My comments on Digital photography being performed by low end cameras
were based
 upon an examination of the machines and their specifications at the
Canon booth
 at the American Library Association meeting in New Orleans a year and a
half ago.

 While it is true that I can put together a superb (color, high
resolution, depth of field) digital photography setup in my home for
less than $5000, including computer, the fact remains that the
processing of material is slow. (as it should be).

 I suggest that the machines being purchased by institutions are more
likely to fall into the expensive ($15,000 and up) low resolution (300
dpi), black and white, high speed, high volume cameras.

 There is a significant technical limitation with regards to image
quality: the higher the quality, the more memory is required and the
processing time between images is correspondingly increased, thus
slowing the whole process down. The progression of the limitation is
geometric rather than arithmetic. A small increase in resolution
mandates a disproportionately greater increase in memory and speed
requirements.

 I can purchase a large format digital Leica camera for $24,000 that
will exceed any specification that film has to offer. But it's
impractical with regards to memory storage and speed for the kind of
volume processing that we are talking about.

 On the other hand, IF the originals are preserved, then within decades
we may be able to revisit them with more efficient technology.

 Tom Perrin