Digital Darkroom Computer Builders?

I'll apologize right up front for the cross-posting, in case you see this same question elsewhere. My excuse is that I'm not doing this because I'm lazy or in a hurry. Rather, I've been poking at this question for a while in various places and I'm getting zero answers or leads. I also think this question may be of interest to many besides myself.

The question is: does anyone know of any PC builders who are offering machines specifically tailored for the digital darkroom (DD)?

You can get specialty gaming machines, digital audio workstations, 3D graphics workstations, digital video workstations, etc., etc., but I'm not seeing any PCs optimized for DD work.

Yes, I can certainly spec out my own machine from a custom builder, and in fact I'm looking around at various builders to do just that. The problem is that there is a dearth of machines and options applicable to DD work. For example, massive RAM and massive storage are a given. Data redundancy and dual processors are highly desirable. Absolute max CPU speed is nice but not really that important, and 3D graphics speed is not important. The usual "custom machine starting points" you see on websites simply aren't geared for this. Server class boxes are usually the only ones that come close, and they often have other unneeded features.

As an editorial comment, I think these vendors are missing out on a market. Why is it that we have lots of people lined up to pay multi-4-figure and 5-figure amounts for digital SLR systems, and yet these same folks are expected to limp along with an inadequate computer or else learn to be a hardware guru themselves and put one together? I think there's money laying on this table.

Maybe I'm all wrong and these vendors are out there. If so, please point me to them.

TIA

Gannet
St. Petersburg, Florida

Gannet wrote:
[snip]

Gannet said:

The question is: does anyone know of any PC builders who are
offering machines specifically tailored for the digital darkroom
(DD)?

Click to expand...

[snip]

Gannet said:

Maybe I'm all wrong and these vendors are out there. If so, please
point me to them.

Click to expand...

[snip]

There is one. Apple Computer.

If you a PC, you pretty much do need to spec your own. That's what I did (with a "little" help from my friends).

Petteri
--
http://www.seittipaja.fi/index/

DD is not so much in the machine as it is in the concept. I began with a 386 processor and 8mb of ram, a decent but not game level graphics card, a 100mb HD for a "C" drive for applications and a 500mb "D" drive for data, and a CDR burner. More importantly, to me, was the Flatbed Scanner that talked SCSI to the mother board and the color printer that printed the finish results of my work with Photoshop 2.05 . All of this ran on Win 3.1 on DOS 6.2. Windows 95 brought a faster machine, my first Pentium on an ASUS 97e motherboard with 32 mb of ram and a 1gb "D" drive supporting the 500 mb "C" drive and a CDR burner. By the time I had graduated to WIN 98 I was running an Asus P5A motherboard with 64 mb of ram, a 2gb "D" drive, a 1gb "C" drive, CDR burner, a flatbed scanner, a slide scanner and a Wacom 6x9 Artz graphics tablet. Today I run Windows XP with an AMD 1600xp Athlon on an Asus A7V133 with 512 mb of ram and a 20gb "C" drive, a 60gb "D" drive for graphics and a 120gb "G" drive for video editing. I regularly burn CD's, & DVDs with one of the two DVD burners in the machine and print to one of three Epson archival printers, a C80, a 2000p or a Stylus Color 3000 with a set of archival quadtone inks in it. I show and sell my work locally as well as on the Internet.

The concept is... images aquired. images edited, images stored, images printed to glass or to paper.

Economics comes into play. Don't buy cheap you only wind up having to spend your money again. Don't buy highest, you pay for what you don't need. Buy a little down from the top, you get your best deals.

If you want a DD capable machine off of the shelf then look at the Video editing machines that are advertised in magazines such as "Videomaker", http://www.videomaker.com ,or "Camcorder and Computer Video", http://www.candcv.com . Add a graphics tablet to any of those computers and you're ready to go. Or build and configure one yourself.

DD=good fast computer with 2HDs (one for applications and the other
for data and work space) , lots of ram, USB interface
and a CDR burner
a good flatscreen monitor
a 1200x2400 dpi (at least) flatbed scanner, possibly a slide
scanner as well,
a graphics tablet such as a Wacom Intous 6x9 for graphics editing
A 13x19 inch Archival quality printer
a Good Digital camera (3mb at least) with lots of optical zoom

Put that all together and you'll be ready to go.

gLeckenby wrote:
[snip]

gLeckenby said:

a graphics tablet such as a Wacom Intous 6x9 for graphics editing

Click to expand...

[snip]

It's funny, but I had one of those for a couple of years... and never really learned to like it. I may be weird, but I actually prefer editing with a mouse -- now that the advent of optical mice has gotten rid of the juddering and skipping. I think it has something to do with the tactile response.

Petteri
--
http://www.seittipaja.fi/index/

There are a whole bunch of large moves and clicks that I do with a mouse, but then editing can become fine and at those times the tablet saves me from developing "mouse finger".

Petteri Sulonen said:

Petteri Sulonen said:

a graphics tablet such as a Wacom Intous 6x9 for graphics editing

Click to expand...

[snip]

It's funny, but I had one of those for a couple of years... and
never really learned to like it. I may be weird, but I actually
prefer editing with a mouse -- now that the advent of optical mice
has gotten rid of the juddering and skipping. I think it has
something to do with the tactile response.

Petteri
--
http://www.seittipaja.fi/index/

Click to expand...

large gesteral moves like a brush stroke....

Try this website:

http://trapagon.com/Computer/computer.html

He is a digital photgrapher and has a separate site for his photos'.

It's a starting point if nothing else. Following some of his postings on DPreview, he is willing to put more effort into his setups than most.

Gannet said:

The question is: does anyone know of any PC builders who are
offering machines specifically tailored for the digital darkroom
(DD)?

Gannet
St. Petersburg, Florida

Click to expand...

--
TomB

Tom Barlow said:

Try this website:

http://trapagon.com/Computer/computer.html

Click to expand...

Now THIS is more like! This guy obviously understands the issues, knows what good components are, and does a very nice job of assembly. These machines are so far removed from both the Dells and the typical small local shops that there is no comparison, imo.

For those wondering just what the heck I was talking about in my original post, check out the pics and specs at the above site.

Gannet,

There are a ton of people that do this sort of work on the side. Building computers from scratch in general. My brother is very good at it, but he has never built a computer strictly for DD purposes.. Are you guys using MAC's for DD?

Inocense

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gannet said:

I'll apologize right up front for the cross-posting, in case you
see this same question elsewhere. My excuse is that I'm not doing
this because I'm lazy or in a hurry. Rather, I've been poking at
this question for a while in various places and I'm getting zero
answers or leads. I also think this question may be of interest to
many besides myself.

The question is: does anyone know of any PC builders who are
offering machines specifically tailored for the digital darkroom
(DD)?

You can get specialty gaming machines, digital audio workstations,
3D graphics workstations, digital video workstations, etc., etc.,
but I'm not seeing any PCs optimized for DD work.

Yes, I can certainly spec out my own machine from a custom builder,
and in fact I'm looking around at various builders to do just that.
The problem is that there is a dearth of machines and options
applicable to DD work. For example, massive RAM and massive
storage are a given. Data redundancy and dual processors are
highly desirable. Absolute max CPU speed is nice but not really
that important, and 3D graphics speed is not important. The usual
"custom machine starting points" you see on websites simply aren't
geared for this. Server class boxes are usually the only ones that
come close, and they often have other unneeded features.

As an editorial comment, I think these vendors are missing out on a
market. Why is it that we have lots of people lined up to pay
multi-4-figure and 5-figure amounts for digital SLR systems, and
yet these same folks are expected to limp along with an inadequate
computer or else learn to be a hardware guru themselves and put one
together? I think there's money laying on this table.

Maybe I'm all wrong and these vendors are out there. If so, please
point me to them.

TIA

Gannet
St. Petersburg, Florida

Click to expand...