FAQ

recom art care offers professional digitization of paintings, drawings, and two-dimensional works of art.
The focus is on color-accurate, high-resolution digital copies for archiving, documentation, research, and reproduction.

Yes, oil paintings can be professionally scanned and digitized, provided that a non-contact fine art scanning process is used.
When digitizing oil paintings, controlled, low-reflection lighting is crucial, as oil paintings often have shiny areas and a pronounced surface structure.

High-resolution capture systems with color-accurate color management are used to scan paintings. This results in precise digital copies for archiving, documentation, research, or reproduction.
The process does not damage the original and is also suitable for sensitive or historical works of art.

Whether a photo or a scan is suitable for digitizing paintings depends on the intended use.
A fine art scan offers uniform illumination, high resolution, and color-accurate results, and is particularly suitable for archiving, documentation, and reproduction.

Photographic reproduction can be useful for very large formats (larger than 2 m x 3 m), highly textured surfaces, or when working specifically with raking light.
In many cases, scanning is the more technically stable solution for the precise digitization of works of art.

With our Cruse scanner, we can scan works up to 2 m x 1.5 m directly. For larger works, several individual scans are created, which are then digitally stitched together. With the Cruse, we can digitize works up to 2 m x 3 m. A loose canvas may also be larger. We are happy to make the impossible possible and solve larger formats by stitching.

Precision: CRUSE

Our Cruse scanner and DOM are suitable for oil, acrylic, tempera, watercolor, and paper works, as well as photos and large-format architectural plans.
We are happy to advise you in advance on which method is best suited to your particular work.
Digitization is carried out by arrangement and with consideration for conservation requirements.

The work to be scanned can be brought to us in person or sent to us by mail (fragile works in a wooden crate!). We can also pick up the works ourselves or send them by courier (within Berlin) or with TANDEM, our partner for art logistics (worldwide).

“Archive-compatible” refers to digital image files that are suitable for long-term, loss-free storage. This includes high resolution, an open file format (e.g., TIFF), sufficient color depth, and the embedding of technical and content-related metadata. Archive-compatible files serve as digital masters and are not subsequently compressed or modified.

Color-accurate reproduction aims to reproduce the colors of the original as accurately as possible. This requires calibrated devices, controlled lighting conditions, and consistent color management with ICC profiles.

Standardized lighting refers to standardized lighting conditions under which colors can be assessed objectively. It ensures that colors appear comparable regardless of the room, time of day, or light source. Typical parameters include defined color temperature (e.g., D50 ≈ 5000 K), high color rendering index, and uniform illumination. In art and image digitization, standard light is used to compare originals, scans, and reproductions with color accuracy. We use standard light to reliably detect color deviations and create a neutral reference for color.

A reference scan is a high-resolution, color-accurate digital copy of a work of art or document that serves as a technical reference. It is created under standardized conditions, often using non-contact fine art scanners and color management, in order to accurately capture the original color, detail, and texture. Reference scans are used for archiving, documentation, research, or reproduction and enable comparability across time, devices, or printing processes. They form the basis for digital processing, color correction, or printing without altering the original.

For many printing applications, 300 dpi is sufficient. However, for artwork, historical photographs, or templates with fine details, a higher resolution may be useful in order to accurately reproduce structures and surfaces.

600 dpi describes the resolution of a digital image file and indicates how many pixels per inch are captured. This resolution is particularly useful for finely structured templates, scientific documentation, or high-quality reproductions. Whether 600 dpi is necessary depends on the object, the level of detail, and the intended use.

dpi (dots per inch) refers to the print resolution, while ppi (pixels per inch) refers to the screen resolution of a digital file. In everyday use, the two terms are often used interchangeably, but technically they describe different aspects of image display. In short, ppi is the input format and dpi is the output format.

TIFF is considered the standard format for long-term archiving. The format is lossless, widely used, and independent of proprietary software. For web or previews, we create additional derivatives such as JPEG or PNG.

We process orders with a minimum value of € 150.