| Author |
 Topic  |
|
DickMorbey
United Kingdom
3672 Posts |
 Posted - 24/06/2016 : 09:28:41
|
Hello folks
Back in 2014 the Register rolled out a facility for you to view and purchase factory pictures from the Register's on-line Library.
Candidly the volume of purchases has been low - perhaps because people have forgotten about the facility - and we have just learned that the service provider, a company called Photobox, will be withdrawing the facility shortly. That suggests two things:
1. If you would like to use the facility you'd better get a wiggle on! Details are at http://www.triple-mshop.org/gallery/
2. If there is continuing interest in retaining this facility, the Register may be able line up an alternative provider, but it's a big task so first we need to be certain whether the demand is there. Perhaps we need a referendum of our community members?
Therefore please will you let us know whether you would expect to use the facility if we continue to offer it?
Thanks
Dick Morbey |
|
|
sven
Sweden
423 Posts |
Posted - 24/06/2016 : 09:37:32
|
Dick
Thank you for this information. I think referendum might have gotten a slightly bad reputation among some of us europeans lately, but please make the facility available somehow. I have had great assistance in my restorations with the photos provided.
Regards
Sven
Sweden |
 |
|
|
Simon Johnston
United Kingdom
6000 Posts |
Posted - 24/06/2016 : 10:59:27
|
I actually bought some of the photos but they were of such poor quality that I haven't bothered with the facility again. I gather that everything was scanned on the basis that since they wouldn't be printed at more than 300 dpi there was no point in scanning at a higher resolution than that. In consequence it is not possible to zoom in on a particular part of the photo to get greater detail. From my own experience of scanning the original photos of my car, by scanning them at 1200 dpi I was able to produce pretty decent 8" x 12" enlargements which revealed a lot of detail. Scanning at 300 dpi is a waste of time for anything other than same size reproduction.
I'd rather have a decent quality original print and then scan it myself.
Simon J
J3437 |
|
|
|
sam christie
United Kingdom
3056 Posts |
Posted - 24/06/2016 : 12:34:48
|
We touched on this before but this illustrates some of the detail concealed in a proper print scanned at high resolution -
Or this ?
High resolution scans are a chore but very useful.
Sam |
Edited by - sam christie on 10/12/2016 12:58:14 |
|
|
|
sam christie
United Kingdom
3056 Posts |
|
|
DickMorbey
United Kingdom
3672 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2016 : 14:55:29
|
Sam/all
As you will have seen, there was pretty much no response on this thread when it was posted in June and no evidence of demand for the facility to access these photographs. (When the facility was live it had very little use.)
As foreshadowed, the original provider of the web-based facility has now withdrawn and we have no plans to seek an alternative provider.
Sorry!
Dick Morbey
PA/PB 0743
Frieth, Oxon, UK |
|
|
|
sam christie
United Kingdom
3056 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2016 : 15:20:55
|
Thanks Dick. What a pity.
I wonder if members ever grasped what we stood to miss out on.
Sam |
|
|
|
Simon Johnston
United Kingdom
6000 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2016 : 16:38:50
|
Why not revert to the old system of selling decent sized enlargements? The Photobox photos really were useless.
Simon J
J3437 |
|
|
|
Westbury
United Kingdom
1955 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2016 : 17:16:41
|
Yes, Simon I would like the opportunity to buy some of the factory photos and I'm sure there will be many others. I seem to remember though there were problems with financing the scheme let alone the further workload.
Great shame the service is no longer available.
Chris |
|
|
|
Westbury
United Kingdom
1955 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2016 : 17:27:49
|
Should have indicated that I was referring to the old original service provided by the library.
Chris |
|
|
|
DickMorbey
United Kingdom
3672 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2016 : 18:19:38
|
Chris/all, the register does still possess negatives which were created from the original glass plates some years ago. In the past these were used to create wet silver prints – typically I think in half plate size – but the facility to do that Is not so easy to arrange these days.
The digitisation of theseimages was done to the best of the registers ability couple of years ago but obviously the standard was not deemed satisfactory by many of you.
The negatives are in the course of being transferred to the new archive facility at Kimber house. This is likely to happen early in the New Year. We can certainly consider the possibility of reviving the service that you and others have mentioned, although it's fair to add – or perhaps unfair to add – that the demand for these pictures has almost completely tailed off in recent times and therefore the time, effort and cost entailed in reprinting was disproportionate to that demand.
Obviously we do not want to withhold valuable resources from (club) members, so I suggested anybody who is itching to get their hands on some of these photographs should make this known through this web discussion page and we can then consider and perhaps reassess the situation.
Does that sound like a fair plan?
Dick Morbey
PA/PB 0743
Frieth, Oxon, UK |
|
|
|
Dolts
United Kingdom
1128 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2016 : 18:27:16
|
At least we got these photos out of the dusty archives on to the gallery. Seems to have sparked some interest for a much better solution 
Mark Dolton
www.triple-mracing.com
|
|
|
|
Simon Johnston
United Kingdom
6000 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2016 : 20:10:56
|
Prehaps the lack of demand for the pictures was due to a lack of knowledge of their existence? If it is impractical to produce individual prints to order from the negatives, perhaps a solution might be to scan the half plate negatives (6"x4"?) at high resolution (at least 1200dpi) and make these scans available for M.G. Car Club members to purchase?
Simon J
J3437 |
|
|
|
DickMorbey
United Kingdom
3672 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2016 : 21:55:47
|
Thanks Simon.
I'll send you an intra-committee note off line.
Dick Morbey
PA/PB 0743
Frieth, Oxon, UK |
|
|
|
Richard Verrill
United Kingdom
345 Posts |
Posted - 10/12/2016 : 23:58:13
|
I am a member of our village heritage society and three years ago we had digitised a mixture of some 600 half plate (4.25x5.5 inches) and quarter plate (3.25x4.25 inches) glass negatives that were taken by a local amateur photographer in the late 1800s, they were photographed and inverted in tiff file format (98mb) by archivists in our county museum at a cost of £385, this is an example in jpg format (1.6mb), I can't add the tiff to show the quality.
Some of the images were used in a book about the photographer's family who lived in the same house but travelled the world, not throwing any documents away, for over 100 years, a fascinating tale it is too.
I have no idea how many factory images there are but I am sure the best process is to work direct with the negatives. How the files are marketed would need careful thought as I am sure the register or club would wish to retain copyright if that is applicable.
Richard
PA1733 YA5206 |
|
|
|
bars
Switzerland
14 Posts |
Posted - 12/12/2016 : 03:34:29
|
Dear Dick & co.
How many negatives of factory photos are we talking about - approximate number - and what size are the negatives ? I am sure there must be an interest to purchase well scanned jpgs. If thumbnails can be seen everyone can select as required and purchase jpg / pdf from Register or MGCC. |
|
|
|
Topic |
|
Forum Locked
Topic Locked
