in this view, irrelevant.
Again, while I can appreciate this view, I lean more towards the idea that the scan should try, within limitations, to be as closed to the *published* work as possible. When (as here) someone provides raw scans, I'll save them to my system, make a copy, and clean up the copy in graphics programs so that the digital version looks as much as possible like the version I would have found on the stands when the book was first released.
Not everyone has the luxury and the skill to do this -- my own skills are only moderate, and I'm learning every day -- and not everyone has the type of system that can display the RAW scans at a high DPI, something that frequently requires a good system with a lot of memory and a fast processor. (Even now, some monitors do not display more than 96 DPI, so whatever you see on screen is a compromise between the size of the scan and the size of the digital display.)
I am happy when someone provides a raw scan, but nobody has the obligation to do so. If anyone feels that nothing but a raw scan is worthwhile and historically accurate, I would suggest buying your own scanner and collecting and scanning the comics you want. Make sure your scanner is color-balanced, have it tested from time to time to correct color drift, and make sure that your scanner and your monitor have complementary calibrations. (If you plan to print what you scan, make sure your monitor and printer are also appropriately calibrated.)
I mean no disrespect to those who want *only* a raw scan; it is a valid point of view, just not mine. But even with a raw scan, one needs to realize that the same scan will look different on a different computer and/or different monitor, and that even with a high-end printer, the final result is only an approximation. Those who provide the scans know this, and do their best to provide good, solid results that will work for all users. They have no obligation to do so, which only increases my admiration, and my gratitude for the services and skill they provide. |
