Book Scanning Setups

Does anyone have experience with book scanning or large document setups (copy stand type set). The software claims to correct curvature, etc.

I have two digitizing stations setup, each uses a Epson V600 scanner, VueScan 9 - 64bit software to scan, Abby FineReader 15 to OCR.
Don

Edit: I have digitized over 50 philatelic books and 400+ philatelic periodicals with these setups.

I have a Czur Aura portable book scanner which I am very happy with. In addition to books, you can get the scanner to do up to newspaper size pages with a little jerry-rigging. My only complaint is the scanner doesn't do a great job on photos but there are lots of other options for that.

I also use ABBYY FineReader 15 but with an Epson V560. This is a Windows setup. I advise against using FineReader 14 for Mac. As of a year or so ago, it could not recognize fractional characters which you will need for Sterling value stamps - Britain, Australia, etc. I initially bought the Mac version, but ABBYY had no problem with refunding me when I bought the Windows version. FineReader 15 for Windows does not, however, recognize fractional characters by default. You need to specify an appropriate character set.

The major jobs I have done so far are:

Australian Commonwealth Specialist Catalogue - KGVI section
SG Australia Catalogue - QE2 pre-decimal section
SG New Zealand Catalogue - QE2 pre-decimal section

SG, in particular, has a pretty small font size - which of course makes the fractional characters appear even smaller. But it all came out clearly.

My next job (Once I finish the current renovation of my basement) will be the ACSC KGV section.

For ACSC, which is a paperback book, I sliced out the pages to minimize distortion in the images. (The Catalogue is now in an older ACSC binder.) The SG scans were done from intact books.

Correction for curvature (at least for text) is really a given. As the software converts the page from an graphics to text, it becomes free to place that text anywhere on the resulting page, taking into account any image locations or table structures.

My experience is that there is essentially no difference between the source page and the final page as derived from the page image.

Frank.

I have the Epson V600, VueScan, and Abbyy Version 12. My focus was on large books that do not fit on the Epson. I did not want to try stitching.

If your concern is the large format scanner, why not buy an Epson or Brother tabloid all-in-one printer. The Epson 7720 only costs $199 to $299 here in Canada. It gives you 1200 by 2400 dpi and can interpolate up to 9600 dpi.

I recall our member "Revenuecolletor" ? (sp) posted a detailed review of a book scanner, some time ago.

I have one on my "want list" and may import one later when funds become available (Billigs first)

Thanks, Rod. I had forgotten about this type of device. They, I suspect, are better described as page cameras and give resolution in megapixels. The highest resolution I saw on Amazon was 21 Mp. Distributed across an A3 page, I calculate this as about 300 dpi. This does not see like a lot if you plan to use ABBYY. When I was scanning catalogues, ABBYY generally required me to work at 600 to 800 dpi.

I initially used a homemade setup with a digital camera, described here. This wasn't practical for large jobs, though.

I tried a CZUR ET16 overhead scanner, but the results weren't good.

I finally settled on a Plustek OpticBook 3900 flatbed book scanner.

Further Reading........
http://goscf.com/t/10659&whichpage=3#542377 br /

Plustek OpticBook 3900 flatbed book scanner.
I cannot (again) see any of the Above in Oz.

Prices to Import
Cost $373
Postage $114
Import duties $55
Total c$542 AUD

Thanks for feedback.

I set the criteria to scan up to A3. Using that as a search criteria, I am getting better results such as one from Plustek. I want something that portable to scan "on location" without a lot of complicated setups. This means a laptop and a scanner.

There are some camera based book scanners that claim to address curvature of books using software.

Scanning books by a leading young lady.............

https://archive.us20.list-manage.co...e=262ab06bbf

Seeing that scanning video not only makes me feel bad for that young woman rushing to turn each page in time, it also reminds me that I've seen books being scanned by scanners that turn the pages for you. Probably very expensive equipment, though. Standard scanners where you place the book flat on the screen of the scanner are not much fun to use, I have to tell you. The book falls off -- or it slides around awkwardly -- or it doesn't quite fit on the glass -- or the book is too heavy to hold for that long. If you're scanning pages removed from a book (or an album), that's different. But it can be slow.

I never decided on anything special but have noticed more document view / capture devices shown for use in virtual education by student and teacher. I have been scanning my pages (all on US Letter size so no issues with a standard scanner. Scan with my Epson was about 8 to 10 per minute. It still cannot scan larger album pages.