[DDHarriman]

Hi HarryT

Maybe using another tool can help here.

Using the 2 pages from your post I created a pdf using the method you describe – created a cbz and converted to pdf with calibre. The result pdf was 560 Kbytes in size.

Using Adobe Acrobat Pro 11 and applying ocr (French) using the “clear scan” option - from wikipedia “Adobe ClearScan technology creates and embeds custom Type1-CID fonts to match the visual appearance of a scanned document after optical character recognition. ClearScan uses these newly created custom fonts instead of system fonts or Type1-MM” -, the result was a pdf 256 Kbytes in size.

Similar result was obtained using Finereader Pro 11 and saving image pdf only - the file was 266 Kbytes in size.
Saving using the same option but activating the setting “"use mixed raster content" gives an even smaller file size of 108 Kbytes, but I do not advise the use of this option as the result is not good.

The final size of a pdf has lots to do with the complexity, color and other details o the original pages, so to get you an idea I would have to have access to, at least, 30 to 50 pages, or if possible all the jpg's of a full book.

Notes:
1 - other more professional (and much more expensive) pieces of software can even get you smaller file sizes;
2 - all 3 example files created are attached.

Best regards,