"Gable" - single-camera, 'upside-down' scanner - planning

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.

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Anonymous1

Re: "Gable" - single-camera, 'upside-down' scanner - plannin

Post by Anonymous1 »

Thanks Daniel, that tool helped quite a lot! The sensor is a APS-C. It's not quite the same as the 7D's, though. Canon just scaled the sensor size and not the receptor count, so they used some fancy algorithm to make the reception area of each receptor larger. I found that at ISO 100, highest quality, manual focus, and a remote trigger, you can never get your images to be really sharp -- they always have a bit of fuzz. I was regretting getting the Canon, as the Nikon equivalent had better specs (the main reason I got the Canon was it's 1080P video. Guess how much I've shot? 6 minutes total. Argh.), but that's something I can rant about at a later time.

Anyways, I don't have any pictures of it to show, but I finished my scanner today. It's a crudely-made version of Ahmad's build (I've been planning something like it for a while, but those 3D renders just compelled me to do it). I used the script you linked to to find my DoF length, and for 15 inches of sharpness (it's the biggest book I have), you need around 35-40 inches between the camera and the focal point (I have it focused onto the middle of the book's page, not the seam). My scanner is pretty tall right now, and the funny thing is that my picture quality is about the same as that of two point-and-shoot cameras :lol:

Ahmad, as my build is almost identical to yours (mine's made out of scrap two-by-fours, though), you might face the same problems. Aperture size won't help much at all (I tried f3.6 -f38), so don't count on it. You'll need a good lighting setup, though. I found that when I used the flash on my camera, the text became much sharper.

Good luck!
Last edited by Anonymous1 on 07 Feb 2011, 00:31, edited 1 time in total.
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daniel_reetz
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Re: "Gable" - single-camera, 'upside-down' scanner - plannin

Post by daniel_reetz »

Anonymous wrote: (it has to be focused onto the middle of the book's page, not the seam)
Totally astute observation. Congrats on your build!
Anonymous1

Re: "Gable" - single-camera, 'upside-down' scanner - plannin

Post by Anonymous1 »

Thanks, Daniel. It was 4 hours of cutting disassembled wood with a rusty saw from the 80s, but every second was worth it. Now I can start to get into the hardware of things a bit more. There's only so much you can do with software...
ahmad
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Joined: 28 Dec 2010, 11:26

Re: "Gable" - single-camera, 'upside-down' scanner - plannin

Post by ahmad »

Thanks Daniel, very clear explanation. I picked the F/22 number out of thin air as it's what I used to use when photographing architectural models.

Anonymous, sounds awesome - got any pictures to share?

As for me, I got a little... distracted over the weekend. :oops:
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daniel_reetz
Posts: 2812
Joined: 03 Jun 2009, 13:56
E-book readers owned: Used to have a PRS-500
Number of books owned: 600
Country: United States
Contact:

Re: "Gable" - single-camera, 'upside-down' scanner - plannin

Post by daniel_reetz »

You're welcome guys! Glad to be able to offer something... I love this design and how straightforward it is. Glad you're pioneering it.
Anonymous wrote: Ahmad, as my build is almost identical to yours (mine's made out of scrap two-by-fours, though), you might face the same problems. Aperture size won't help much at all (I tried f3.6 -f38), so don't count on it. You'll need a good lighting setup, though. I found that when I used the flash on my camera, the text became much sharper.
Hmm, that sounds a bit like denoising algorithms might be messing up your image - can you shoot a RAW image with your current settings and send it to me? I can help diagnose...
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