Howeve, conservators are concerned about both IR and UV as either will degrade an original over time.
Flash tubes have plenty of both.
To prevent UV damage, fluorescent tubes can be sleeved in a clear UV absorbing plastic sleeve, which solves the problem for people who scan with pro-equipment like a BetterLight scan back together with low-heat fluorescent fixtures. However, UV-absorbing sleeves would not help at all with a flatbed scanner (unless you were to go in and hack the machine).
In other words, unless they are scanning with a professional (i.e. conservational) setup, scanning with a flatbed will still cause "wear and tear" on an original.
J Michael Sullivan
-----Original Message-----
From: Formyrotts@xxxxxxx [mailto:Formyrotts@xxxxxxx]
Sent: Monday, January 5, 2009 12:29 PM
To: 'List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students'
Subject: question about light
I am on another list for genealogy. It seems that when scanning documents the time involved is a lot longer then using a camera (um-hum). Anyhow, a woman took photos of the same documents and found out she could get the same if not better quality in a shorter amont of time.
The question arose at some places that a flash was not allowed due to damage done
to the documents. Can anyone tell me (curious) why it would not be alright to use a flash but it's perfectly okay to scan a document? It seems I've noticed super bright light over a longer period then a flash takes, when a scanner runs it's course. I'm just curious about it. Thanks, Linda B.
