Author name: Marco Andrés

Computer scientist – graphics, design computation and human-centred design. The analogue as a tonic to the digital. Takes delight in built-form, detritus, design, movies, words and humour.

A Cautionary Tale about Scanning Negs with a Digital Camera

By / / Gear Theory / 55 Comments

While there is much interest in scanning with a digital camera, there are other ways of scanning negatives: using a lab or home-scanning with a dedicated scanner. Scanning with a digital camera sounds appealing: “I’ll save money and get better results.” But… There’s always a but. There is a downside – cost in space, $ € ¥ £, time. Lots of time. It’s a bit like the home-brew PC culture of yore. Before it was ubiquitous. Bespoke computers, just like suits. But DIY.

“Digitalitis” and the Folly of the Pursuit for Perfection

By / / Gear Theory / 7 Comments

Whenever we use a camera to record a scene, we are transforming  analog signals. Each element introduces yet another error, albeit small.

The perfect is the enemy of the good

It’s an apt saying. The followup is

What is good enough in a complex system?

Errors propagate in complex systems. Redundancy has its benefits. It’s natural. And there are optimal settings to achieve reasonably accurate results.

Of Camera Sensors and Mega-Pixels – A Screen Play

By / / Gear Theory / 2 Comments

The following is in the style/format of a screenplay. Ok, let’s face it. Not the sort of thing that would be picked up by Netflix. But… there are precedents. Consider the oyster… Lewis Carroll [aka Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] wrote Alice In Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. He was a polymath – author, poet and mathematician. While ostensibly written for children, his books also include philosophical discussions on such topics as logic, philosophy and the ambiguity of language. And they delight people of all ages.

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