Felix Albrecht: A cheap and portable multispectral camera system for manuscript photography

The use of multispectral camera systems is expedient for digitizing manuscripts. Especially in the area of palimpsest research, their application is almost necessary.

In the market different commercial solutions are available, which are all located in the high-price segment and which are often only stationary equipment. In the main three apparatuses are used: the stationary instrument “Mondo Nuovo” of the Italian firm Fotoscientifica Record, Parma; the American “EurekaVision” system of Equipoise Imaging, LLC/ MegaVision, Inc.; and the “MuSIS” camera of the Greek manufacturer Forth-Photonics, Athens. The European research project “Rinascimento Virtuale”, that ran from 2002 to 2004, has used the European systems in palimpsest research. The Eureka system has been used, for instance, in order to decipher the famous Archimedes palimpsest.

At the Georg-August University in Göttingen (Germany) an alternative system has been developed as part of a research project investigating the use of modern photo-technical procedures in manuscript studies. This new system is less expensive than the existing ones. It uses LED technology and has the advantage of being highly portable, while having a self-contained power supply. In my presentation I would like to introduce and explain the new system.