Color Tech

Effective communication with color begins with the capture or creation of your content, requires special care as your message is shaped and edited, and demands that output media be optimized for your intended audience and application.

Quality In

It's a lot easier to produce beautiful color output when you start off with a great picture. The new Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT has set a new price/performance standard for high-end digital image capture. With its 8 megapixel sensor and DIGIC II processor, the featherweight (17.1 oz.) Rebel XT produces superb quality images in a wide variety of shooting conditions, yet costs less than $1,000 with an interchangeable Canon EF-S 18-55 mm, f/3.5-5.6 zoom lens.

For simpler photo needs, try the sleek, 5/8-inch thin, 5-megapixel Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T7 ($499) or Epson's super-compact L-500V ($399). Both take excellent snapshots, but lack optical viewfinders -- making it difficult to frame shots in bright sunlight.

Effective use of advanced editing tools such as Adobe Creative Suite 2.0 and CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 12 can make the difference between a message that looks home-brewed and a communications homerun.

The new and improved Adobe Creative Suite 2.0 Standard Edition ($899, Mac or PC) integrates several of the company's best-of-breed photo and graphics applications, and adds powerful color management tools for print and Web publishing. Photoshop CS2 delivers extraordinary imaging power, while Illustrator CS2,makes it possible to design and create great graphics and layouts. GoLive CS2 enables the creation of dynamic content for the Web and portable devices, and InDesign CS2 integrates advanced page layout and publishing capabilities with Adobe's other powerful tools. Version Cue CS2 improves productivity by organizing files, tracking versions across applications, and enhancing work group collaboration.

The dozens of new functions in CS2 include: Image-Warp, which can wrap images around a shape to create packaging mockups; and Live Trace, which quickly converts photos or scans to editable line drawings, and multi-image digital camera raw file processing to maximize image quality and optimize workflow. CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 12 also provides a powerful integrated environment for the creation and editing of a wide range of visual communications. The $399, Windows-only suite of applications features CorelDRAW, a powerful yet surprisingly easy-to-use tool for the creation and editing of vector-based graphics and page layouts. Photo Paint delivers Photoshop-like image editing capabilities, and Corel R.A.V.E enables the creation of dynamic Flash-compatible animations.

What You See

The right display system can assure that the audience will receive the full benefit of your brilliant color work. By selecting the appropriate display system (projectors and LCD or plasma screens) for your business presentations and other applications, you can deliver brilliant images with great color accuracy.

For fixed installations and small workgroup use, high-resolution plasma screens with advanced image processing and ultra-high contrast ratios deliver eye-popping HDTV and video reproduction. In a 42-inch plasma display, look for a unit with at least 1024 x 768-pixel resolution. The new Hitachi CMP4211 (less than $6,000), the Pioneer PDP-434CMX (around $8,500), and Panasonic's TH-42PHD7UY (under $4,800) are superb for video content, and also work extremely well for PowerPoint presentations and graphics display.