Scanner recommendations?

[ffutures]

Anyone know of any library scanners that aren't hideously expensive? A lot of the books I work with won't stay flat easily, or have very fragile pages, and are getting a little more damaged every time I put them on the scanner. Something like a saddle-style (inverted V) scanner would help a lot, but they're VERY expensive. I think that there are alternatives that use cameras, but I don't know much about them.

Comments

[nojay.livejournal.com]

There's a number of build-it-yourself projects out there for book-scanning systems using cheap digital cameras but they all take up a lot of space and require darkroom conditions because of reflections from the glass/plastic plates used to flatten the book pages.

The Opticbook Pro flatbed scanners are more considerate of bound books but they start at over 150 quid which is a lot more than a standard scanner costs.

http://www.plustek.com/product/series.asp?s_id=2

I'm thinking about building a book-scanning "gun" unit using a digital camera, a bit like the old-style oscilloscope camera units with a hood. If I ever get it working I'll let you know how it turned out.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I've been looking at the Plustek scanners but they aren't cheap, and I'm not keen on the way one side of the book hangs down. The camera idea sounds good, be interested to see how it goes.

[nojay.livejournal.com]

The Plustek is actually kinder to books than the manufacturer's pictures would indicate -- imagine the scanner at the edge of a table with the open half of the book hanging straight down rather than resting on the surface the scanner is on, or if the scanner was on a box to raise it high enough for the book to hang freely. The book is only opened to 90 degrees or so in that case which almost all books will take without significant damage -- some glue-bound paperbacks might end up with a bit of spine-roll.

What you should do is see if any other London-based SF/RPG fans are interested in forming a book-scanning collective to buy a communally-owned Opticbook scanner which can be shared around as needed. That would defray the cost somewhat.

[turol.livejournal.com]

You can try this: DIY High-Speed Book Scanner from Trash and Cheap Cameras (http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-High-Speed-Book-Scanner-from-Trash-and-Cheap-C/)

Also points you to diybookscanner.org (http://www.diybookscanner.org) but it appears to be down at the moment.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I looked at that, but the darkroom conditions thing is a bit too limiting for my purposes.