Subj : Copying my family history
To   : TOM WALKER
From : JAY EMRIE
Date : Mon Sep 26 2005 02:15 pm

TW>JE>TW>Controling depth of field should be no problem. BUT the pages will 
still
TW>JE>TW>have ot be Reasonably Flat to avoud distirtuon of the copy in the
TW>JE>TW>Curves of the page near the center binding.

TW>JE>That is a problem here. Were I able to hold the pages flat I could use
TW>JE>my flat bed scanner. With a hand held scanner I can at least put a glass
TW>JE>plate on the desired page and hold it flat so to scan. On the flat bed
TW>JE>that is not possible - I've tried! If I could let the part of the book
TW>JE>over lap the edge of the scanner bed it would work but the scan area
TW>JE>is an inch from the edge of the scanner side.

TW> Taht is why I thouhg using the digital Canera would have bee the route
TW> to take., They you would NOT have to Flatten out the Book inon a
TW> Flatbed scanner possabibly danaging the binding. Teh book worul only
TW> have to be Openrd normaly like one was reading it. IF yuo could
TW> overcoem the reflections with Lighting placement you counbd stil use a
TW> glas plate to hold the page flat for taking the picture. Adn a side
TW> PLUS is that snapping a Digital Pix is quite a bit faster then a Flat
TW> Bed scan. Of courwse the plus of a flat bed scan is that it can be run
TW> through a GOOD OCR program and get a Test Based output.

With ANY method of copying the pages without opening the book totally
one could make a copy. However, converting from a digital picture to
usable text is considerable more complicated that from a scanner image.

With a flat bed or a hand held scanner the process is much simpler. I
need to either find a flatbed scanner that will allow the opposite page
from the one to be scanned to hang over the edge OR use a hand held
scanner which WILL allow such an operation and the resulting images are
readily OCR'd. Jean Parrot has offered his hand held in the near  future.

Jay

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