EV Spectral Imaging System

MegaVision EV^TM MultiSpectral Imaging Systems

Digital imaging’s impact on the guardians of our cultural heritage treasures is profound. Digital imaging has opened new avenues of research, offered new opportunities of service, and permanently altered perspectives on preservation and conservation. Digital imaging, while unquestionably nascent, offers such compelling promise that even in its infancy it is being widely deployed and is beginning to deliver on some of its promises. The many initiatives underway realize to varying degrees the promises; some would be well served with additional careful consideration of the goals. In a rush to deploy, the digital image data that is collected often leaves much to be desired.

The EV system has been developed to provide digital imaging capabilities of sufficient integrity and scope as to more than satisfy a range of goals which other imaging technologies not only do not, but in large measure cannot, contemplate. The EV system integrates two previously disparate imaging capabilities: High- resolution photography and multi-spectral imaging. It captures very high resolution, high dynamic range, and highly repeatable digital images over a range of 12 or more spectral bands from the near ultra-violet to the near infra-red. The spectral bands are created not by using band pass filters to filter the light after it is reflected from the treasured object, but by using narrow-band LED illumination which subjects the treasure to only the light energy that is required to expose a highly sensitive, unfiltered monochrome sensor. This strategy results in orders of magnitude reduction in the light energy to which the treasure is exposed, and provides images of unprecedented resolution, registration, quality, and spectral content. Because the capture process is highly repeatable and because the captured image metadata is replete with not only artifact and collection specific data but also with capture specific detail, the captured images are documentary milestones that will be used not only in current conservation, preservation, scholarly, and reproduction initiatives, but by those of future generations as well. The image datasets acquired by the EV technology become, in and of themselves, assets of scientific and historical value.

The EV^TM multi-spectral imaging system is designed for preservation and scholarlystudies of cultural objects, for studies of parchment, paper, papyrus, photographs, fabric, dyes, inks, paint, and other constituents of valuable objects, and for accurate color reproduction of cultural objects and art. The system includes an advanced largesensor digital camera, a low-heat multi spectral LED illumination system, operational software, and selected options and peripherals all operating as an efficient integrated system.

The EV system offers simplicity of design and operation with state-of-the-technology equipment for precisely controlled scene illumination, automated and controlled image collection, and efficient handling of captured image data and associated metadata. Image capture with a monochrome sensor yields unrivaled image quality. Illumination in distinct spectral bands with LED’s provides efficient high quality light with limited heat and yields precise spectral response for scientific studies and color reproduction.