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Studio717 · 10-10-2006, 01:57 PM

My Epson scanner is the Perfection 3200 Photo (it's a couple of years old, at least) and does a beautiful job. It's fast - though I've never timed it - with both USB 2.0 and Firewire. The software works well on my Mac, so that's the scanner I usually favor when scanning anything other than books.

I scan mostly as part of a research project so I can have searchable text. My process is a little different: I usually scan in B & W at 300dpi, not greyscale. (I find the smaller files easier to use.) The text comes in clear and crisp and the OCR in Acrobat has no trouble with it. I do occasionally scan greyscale, but that's for photos, illustrations, etc. Very rarely old books will have tipped-in colored images and those, naturally, I scan in color.

I can't speak to scanning paperbacks (entire books) because I haven't done it. I have heard about duplex scanners (Fujitsu?) but have no personal experience with one. In that case, I'd take a book to Kinko's (or equivalent) and have them cut off the spine for a cleaner, more even cut. (I have scanned pages from paperbacks just fine with the Opticbook, both mass market and trade sized with no problems. The margins seem wide enough.)

OCR has limits with dpi (it doesn't like higher resolutions), so I tend to keep it in a 150-300 dpi range, with 300 being my 'default'. (Images I'll do at a higher res so I can study them close up.)

I tend to scan to TIFF because I prefer having a file I can manipulate if I need to, then transfer the files to my Mac using Bluetooth (just because it's easy; wifi works just as well and is probably faster), then pull into Acrobat 7 on my Mac. (I had used Readiris 9 before and while the OCR was quite good, that version at least had filename length issues on the Mac.)

For the odd bits I can't OCR, I'll enter keywords, etc., so the file will have some searchability. (I use a combo of Devonthink and Spotlight to find information.)

(My most frustrating experience was with an old journal that had been rebound more than once and, consequently, had NO gutter whatsoever. I couldn't even open the book more than a third, so my solution in that case was to read it in via "Naturally Speaking."

Yeah, crazy, but I got the needed info.

)

10-10-2006, 01:57 PM	#27
Studio717 Addict Posts: 208 Karma: 575 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: California Device: Various Kindles, iPhone, iPad, Galaxy 10.1	My Epson scanner is the Perfection 3200 Photo (it's a couple of years old, at least) and does a beautiful job. It's fast - though I've never timed it - with both USB 2.0 and Firewire. The software works well on my Mac, so that's the scanner I usually favor when scanning anything other than books. I scan mostly as part of a research project so I can have searchable text. My process is a little different: I usually scan in B & W at 300dpi, not greyscale. (I find the smaller files easier to use.) The text comes in clear and crisp and the OCR in Acrobat has no trouble with it. I do occasionally scan greyscale, but that's for photos, illustrations, etc. Very rarely old books will have tipped-in colored images and those, naturally, I scan in color. I can't speak to scanning paperbacks (entire books) because I haven't done it. I have heard about duplex scanners (Fujitsu?) but have no personal experience with one. In that case, I'd take a book to Kinko's (or equivalent) and have them cut off the spine for a cleaner, more even cut. (I have scanned pages from paperbacks just fine with the Opticbook, both mass market and trade sized with no problems. The margins seem wide enough.) OCR has limits with dpi (it doesn't like higher resolutions), so I tend to keep it in a 150-300 dpi range, with 300 being my 'default'. (Images I'll do at a higher res so I can study them close up.) I tend to scan to TIFF because I prefer having a file I can manipulate if I need to, then transfer the files to my Mac using Bluetooth (just because it's easy; wifi works just as well and is probably faster), then pull into Acrobat 7 on my Mac. (I had used Readiris 9 before and while the OCR was quite good, that version at least had filename length issues on the Mac.) For the odd bits I can't OCR, I'll enter keywords, etc., so the file will have some searchability. (I use a combo of Devonthink and Spotlight to find information.) (My most frustrating experience was with an old journal that had been rebound more than once and, consequently, had NO gutter whatsoever. I couldn't even open the book more than a third, so my solution in that case was to read it in via "Naturally Speaking." Yeah, crazy, but I got the needed info. )