FLAAR Reviews by Nicholas Hellmuth of AGFA and other books on scanning.

Little known is that the books by Agfa are among the best available for introductions to scanning, digital imaging, and prepress. Most of the Agra publications available since 1998 are reviewed on www.digital-photography.org. Now, on www.flatbed-scanner-review.org, I list the publications as well as feature some which are specifically related to scanning, such as "An Introduction to Digital Scanning."

Trouble with Agfa publications is that it’s not otherwise a book publishing company. The people that actually distribute the books are not necessarily those who published the books originally. So far the address (and name too) of where to get the books has changed about four times.

As of spring 2002 the books were virtually impossible to order since no one could seem to make up their mind who was in charge of the books.

Too bad, since Agfa had the absolute best illustrations of any prepress publication. The information was accurate and surprisingly independent. The authors were not shills for Agfa’s own products.

Last time I saw these books was at PMA tradeshow, in early 2002. But the company that was exhibiting at that time no longer handles these titles. Too bad, because some of the titles were available in Spanish and German.

• "Color Bytes"
• "From Design to Distribution in the Digital Age: A Guide to Print Media Production"
• "An Introduction to Digital Color Prepress"
• "An Introduction to Digital Color Printing"
• "An Introduction to Computer-to-Plate Printing"
• "A Guide to Color Separation"
• "The Secrets of Color Management"

The books already pictured and discussed on www.digital-photography.org are:

• "An Introduction to Digital Scanning"
• "A Guide to Digital Photography"
• "The Art & Technology of Typography"
• "Working with Prepress and Printing Suppliers"
• "Digital Color Prepress"
• "Digital Color Printing"
• A Guide to Color Separation A Guide to Color Separation"
• The Future of Production Workflows The Future of Production Workflows"
• "PDF Printing and Publishing"

Other books on scanning

FLAAR will eventually offer training courses on scanning and scanner software. This course will follow upon the success of the current FLAAR courses on professional digital photography. The digital camera courses are offered via Bowling Green State University and Francisco Marroquin University .

No comprehensive book has appeared on scanners in 2004. The few books which are left over from previous years we list on this link. www.flatbed-scanner-review.org/Book_review_flatbed_scanners/books_on_flatbed_scanning.html.

Since none of these books cover the really good professional scanners, and none discuss the better scanner software, FLAAR is gradually preparing its own textbook on all this. In the meantime, the two sites in the FLAAR information network handle evaluations of scanners: this present site www.flatbed-scanner-reviews.org covers prepress and other high quality flatbed scanners. The sister site, www.cameras-scanners-FLAAR.org covers primarily 35mm slide scanners, though there is considerable overlap between the two sites.

If you prefer to obtain your digital image with a digital camera rather than scanning old negs and transparencies, we recommend you visit www.digital-photography.org and/or learn more of the FLAAR Courses on digital photography.