camera recommendation for stencil creation

On 12/21/2010 1:11 PM, bayoubilly1970 wrote:
On Dec 21, 1:07 pm, wrote:
On Dec 21, 10:43 am, wrote:





Hello:

I'm interested in creating stencils to be used for pinball machine
cabinet restoration. The plan is to take the digital image, vectorize
it, and then use an stencil cutting machine to create the stencil. I
was hoping for some suggestions on a decent camera for such a task.

The largest area of the cabinet is approximately 51" in length by 22"
in height. The other sides of the cabinet are subsets of this area
size. Usually the artwork found on the cabinet is two or three color
tones. An example can be seen he

http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=1755&picno=1707

I plan to set the cabinet against a flat, white background to take the
images. As I am making stencils, being able to have accurate
geomentry for my starting image (so no warping (nomenclature?), etc...
on the edges of the photo).

If someone could provide some suggestions on a good digital camera,
tripod, etc... for getting me good detailed images I would greatly
appreciate it. Megapixel amount..? SLR...? Etc...

In case it matters, I do not intend to take this camera out for family
vacations, etc... I just want to try to understand the best camera
suggestions for this specific use.

Thank you,
Bill

You should use a lens with at least a 50mm focal length to avoid
distortion. Ideally, 90-100mm would be best.
Any DSLR (Nikon) will do the trick. An inexpensive choice would be a
"kit" telephoto of 50-200mm. Use a tripod, make sure the lens is
centred and square to the side of the cabinet.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


Thanks for the reply, Rich. In terms of technique, is there a rule of
thumb of how far to stand away from the image while shooting to
eliminate perspective distortion?

The important thing is for your film plane to be as close to parallel
with the subject, as you can get it. use a tripod and be anal about that.
Having said that, it is also important for you not to be infringing on
an artists copyright.


--
Peter