Scanera lens - what is the optimum for 8X0?

I am trying to make up a Scannera (Scanner that acts as a camera) for archiving pinball backglasses and I am trying to figure out what might be the best lens for the job. I am working on the premise that an 8X10 camera is what I am essentially building. The items I am digitizing are glass artwork that has the artwork silkscreened on the rear of the glass. I need at least 300DPI resolution to consider making full size (24" X 28") reproductions.

Sooo... on to the lens. I think a 300MM lens is about best, but I am concerned about distortion as my calculations indicate that I have the lens about 1.5M from the subject glass. Is it likely to be a problem, and if so, what other factors do I need to consider to make my rather large copy stand setup.

Would a lens closer to 200MM be better or should it be a longer lens for optimum quality of the image - minimum distortion.

I have been reading all the tutorials on this site (Really GREAT help, especially the small programs - thanks ever so much!) and that is where I figured out the lens length and am learning about parts of photography that I had not considered before.


The irritating thing is my father would know the answer exactly as his business was commercial photography and he did thousands of copy stand pictures through his company in Toronto - but he died a just few years ago...he would have been most interested in this project I like to believe.

For the most part consider this as an 8X10 camera and ignore the scanner element...

Thanks!

John :-#)#