Anyone who wants to achieve great results when enlarging images, display large prints (in digital photography, that's 8X10 inches or larger) or crop small sections out of images for later enlargement needs the ability and equipment to get high resolution images into their computer. A digital camera needs to have at least 3 to 6 megapixels or even higher (megapixels, or millions of pixels, are the unit used to measure the resolution of digital cameras; the more, the better - especially for large wall mural or display applications).

If you want to increase the quality of your enlargements, a conventional film camera might do the job much better and less expensively. Enlarging with Imagener or YottaPrint always provides much better results if you have the option to use photos taken with a regular camera for example, then use a scanner to scan the images in at a very high resolution. Pictures taken with a film camera then scanned in give you the ability to increase the resolution as high as the scanner will allow, which can be many times higher than a digital camera. For example, a 3 megapixel camera will give you images between 200 - 300 dpi. A conventional picture can be scanned in at 1200 dpi and will give you much better results for wall murals or poster printing, without the cost of the digital camera.

WHY YOU NEED A SCANNER
A scanner complements digital photography and digital image work perfectly. The quality of output from your computer can be greatly enhanced by the use of a scanner. A scanner excels at getting images into your computer with enough resolution to get much more satisfactory results out of Imagener and YottaPrint. Our testing provided outstanding results when we scanned in wall mural images at 1200 dpi (dots per inch) as opposed to our initial testing with 200 and 300 dpi images from a digital camera.

Having only a digital camera and a computer limits what you can do with digital imaging. There are applications for scanners that you might not have dreamed of. Here's a partial list:

• Convert printed text to an editable document using optical character recognition (OCR) programs. These programs "read" the text from any printed material allowing you to place quotations and excerpts into your documents.
  
  
• Make copies without a copier using your scanner and computer. You can also reduce or even eliminate paper filing of your records by scanning your documents into your computer (making sure to back up for safe storage).
  
  
• Send faxes using your computer's fax modem. A scanner, not a fax machine, is all you need to have full fax capability right from your home.
  
  
• Capture images quickly for web pages or for use in presentations. Scanners can put images of any type into digital form fast.
  
  
• Create a computer image database of family photos or any photo collection. This gives you the flexibility to find and use more of your images quickly.
  
  
• Add photos to your e-mail.
  
  
• Capture documents such as letters, faxes, memos, and reports into a document management system. Then you can use optical character recognition to read your documents allowing you to search using keywords so that you can find your information easily.

Adding a scanner to your computer gives you these and other options. Also, today relatively high quality scanners are not that expensive.