CompuServe Messages

Dave, The effect of color depth on perception has been surprising to me. When I began to see 24-bit color video, I was surprised how good a 640×480 image could look, even when only 20,000 or so colors were actually used. When you think about it, you can't have all that many colors in a 640 x 480 image. There are only 307,200 pixels on the screen, and if they are all different colors you won't have much of an image. Whatever the pixel mathematics, the prints I saw were dazzling. I would not hesitate to hang them on the wall alongside my conventional photographic enlargements. I doubt that even one person out of a hundred could tell the difference. Get a look whenever you can. BTW, I expect by this time next year, you'll be seeing 600 dpi color for that $10k. Have you seen the new little thermal-wax printer on the market? I forget the name, but I saw one at Computer City recently. For about $850 it can produce 8.5×11 prints with 24-bit/pixel color. Last year such capability would have cost $3,000-4,000. Not bad at all. Even good enough for proofing at a commercial level. RAM, more disk, better video, faster CD-ROM… So many needs, so little $$$, -=Rob=-