I am James Robinson. I am on of the senior photographers here at John Rylands Library
which is part of the University of Manchester right in the city centre. The library opened
in 1900. It was built as a gift for Manchester, it has always been a library. There has been
a photographic unit within the library for over 100 years. 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.
This is our manuscript and archive store room. This is where all of our most important
manuscripts and archives are held.
This is what we call the Giant Koran. It weighs 52 kilograms,
it's almost a meter in length. We have digitized this in its entirety.
This is some examples of papyrus fragments that we have.
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. What you see here is our large copy
stand. We mount the IXR on the IQ180 above the object here. The object sits on the base board.
We got high adjustment using the backslider there. 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, shutterspeed, 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. Shooting on a
copy stand setup like this we use the two Profoto D1 heads. We found that they are the
most durable, most reliable, and gives the most consistent color temperature output which
is important for what we're shooting.
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. We'll check the straightening.
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.
My name is Gwen Riley Jones and I'm a senior photographer at John Ryland's Library.
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.
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.