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Photographing Old Maps
Maps older than fifty years, or maps in poor condition,
cannot be photocopied or scanned. The very strong light needed for
these procedures damages them. Non-flash photography, however, can
offer very good reproduction and causes no harm to these maps.
A digital camera that offers a higher resolution
works very well. It has the advantage of putting the image in an
electronic format directly. If you want to view the images on a
pc, this is a good choice.
You can also make excellent copies with a regular
35 mm camera and film. Many film processors will not only make prints
from the film for you, but will also make a CD with the images in
digital form. We scanned the examples here, so there has been some
loss of resolution from the scanning process. Still the images are
quite acceptable.
We used a 35 mm camera, a tripod, 100 ASA Kodak color
print film, and the ambient lighting in the Map Room. The speed
and aperture are listed next to each picture.
Examples.
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