Overhead Scanner? Or Camera?

  • Thread starter Thread starter J.R.Guthrie
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J.R.Guthrie

I'm looking at some older -- sometimes fragile -- maps that I'd like to
scna, using an overhead scanner.

I've asked a couple of librarian friends about this, and have received
conflicting advice -- some swear by their overhead scanners, some swear at
their overhead scanners, and some of the latter suggest that some good
Digital Cameras would do the job better.

Any advice?

Jim Guthrie
 
J.R.Guthrie said:
I'm looking at some older -- sometimes fragile -- maps that I'd like to
scna, using an overhead scanner.

I've asked a couple of librarian friends about this, and have received
conflicting advice -- some swear by their overhead scanners, some swear at
their overhead scanners, and some of the latter suggest that some good
Digital Cameras would do the job better.

Any advice?

Jim Guthrie
Click to expand...
A good Tutorial on Digital Imaging Theory.
http://www.library.cornell.edu/preservation/tutorial/technical/technicalB-03.html
Be sure to check out the Table: Comparison of Scanners. (it is near the
bottom of above page, just below Digital Camera).

There are some high price overhead scanners.
http://www.mid-america.com/scanning/minolta_book_scanners.html

Here is Map scanner (might not be good for fragile maps)
http://www.contex.com/applicationar...apscanners/largeformatscannersmapscanners.htm

As to rather or not a Digital Camera can do the job, depends on exactly what
use you have for the scan or digital image of the maps.

Overhead scanners can produce a very high resolution (the Minolta is 400
dpi) image where Digital cameras are limited to the sensor resolution of the
camera. Digital cameras are improving and can be found in 8 to 10 Megapixel
resolutions.

A 10 megapixel camera.
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2005_reviews/r1.html
The above 10 megapixel camera produces a 3888 x 2592
Image. If you print that image at 300 dpi, you get a 12.96 " X 8.64" print.

So the question is, will that be a good enough image for your purpose?
 
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