Best non-DIY book scanners
Posted: 09 Mar 2015, 21:56
Hi there. I came here after googling, in vain, for any place that would offer a newbie suggestion on what to buy. I spend few hours yesterday researching this, reading reviews and such, but I am frankly lost.
My laughable understanding, which I hope nonetheless is useful in telling you what a n00b can get from the web after few hours of searching, is this. Price ranges vary from ~200& to over 5,000&, at least. There are the following type of book scanners:
* portable pen/wand like mini scanners which I am ignoring, as they are more of a document scanner than any realistic solution for any serious book scanning.
* flatbeds, similar to traditional scanners but with the scanning surface going up to the edges, allowing one to properly scan inside corner (near the bend). I couldn't, however, understand why the price range on them is so great (from 200 to 2,000, roughly). Scan speed is one factor, but I am probably missing a lot. Plustek Opticbook series seems to be a major brand here, through I was unable to determine if has a better or worse reputation than any competitors (Microtek seems to be the second largest...?), nor was I even able to figure out what makes the cheapest models different from the most expensive ones (4800) to the cheapest ones (3600, 3800, 3900) outside the scanning speed.
* "book and document face-up scanners" have a different design, a bit like a standing lamp. If there's a proper name for this type of scanner, I haven't seen it used consistently. Price range seems to start at ~$100 (IPEVO Ziggi-HD High-Definition USB Document Camera) and go through ~300$ (piQx Xcanex Portable Book and Document Scanner) to ~700$ (Fujitsu PA03641-B005 Document Scanner / Scansnap SV600), through it's worth noting there seem to be "phone/camera holders" priced at even <100$ build using the same logic. They seem to have an improved workflow (you can just turn a page, no need to lift / rotate the book), but do not flatten the book, which produces distortions that need to be adjusted by software. That may be fine if your goal is OCR text, but the images I saw in this review make me wary of using it for images, the distortions seem significant.They also seem the most portable/space-saving, for what little it's worth.
* "v-shaped cradle" book scanners. Seem to be the best, as the pages are flattened, like in flatbed, workflow is easy (turn a page), and the book is least likely to be damaged, making it a must for anyone dealing with source material that has to be preserved. It is the most expensive, with the price tag starting at least at 5,000$. I have not investigated them deeper as their price tag is beyond what I am interested in.
I would dearly love it if you could add your wisdom and help refine this into a more proper description of what's really out there, and how useful it is. Being a n00b I don't want to suggest to you that such a post would make a good sticky, but as I noted, I am not aware that there's a good description of book scanners, and any "best" ranking/comparisons out there that I was able to find. Wikipedia article on this topic, well, sucks, and while I have written many articles on that site, being a newbie to book scanning I don't feel competent in adding to it (but, if anyone here would like to do so, I am more than happy to offer my Wikipedia-editing experience).
On the final note, for myself, I am looking to buy a scanner at < 2,000$ for digitizing my collection of artbooks (similar to comics/graphic novels, but some in A4 and at over 200 pages, hardcover), which I refuse to debind. I am leaning towards a Plustek flatbed, but as noted, can't really figure out if the more expensive ones are worth it. I love the improved workflow/small space of the face-up lamp scanners, but I have serious doubts that they'd produce quality (properly flattened/stretched) pictures from books (I also hate post-processing with image software, and I am used to flatbeds).
PS. I originally wanted to post this in hardware section, but it's locked, so... I hope it's ok here. If not, I'd kindly ask the mods to move it rather than delete it.
My laughable understanding, which I hope nonetheless is useful in telling you what a n00b can get from the web after few hours of searching, is this. Price ranges vary from ~200& to over 5,000&, at least. There are the following type of book scanners:
* portable pen/wand like mini scanners which I am ignoring, as they are more of a document scanner than any realistic solution for any serious book scanning.
* flatbeds, similar to traditional scanners but with the scanning surface going up to the edges, allowing one to properly scan inside corner (near the bend). I couldn't, however, understand why the price range on them is so great (from 200 to 2,000, roughly). Scan speed is one factor, but I am probably missing a lot. Plustek Opticbook series seems to be a major brand here, through I was unable to determine if has a better or worse reputation than any competitors (Microtek seems to be the second largest...?), nor was I even able to figure out what makes the cheapest models different from the most expensive ones (4800) to the cheapest ones (3600, 3800, 3900) outside the scanning speed.
* "book and document face-up scanners" have a different design, a bit like a standing lamp. If there's a proper name for this type of scanner, I haven't seen it used consistently. Price range seems to start at ~$100 (IPEVO Ziggi-HD High-Definition USB Document Camera) and go through ~300$ (piQx Xcanex Portable Book and Document Scanner) to ~700$ (Fujitsu PA03641-B005 Document Scanner / Scansnap SV600), through it's worth noting there seem to be "phone/camera holders" priced at even <100$ build using the same logic. They seem to have an improved workflow (you can just turn a page, no need to lift / rotate the book), but do not flatten the book, which produces distortions that need to be adjusted by software. That may be fine if your goal is OCR text, but the images I saw in this review make me wary of using it for images, the distortions seem significant.They also seem the most portable/space-saving, for what little it's worth.
* "v-shaped cradle" book scanners. Seem to be the best, as the pages are flattened, like in flatbed, workflow is easy (turn a page), and the book is least likely to be damaged, making it a must for anyone dealing with source material that has to be preserved. It is the most expensive, with the price tag starting at least at 5,000$. I have not investigated them deeper as their price tag is beyond what I am interested in.
I would dearly love it if you could add your wisdom and help refine this into a more proper description of what's really out there, and how useful it is. Being a n00b I don't want to suggest to you that such a post would make a good sticky, but as I noted, I am not aware that there's a good description of book scanners, and any "best" ranking/comparisons out there that I was able to find. Wikipedia article on this topic, well, sucks, and while I have written many articles on that site, being a newbie to book scanning I don't feel competent in adding to it (but, if anyone here would like to do so, I am more than happy to offer my Wikipedia-editing experience).
On the final note, for myself, I am looking to buy a scanner at < 2,000$ for digitizing my collection of artbooks (similar to comics/graphic novels, but some in A4 and at over 200 pages, hardcover), which I refuse to debind. I am leaning towards a Plustek flatbed, but as noted, can't really figure out if the more expensive ones are worth it. I love the improved workflow/small space of the face-up lamp scanners, but I have serious doubts that they'd produce quality (properly flattened/stretched) pictures from books (I also hate post-processing with image software, and I am used to flatbeds).
PS. I originally wanted to post this in hardware section, but it's locked, so... I hope it's ok here. If not, I'd kindly ask the mods to move it rather than delete it.