Perceptual experiments were used to evaluate the capture quality attainable of four digitization systems. The study results showed that two of these systems produced images of limited use as digital masters. The perceived image quality for the other two systems was comparable for digitization purposes. While a variety of system characteristics must be given careful consideration when identifying equipment to purchase, a system unable to attain the perceived quality needed for usable images is of little value no matter how inexpensive and ergonomic it may be. Also, image quality cannot be defined by number of pixels. In this study, the system producing the largest files was not well rated. Using perceptual experiments helped clarify the utility of digitization systems.