michael_matthews3

<p>If you later decide to try a digital camera, you'll find the work simplified and cost reduced.<br>

This is not meant to irritate those who prefer film. It's just that for this specific task -- copy work with the final product in print -- the workflow is just a lot easier. There is no need to compromise on quality to achieve that ease.<br>

I've been making prints of watercolors and acrylics on Epson Radiant Watercolor White matte paper for several years. Side-by-side the originals and prints are identical in appearance when the original is a watercolor. <br>

Acrylics, printed on the same matte paper, differ because the print does not have the paint's hard surface reflectivity. They make for attractive images, though, including modeling the paint's texture -- using simple and inexpensive lighting.<br>

Adorama's cheap 3-light flourescent kit...two umbrellas and one direct light...provides unexpectedly good results, although I think it may be fairly useless for most other purposes. Cost: approximately $150. They're sold as 5500K daylight sources. May or may not be true, but to my Nikon's sensor it's love at first sight.<br>

A 10 megapixel camera offers plenty of resolution for same-size prints of the originals you describe, perhaps modest enlargements as well.<br>

Nikon's 50 mm f1.8 lens has given me adequate results. Your 55mm Micro-Nikkor should provide even better edge-to-edge sharpness with roughly zero distortion.<br>

I hope my focus on low cost doesn't bother anybody too much. I would have stayed with shooting artwork in a rather dark garage with sunlight bounced off the concrete driveway -- but the change of seasons made that impractical.<br>

As long as you're doing your own printing with an Epson, starting the workflow with a digital in-camera original could get you to the final output with many fewer steps. A four-day rental of a Nikon D-90 at a cost of $60 would provide plenty of time to find out if the digital body plus your macro lens adds up to a preferable set of tools.</p>

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