Undertaking a MASSIVE Scanning Project

[Hunter]

Cam Scanner app. Buy the full edition, way cheaper than any scanner

Have you ever tried scanning a big project with a handheld camera? I can't hold my hand steady enough and setting up each scan is just way too time consuming. Have you found a way to work around all that?

[silver]

It must be more aligned with the newer series then, because it definitely included Kindergarten in the scope.

[Hunter]

It must be more aligned with the newer series then, because it definitely included Kindergarten in the scope.

There must not have been a lot of them published, because I never see them. At one point I was able to learn the ISBN but there just were none for sale anywhere.

[laundrycrisis]

I am using a scanning app on my phone - CamScanner.  It's so much easier than using our flatbed scanner.  I tried it on the IPad, but the quality comes out better when I just use my phone.  Then I email the pdfs to myself (over our wifi) and print them. 

[laundrycrisis]

Have you ever tried scanning a big project with a handheld camera? I can't hold my hand steady enough and setting up each scan is just way too time consuming. Have you found a way to work around all that?

 

When I use CamScanner on my phone, it is very easy to center the page.  And after you click, it has you drag the corners to where you want them to crop it - then it flattens out the distortion.  It's wonderful !

My public library has pretty good scanners that are free to use -- does yours?

[Hunter]

My public library has pretty good scanners that are free to use -- does yours?

 

I don't think so, but I didn't ask, so….I guess I should ask. Thanks!

[weddell]

Have you thought of something like this?

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bargain-Price-Book-Scanner-From-A-Cardboard-Box/

 

The first thing I think of when scanning is to use a scanner, but when I've looked into book scanning at home all the resources are for building a book cradle and using a camera on a tripod. This doesn't destroy the book and is much faster than using a scanner. It makes sense once you read some of the webpages.

 

Here is a website and forum where people build fancy camera based book scanners. An expensive setup isn't necessary, but you can spend a lot if you want to get extra efficient. But the cardboard one linked above is the basic idea. In addition to describing how to build book scanners, there are also resources on how to get those camera images into a usable format (usually pdf) using free software that people have written.

http://www.diybookscanner.org/

[Hunter]

Have you thought of something like this?

http://www.instructables.com/id/Bargain-Price-Book-Scanner-From-A-Cardboard-Box/

 

The first thing I think of when scanning is to use a scanner, but when I've looked into book scanning at home all the resources are for building a book cradle and using a camera on a tripod. This doesn't destroy the book and is much faster than using a scanner. It makes sense once you read some of the webpages.

 

Here is a website and forum where people build fancy camera based book scanners. An expensive setup isn't necessary, but you can spend a lot if you want to get extra efficient. But the cardboard one linked above is the basic idea. In addition to describing how to build book scanners, there are also resources on how to get those camera images into a usable format (usually pdf) using free software that people have written.

http://www.diybookscanner.org/

 

Thank you! This might work. I need to show it to one of my neighbors who is itching for a project. This might make us BOTH happy. :lol: This is a person that doesn't know much about computers but can use a digital camera, and despite living in a tiny high-rise apartment, has the few kitchen drawers full of unused tools just WAITING for a project.

 

Have you ever seen a 10 year old child walking around with a tool-belt on looking for a project, and only getting her/himself in trouble. Sometimes grown-ups have never moved past that stage. "If it's not broken, don't try to fix it" I yell at this person in exasperation. And when it comes to this person trying to fix MY unbroken stuff, I threaten to break fingers!

 

I'm e-mailing a link to the instructions now.  :001_smile:  Thanks!

[Hunter]

Have you all seen The Fujitsu ScanSnap SV600

http://www.amazon.com/Fujitsu-PA03641-B005-Document-Scanner/dp/B00FPW9946/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393296565&sr=8-1&keywords=Fujitsu+ScanSnap+SV600

 

 

[weddell]

Thank you! This might work. I need to show it to one of my neighbors who is itching for a project. This might make us BOTH happy. :lol: This is a person that doesn't know much about computers but can use a digital camera, and despite living in a tiny high-rise apartment, has the few kitchen drawers full of unused tools just WAITING for a project.

 

Have you ever seen a 10 year old child walking around with a tool-belt on looking for a project, and only getting her/himself in trouble. Sometimes grown-ups have never moved past that stage. "If it's not broken, don't try to fix it" I yell at this person in exasperation. And when it comes to this person trying to fix MY unbroken stuff, I threaten to break fingers!

 

I'm e-mailing a link to the instructions now.  :001_smile:  Thanks!

 

http://www.diybookscanner.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2914

Here's a thread about building the book cradle and mechanism with pvc pipe. The expensive part of this setup is cameras, but you could definitely just do it with one camera and manually pushing the button. Most of the home book scanner builds like to use a remote of some kind to trigger the cameras, but that adds a lot of expense and tech-know-how to scanning.

 

There is also the "official" scanner build for the diybookscanner website, but the kit alone is $500+cameras, etc. http://diybookscanner.myshopify.com/

 

Here is a video that shows how quickly you can scan like this:

 

I have couple books I would like digital copies of and I'm probably just going to use the cardboard box method that I linked in my first post.  :)

[Χά�ων]

Have you ever tried scanning a big project with a handheld camera? I can't hold my hand steady enough and setting up each scan is just way too time consuming. Have you found a way to work around all that?

I have scanned in a large project before, yes. I just made an impromptu stand for the phone.

[Hunter]

Thanks for the ideas. I'm giving them all some thought.

[zoo_keeper]

If I really needed to spend less, I'd get this one, but it only scans 8 pages per minute, so it wouldn't save much time over a hand-fed scanner, although you wouldn't have to sit there all the time. 

This the scanner we have.  I scan everything, every. single. workbook. I use a razor blade and a ruler, cut off the edges, put on a movie on the computer, and then periodically reload the machine as it scans file after file.  Love it!

[Hunter]

What is holding me back the most right now, is not having a computer of my own that can handle a scanner, and the software to process and edit the files. I just don't want to factory reinstall my netbook right now. Part of the trouble with it, is just that it's full. But the USB slots have never worked right. One was replaced while still under warranty. They both need to be jiggled, though, to work, and that is just unsafe when saving and accessing files.

 

And the even older laptop runs so hot and makes so much noise, and factory reinstall didn't fix that. But maybe I could use that, but I don't trust it not to do something bad. I have had more than one computer in the past actually explode, and one actually caught on fire. I'm so good at pushing a computer past it's maximum, that the hardware rebels. I have left a trail of dead as a doornail computers behind me since the 90s and have a reputation for it. And this loud and hot one makes me nervous. These are the sounds that come when something BAD is about to happen.

 

I'm just lugging around pages of ripped up books this week, and trying to use my time at home to take notes about the big picture of the books.

 

I love my little iPad Mini, but just feel overwhelmed with all these bigger machines. I really don't want a nice laptop even if it was free, crazy as that sounds. It's the lack of wanting to deal with a laptop that is most holding me back, before I even get to trying to choose a scanner. These scanners all show files going straight to phones, but that really is misleading. A laptop is on, and has been set up to do all sorts of things over the wifi.

 

Buying the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i and running the hot old computer into the ground is probably the best idea. I could just stand far away from it. :lol: