Built a scanner? Started to build a scanner? Record your progress here. Doesn't need to be a whole scanner - triggers and other parts are fine. Commercial scanners are fine too.
This is a really great book stand -- and a great use of materials. Now if you could just invent a pocket lighting system. My biggest problem with libraries is always the overhead lighting.
I like it, especially the use of clips. I've incorporated various sizes of the spring-steel office supply clips into my non-portable scanner as it's evolved, but these (transparent!) hair clips and music stand look like a good solution for one of the big problems I've had in libraries -- I always seem to need a couple of extra hands.
I agree with Dan about the lighting. I've tried on-camera flash, and settled for extreme keystoning in an attempt to avoid glare on glossy technical journal pages. I've thought about using a "slave" flash that I could position to avoid the glare, but haven't actually tried it. I think with your setup holding the page still at an angle without hands, a little mini-tripod for the camera might enable me to get away with long exposure times using only overhead lights and still get sharp images without excessive keystoning. I might try this myself one of these days. Thanks for sharing the idea.
If you're going to use long exposure times anyway, maybe it's worth getting a polarizer? I'm not 100% sure, but I think that would cut down on the glare you're getting.
Edit: You're using an S5, right? Lensmate sells a filter adaptor for your camera and polarizers; $27 for the adaptor, $18 for the filter. Not a bad price at all. Probably better double-check with someone who knows better than me whether this will definitely cut down your glare though.
The opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not necessarily represent those of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
I did get S5s for my DIY scanner, and got polarized filters at that time. I wasn't really impressed with their ability to eliminate reflections, so I went with the anti-reflective glass and I'm not sure where the filters ended up. I hadn't really thought about it, but you're right that they might help with the glare off a glossy page.
I've only tried carrying a shirt-pocket point-and-shoot camera into the library, but if I can find those filters I'll shoot a couple of magazines around the house and see how much difference they make. Thanks for the suggestion!
spamsickle wrote:I think with your setup holding the page still at an angle without hands, a little mini-tripod for the camera might enable me to get away with long exposure times using only overhead lights and still get sharp images without excessive keystoning. I might try this myself one of these days. Thanks for sharing the idea.
I'm quite curious how the long exposure affects the quality of the resulting scan in poor light. Has anybody had good results doing that or upping the ISO setting? Unfortunately most point and shoots don't allow increasing the aperture separately, but perhaps increasing the exposure can take care of that a bit?
I also commend the minimal idea. I think the clips are a nice touch. If you were desperate, could you even go into a library with just those and lean the open book cover against a stack of other books?
Since I'm shooting in poor light conditions, I use long exposure times - typically between 0.4s and 0.6s. I get good quality from it, but it does require a stable tripod to avoid image softness from wobble. Increasing ISO speed is a bad idea, since that introduces a lot of noise. Noise is only really controllable when using a camera with a DSLR sensor size, rather than a compact camera sensor.
The opinions expressed in this post are my own and do not necessarily represent those of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
Thanks for the info. Unfortunately my powershot SD600 only allows setting longer exposure times starting at 1 second and above. Otherwise the only option is a generic exposure setting which apparently does some combination of shutter speed, aperture and maybe ISO setting. What ISO setting do you recommend for point and shoots in poor lighting? The lowest in order to get the least noise? I do have a tripod or else I'll build a mount that will hold it very steady.
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