The cameras have arrived....
Now what? Haha.
I've got some monkey camera holders. I can experiment a bit.
pvc tubing model sounds doable. I have no idea where to get acrllic bended for the platen. I've got one glass plate from a flatbed scanner.
new here, thinking about a book scanner
Moderator: peterZ
Re: new here, thinking about a book scanner
Tried out the cameras today.
Two Canon Powershot a1400's.
With SD card. I wouldn't want that any slower for recording the pic. I thought it would be faster though. There's going to be enough time with turning that page that it doesn't matter though.
Cameras feel a bit flimsy, but they're cheap. Or cheap for cameras I guess. $230 for cameras, SD cards, and power adapters.
Battery pack power adapters worked well. Cameras were easy to operate. I barely looked at them. Battery packs have a little door for the cable. Plugged in, camera started, turned off the flash. Started taking pics.
I set up with little tripods, monkey camera arms, book open on cardboard, no platen. I haven't looked at the results yet, but I can imagine. A structure will definitely help to keep everything from moving. I left the cameras on auto-focus. One stayed on that. The other kept going to a flower image.
Lighting, shadows. Definitely noticed. Probably good enough for a test run though.
I've got pics from two cameras though, so I'd need YASW or something to put them together. With shifting I couldn't mass crop them for sure.
Noticed the page bend too. A platen will definitely help that, but pick up a lot of reflections. I had a lot of lights on.
Haven't tried it yet, but I noticed the mini B usb port on the a1400 is on the side. I was relieved. I started thinking it might be in the battery compartment, and that you'd have to open that to plug it in for usb. That would mean the battery couldn't connect. Doesn't appear to be the case. So I should be able to use outlet power for the battery packs and then have the usb ports connected.
Labelling cameras, SD cards, cables left and right sounds like a good idea too.
Two Canon Powershot a1400's.
With SD card. I wouldn't want that any slower for recording the pic. I thought it would be faster though. There's going to be enough time with turning that page that it doesn't matter though.
Cameras feel a bit flimsy, but they're cheap. Or cheap for cameras I guess. $230 for cameras, SD cards, and power adapters.
Battery pack power adapters worked well. Cameras were easy to operate. I barely looked at them. Battery packs have a little door for the cable. Plugged in, camera started, turned off the flash. Started taking pics.
I set up with little tripods, monkey camera arms, book open on cardboard, no platen. I haven't looked at the results yet, but I can imagine. A structure will definitely help to keep everything from moving. I left the cameras on auto-focus. One stayed on that. The other kept going to a flower image.
Lighting, shadows. Definitely noticed. Probably good enough for a test run though.
I've got pics from two cameras though, so I'd need YASW or something to put them together. With shifting I couldn't mass crop them for sure.
Noticed the page bend too. A platen will definitely help that, but pick up a lot of reflections. I had a lot of lights on.
Haven't tried it yet, but I noticed the mini B usb port on the a1400 is on the side. I was relieved. I started thinking it might be in the battery compartment, and that you'd have to open that to plug it in for usb. That would mean the battery couldn't connect. Doesn't appear to be the case. So I should be able to use outlet power for the battery packs and then have the usb ports connected.
Labelling cameras, SD cards, cables left and right sounds like a good idea too.
Re: new here, thinking about a book scanner
Pics came out good enough, for now.
It will be a pain to know which camera is which, even with them labeled. I wondered if Camera1, Camera2 was better than left and right names. The camera physically on the left takes pics of the right side of the book. Confusing, potentially.
YSAW I got. Doesn't need to be installed. Runs off the exe.
Cameras worked being plugged into power with the battery packs and having the usb cable connected. I copied the pics off the cameras that way. I labeled the cameras left and right, and the SD cards inside left and right, but I still don't know which one is which. Got the serial numbers off properties...
Hm. Hopefully not a real issue. Looks like when the cameras are plugged into usb they stop working as a camera. I wanted to have them usb-plugged-in and take pics for this project.
It will be a pain to know which camera is which, even with them labeled. I wondered if Camera1, Camera2 was better than left and right names. The camera physically on the left takes pics of the right side of the book. Confusing, potentially.
YSAW I got. Doesn't need to be installed. Runs off the exe.
Cameras worked being plugged into power with the battery packs and having the usb cable connected. I copied the pics off the cameras that way. I labeled the cameras left and right, and the SD cards inside left and right, but I still don't know which one is which. Got the serial numbers off properties...
Hm. Hopefully not a real issue. Looks like when the cameras are plugged into usb they stop working as a camera. I wanted to have them usb-plugged-in and take pics for this project.
Re: new here, thinking about a book scanner
Will Canon Powershot a1400's take a picture while connected to usb?
http://photo.stackexchange.com/question ... a-computer
I see posts about 'tethering' but I'm not sure that the term for what I mean. I just want the camera connected to the computer so I can access the image files immediately, without messing with removing the SD card. Not having to touch the camera at all. And then I want to be able to use the computer (or something, but probably through the computer) to trigger both cameras.
Worst case scenario I guess... I can have the usb wires attached along the structure and connect them later.... Although... If I'm using CHDK, the cameras have to be connected to the computer.
So... CHDK would be the solution.
I guess.
http://photo.stackexchange.com/question ... a-computer
I see posts about 'tethering' but I'm not sure that the term for what I mean. I just want the camera connected to the computer so I can access the image files immediately, without messing with removing the SD card. Not having to touch the camera at all. And then I want to be able to use the computer (or something, but probably through the computer) to trigger both cameras.
Worst case scenario I guess... I can have the usb wires attached along the structure and connect them later.... Although... If I'm using CHDK, the cameras have to be connected to the computer.
So... CHDK would be the solution.
I guess.Re: new here, thinking about a book scanner
Possible light. Something like this.
http://www.amazon.com/ZITRADES-Quality- ... pd_cp_hi_0
Zitrades has some. They have the plug connected already.
http://www.amazon.com/ZITRADES-Quality- ... pd_cp_hi_0
Zitrades has some. They have the plug connected already.
Re: new here, thinking about a book scanner
Interesting.
http://www.diybookscanner.org/forum/vie ... f=19&t=462
Most Efficient Workflow / Process Available Currently
I've used Irfanview a little. I believe it can be automated via command line. That could be interesting.
Post-imaging thinking...
For me, I take the pics. Get the original image with as little on the edges needing to be cropped off.
Crop all the pics. (Or not, if possible. But if it's easy enough and could be automated a bit, why not, even if it's just a small strip that ends up being removed?)
Stitch all the images together into one longer format, either the whole book or by cover/TOC/chapter/index. Probably in PDF format.
Wondering... If I know the crop settings.... Could the rest be automated? Crop all the pics, transfer into one long PDF, all in one step?
Maybe YASW wizard will do that. I haven't checked.
Very possible... Unless I've got a structure, I'll end up setting things up and doing imaging a group of pages, then another group of pages later, on and on. ie Not the whole book at once. So there's a good chance the crop settings would be off. Not to mention lighting, shadow, focusing probably....
Possibly add in some image editing somewhere. If it makes it easier to read later or color corrects, it might be worth it.
Ah, yes... If I can get the images into a PDF I could use Acrobat to crop them. Individually or in groups of pages I think. Easily reversible too I think.
http://www.diybookscanner.org/forum/vie ... f=19&t=462
Most Efficient Workflow / Process Available Currently
I've used Irfanview a little. I believe it can be automated via command line. That could be interesting.
Post-imaging thinking...
For me, I take the pics. Get the original image with as little on the edges needing to be cropped off.
Crop all the pics. (Or not, if possible. But if it's easy enough and could be automated a bit, why not, even if it's just a small strip that ends up being removed?)
Stitch all the images together into one longer format, either the whole book or by cover/TOC/chapter/index. Probably in PDF format.
Wondering... If I know the crop settings.... Could the rest be automated? Crop all the pics, transfer into one long PDF, all in one step?
Maybe YASW wizard will do that. I haven't checked.
Very possible... Unless I've got a structure, I'll end up setting things up and doing imaging a group of pages, then another group of pages later, on and on. ie Not the whole book at once. So there's a good chance the crop settings would be off. Not to mention lighting, shadow, focusing probably....
Possibly add in some image editing somewhere. If it makes it easier to read later or color corrects, it might be worth it.
Ah, yes... If I can get the images into a PDF I could use Acrobat to crop them. Individually or in groups of pages I think. Easily reversible too I think.
Re: new here, thinking about a book scanner
Messed with YASW. I had some pics from the cameras with a tripod/monkey camera holder set up. Book in cardboard. No platen.
Maybe about 20-30 pics of each side.
YASW was clunkier than I thought. But it's free. Seemed like it should have a few more things like hover bubbles.
The keystoning feature was interesting. Very quick. I wasn't quite aware that it had worked until I noticed the edges were then angled instead of the text.
Cropping was fine, but my pics were off center a lot, shifted from cameras getting bumped, etc. But still good enough for my goal of just being able to read the text to get the information.
Bend in the book was noticeable too. I knew that from just aiming the cameras. I don't think the anti-keystoning software gets rid of that. I should try it with a glass plane sometime, but I don't want to mess with reflections/glare yet.
Another key element of my set up -- I have to move this set up. I live in a small apartment, so I need to set it up to take pics. Then tear it down (or just get it off to the side, out of the way). Then quickly set up if I do another session of pics. I guess my set up needs to be "shove off the side-able" in nature.
Rotating images was easy too.
Surprising part -- It took soooo long for everything to process when I told it to export it all to a PDF. I'm not sure what the cameras were set on -- Defaults out of the box for sure. Fine, it takes a while to process. But I wonder when how long it will take when it becomes a 1,000 pages instead of maybe 60 total left and right pages.
And then the result -- Failed. I think each pic was 3.something MB. PDF was only about 17kb (I think, but small). I was expecting it to be really compressed for images, ie crappy quality. It may be the zoom setting on YASW, but I didn't mess with that. The result though? A whole PDF of little blank white squares. No image at all that I saw.
Pics are still there. I worked with copies. I can always redo the editing for this part.
And then I remembered Acrobat. I believe that will take just about anything and turn it into a PDF. So maybe that would work too. Or not... Left and right pages? Sounds trickier. I think I may have seen a post on here about it though. Something about book or binding.....
Maybe about 20-30 pics of each side.
YASW was clunkier than I thought. But it's free. Seemed like it should have a few more things like hover bubbles.
The keystoning feature was interesting. Very quick. I wasn't quite aware that it had worked until I noticed the edges were then angled instead of the text.
Cropping was fine, but my pics were off center a lot, shifted from cameras getting bumped, etc. But still good enough for my goal of just being able to read the text to get the information.
Bend in the book was noticeable too. I knew that from just aiming the cameras. I don't think the anti-keystoning software gets rid of that. I should try it with a glass plane sometime, but I don't want to mess with reflections/glare yet.
Another key element of my set up -- I have to move this set up. I live in a small apartment, so I need to set it up to take pics. Then tear it down (or just get it off to the side, out of the way). Then quickly set up if I do another session of pics. I guess my set up needs to be "shove off the side-able" in nature.
Rotating images was easy too.
Surprising part -- It took soooo long for everything to process when I told it to export it all to a PDF. I'm not sure what the cameras were set on -- Defaults out of the box for sure. Fine, it takes a while to process. But I wonder when how long it will take when it becomes a 1,000 pages instead of maybe 60 total left and right pages.
And then the result -- Failed. I think each pic was 3.something MB. PDF was only about 17kb (I think, but small). I was expecting it to be really compressed for images, ie crappy quality. It may be the zoom setting on YASW, but I didn't mess with that. The result though? A whole PDF of little blank white squares. No image at all that I saw.
Pics are still there. I worked with copies. I can always redo the editing for this part.
And then I remembered Acrobat. I believe that will take just about anything and turn it into a PDF. So maybe that would work too. Or not... Left and right pages? Sounds trickier. I think I may have seen a post on here about it though. Something about book or binding.....
Re: new here, thinking about a book scanner
Haha.... I've run into this before.
Take the pic, got the pics. Then what? Edit them. Taking the pics was a lot of work, so that probably won't happen again. Although... You could go back and redo that too.
But editing? The original pics would be saved of course, so you could always go back and try a different process for editing them.
If it's not perfect, and it never will be.... You can always go back and redo it all. Haha. And don't you want to fix those flaws once you're aware of them?
Take the pic, got the pics. Then what? Edit them. Taking the pics was a lot of work, so that probably won't happen again. Although... You could go back and redo that too.
But editing? The original pics would be saved of course, so you could always go back and try a different process for editing them.
If it's not perfect, and it never will be.... You can always go back and redo it all. Haha. And don't you want to fix those flaws once you're aware of them?
Re: new here, thinking about a book scanner
Oi...
Did another batch.
Two tripods, box in a box, no platen.
It's way faster than a flatbed, but I kept wondering about the quality of the pics. (Those looked fine afterward.)
Messing up and not remembering whether the picture actually took is not good.
The downside for taking pics fast.... vs.a flatbed scanner. It has to have some post imaging done on it.
I was thinking about trying Acrobat for making the PDF, but I've got left and right pics. I would be nuts to use one camera compared to two. I wonder if there's a way to do that with Acrobat....
I set up on a little rolling table so I could leave it at least somewhat set up. When I got into a groove for snapping pics and flipping pages, the table started bouncing a little. One little tripod was on the table. The other was on the floor. I was wondering (still am) if those pics will turn out blurry. Definitely good have a solid flat surface to work on. Definitely good to be able to leave it all set up. Definitely good to have camera fixed in position relative to the book.
And then the bend in the pages. I started noticing the left side bulged out a bit and was starting to block the text from the camera taking pictures of the right pages. So I had to hold the pages.... sore hand after a bit.
And the whole time I was thinking, "I could do this better," "The pics I'm taking now are going to be crap compared to what a diy book scanner could be." On and on.
What has to be done...
Take the pics.
But after that, make sure the pics are sorted out in the correct order between the two cameras. When I lost track a couple times, I just took a few pics of a page a different color to make it obvious I was restarting.
Then get them edited to some extent, put into order, and turned in a PDF.
And the cameras. I doubled checked. They are the same type. I reset both and was comparing menus. I started thinking they were different. One focuses differently for the 'auto' setting. I still need to figure that out. The pic results look the same though. I figured if I use CHDK it might not be worth mastering the camera settings.
Precise focusing I noticed too. Zoom in... nope, too far. Zoom out... nope, too far. Zoom in, to close. out, too far... So I'm stuck with it being out a little farther than I wanted, but if I bumping things and adjusting pages once in a while it's easier to make sure it all gets captured.
Did another batch.
Two tripods, box in a box, no platen.
It's way faster than a flatbed, but I kept wondering about the quality of the pics. (Those looked fine afterward.)
Messing up and not remembering whether the picture actually took is not good.
The downside for taking pics fast.... vs.a flatbed scanner. It has to have some post imaging done on it.
I was thinking about trying Acrobat for making the PDF, but I've got left and right pics. I would be nuts to use one camera compared to two. I wonder if there's a way to do that with Acrobat....
I set up on a little rolling table so I could leave it at least somewhat set up. When I got into a groove for snapping pics and flipping pages, the table started bouncing a little. One little tripod was on the table. The other was on the floor. I was wondering (still am) if those pics will turn out blurry. Definitely good have a solid flat surface to work on. Definitely good to be able to leave it all set up. Definitely good to have camera fixed in position relative to the book.
And then the bend in the pages. I started noticing the left side bulged out a bit and was starting to block the text from the camera taking pictures of the right pages. So I had to hold the pages.... sore hand after a bit.
And the whole time I was thinking, "I could do this better," "The pics I'm taking now are going to be crap compared to what a diy book scanner could be." On and on.
What has to be done...
Take the pics.
But after that, make sure the pics are sorted out in the correct order between the two cameras. When I lost track a couple times, I just took a few pics of a page a different color to make it obvious I was restarting.
Then get them edited to some extent, put into order, and turned in a PDF.
And the cameras. I doubled checked. They are the same type. I reset both and was comparing menus. I started thinking they were different. One focuses differently for the 'auto' setting. I still need to figure that out. The pic results look the same though. I figured if I use CHDK it might not be worth mastering the camera settings.
Precise focusing I noticed too. Zoom in... nope, too far. Zoom out... nope, too far. Zoom in, to close. out, too far... So I'm stuck with it being out a little farther than I wanted, but if I bumping things and adjusting pages once in a while it's easier to make sure it all gets captured.
Re: new here, thinking about a book scanner
Lights.... Need to know if cool white is better than warm white.
1, 2, or 4 of those?
How to use YASW
Building PVC structure
Then painting it.
Platen... I wanted to buy two piece of non-reflective acrylic. Need to figure out what size. The scanner glass plate I have was giant compared to the book I was using today.
1, 2, or 4 of those?
How to use YASW
Building PVC structure
Then painting it.
Platen... I wanted to buy two piece of non-reflective acrylic. Need to figure out what size. The scanner glass plate I have was giant compared to the book I was using today.