Scanning 12" LPs

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Allan

Anyone know if there is a scanner that will fit a 12" LP (in a single
scan) - that I don't need a personal loan to afford? ; )
 
Allan said:
Anyone know if there is a scanner that will fit a 12" LP (in a single
scan) - that I don't need a personal loan to afford? ; )
Click to expand...

Stereo or mono ?

30 cm ....I guess you better make a copy stand with a digital
camera. An old enlarger will do as a base. If you need to get
the tracks of every LP correctly copied. If it is just the
label that is important then I would try to get some LP
pictures from the web (black, red, white, etc) and paste the
labels in with PS. On most Epson flatbeds you can take the
lamp house off and lay the LP on top. Enough DOF in the
scanners to get it sharp at 600 PPI max.

Ernst.

--

--
Ernst Dinkla


www.pigment-print.com
( unvollendet )
 
I have a Scanjet 4c alongside me and whilst its footprint maybe A3 the glass
bed is 225 x 350 and it is certaily too small for an LP cover in one pass
but easily stiched in two....
HTH
Cheers
DP
 
Addenuff said:
I have a Scanjet 4c alongside me and whilst its footprint maybe A3 the
glass bed is 225 x 350 and it is certaily too small for an LP cover in one
pass
Click to expand...

That makes it a USA Legal size scanner 8.5" x 14".
 
Ernst Dinkla said:
Stereo or mono ?

30 cm ....I guess you better make a copy stand with a digital camera. An
old enlarger will do as a base. If you need to get the tracks of every LP
correctly copied. If it is just the label that is important then I would
try to get some LP pictures from the web (black, red, white, etc) and
paste the labels in with PS. On most Epson flatbeds you can take the lamp
house off and lay the LP on top. Enough DOF in the scanners to get it
sharp at 600 PPI max.

Ernst.

--

--
Ernst Dinkla


www.pigment-print.com
( unvollendet )
Click to expand...

Very good method.

A method to copy a record LP cover with a Digital camera.
It is not hard to do. And does not require a copy stand.
http://www.carlmcmillan.com/how_to_copy_with_digital_camera.htm
 
I have a Scanjet 4c alongside me and whilst its footprint maybe A3 the glass
bed is 225 x 350 and it is certaily too small for an LP cover in one pass
but easily stiched in two....
HTH
Cheers
DP
Click to expand...

Thanks. I thought that was the case. So does anyone know, are there
scanners where the smallest width is at least 30cm/12"?
 
Yep. Its called a camera. ;-))

regards,
Thanks. I thought that was the case. So does anyone know, are there
scanners where the smallest width is at least 30cm/12"?
Click to expand...
 
I actually did this exact thing for a magazine I used to work with. I
scanned each half of the LP covers and joined them in Photoshop. It
wasn't easy! But you ought to be able to do it with a basic good
flatbed (for not too much money - like an Epson) and a LOT of
time...............

(not sure what they ended up doing with the scans though)

Rosemary
 
CSM1" ([email protected]) said:
Very good method.

A method to copy a record LP cover with a Digital camera.
It is not hard to do. And does not require a copy stand.
http://www.carlmcmillan.com/how_to_copy_with_digital_camera.htm
Click to expand...


I've had indifferent luck with a basic camera, but think I'd do better
with the more advanced one I've got now.

1) Lighting--the article above is right, a 45 degree angle is the classic
setup, which you also find on a copy stand. I don't recommend using flash
at all, because most albums covers are printed on coated (shiny) stock,
which gives a reflection. You may have to adjust the lights to move
reflections away, but they do work. I've found that frosted bulbs, having
a more diffuse light, are better than small sources, like halogen lamps.
The flatter the light, the better.

If you are just doing one or two covers, wait for a "cloudy bright" day,
with an overcast sky; the light will be even outdoors and you have a
decent chance that there will be no color cast that you have to fix with
an image editor.

2) Shooting angle--What the copy stand does is provide the other important
thing, that the camera's sensing element (analagous to a film camera's
focal plane) be at the same angle as the subject to be photgraphed. If
the camera is tilted in relation to the subject you get what's know as
"keystoning", which can be a pain to straighten out. When I tried before
all I had was a camera with a fixed wide-angle lens. Now I have a 4X zoom
and I'd put the camera futher back (on a tripod!) and use the zoom to
tighten in, so that any diffrence between the cover and the angle of the
camera is not emphasized by the wide angle. And frame with the LCD
screen, not the optical viewfinder, which is invariably off.

If you have a way to extend the "on" time reset that too, so you don't
have to start over each time the camera's battery-saving feature shuts the
camera down, losing all your set-up.

Brendan
 
I actually did this exact thing for a magazine I used to work with. I
scanned each half of the LP covers and joined them in Photoshop. It
wasn't easy! But you ought to be able to do it with a basic good
flatbed (for not too much money - like an Epson) and a LOT of
time...............

(not sure what they ended up doing with the scans though)

Rosemary
Click to expand...
Scanning in two parts and then joining is easier than it used
to be if you use any one of the panoramic stitching programs.
Photoshop even has a function that will do this.
Just scan both sections and make sure that the cover is
square to the scanner. Also make sure there is a good amount
of overlap.
I use panorama factory, but many others work equally well.
 
I have a Scanjet 4c alongside me and whilst its footprint maybe A3 the glass
bed is 225 x 350 and it is certaily too small for an LP cover in one pass
but easily stiched in two....
HTH
Cheers
DP
Click to expand...

Thanks... I've tried image stitching before. Even downloaded
software supposed specifically made for that. But I ran into a few
problems that I can recall...

1. My scanner has an annoying habit of straightening images according
to what it thinks are straight lines. I only got to LP #2 when it did
this. I flipped and tilted them this way and that, but it kept
happening. This "feature" cannot be turned off in the software
either. The manual just says to reposition the item on the glass, but
because of the size of the LP, it was impossible.

2. Because LP covers are so thick, the two halves are never perfectly
flat and so they cannot scan at the exact same "brightness." Because
the left edge of the scanner glass has no indication where it ends, I
have to rotate the covers 180 degrees and scan against the right side
as it's and the top are the only two definite starting points for the
scan. This means you have to use the right-hand side for every scan
to get it straight for stitching later on. It's hard to explain, but
when you rotating one image 180 degrees and then try to align the two
image halves back together, you can easily see the join because of the
different light shading. They also never matched. There was always
one half too short compared to the other.

3. The image stitching software I downloaded... just didn't! All it
did was allow me to open two images and move them around manually
using the mouse. I thought, "I can do this in any image editor!?" So
I never did work out what all the fuss was about using stitching
software - unless I just picked a poor program. I thought the
software would recognise the same line of pixels on both halves and
automatically overlap the images at that point. Instead I was doing
it all myself.

To the folks that suggested using a camera... Thanks, but if there's
a scanner of LP size, I'll look into that route first. I've tried
photographing in the past, it's even worse than scanning halves and
stitching. Without some kind of framework, it's impossible to
photograph at the same distance, covers are still slightly curved, the
light reflects all over the place off the shiny covers...

Considering I've got a few hundred LPs, it sure would be easier to lay
them on a flat glass surface, push down on the scanner lid to flatten
them out and just press a scan button.

Allan
 
Allan said:
Thanks... I've tried image stitching before. Even downloaded
software supposed specifically made for that. But I ran into a few
problems that I can recall...

1. My scanner has an annoying habit of straightening images according
to what it thinks are straight lines. I only got to LP #2 when it did
this. I flipped and tilted them this way and that, but it kept
happening. This "feature" cannot be turned off in the software
either. The manual just says to reposition the item on the glass, but
because of the size of the LP, it was impossible.

2. Because LP covers are so thick, the two halves are never perfectly
flat and so they cannot scan at the exact same "brightness." Because
the left edge of the scanner glass has no indication where it ends, I
have to rotate the covers 180 degrees and scan against the right side
as it's and the top are the only two definite starting points for the
scan. This means you have to use the right-hand side for every scan
to get it straight for stitching later on. It's hard to explain, but
when you rotating one image 180 degrees and then try to align the two
image halves back together, you can easily see the join because of the
different light shading. They also never matched. There was always
one half too short compared to the other.

3. The image stitching software I downloaded... just didn't! All it
did was allow me to open two images and move them around manually
using the mouse. I thought, "I can do this in any image editor!?" So
I never did work out what all the fuss was about using stitching
software - unless I just picked a poor program. I thought the
software would recognise the same line of pixels on both halves and
automatically overlap the images at that point. Instead I was doing
it all myself.

To the folks that suggested using a camera... Thanks, but if there's
a scanner of LP size, I'll look into that route first. I've tried
photographing in the past, it's even worse than scanning halves and
stitching. Without some kind of framework, it's impossible to
photograph at the same distance, covers are still slightly curved, the
light reflects all over the place off the shiny covers...

Considering I've got a few hundred LPs, it sure would be easier to lay
them on a flat glass surface, push down on the scanner lid to flatten
them out and just press a scan button.

Allan
Click to expand...

If you have an easel, light stands and a tripod. Once the LP cover is
correctly framed and you know the correct exposure, it is just a matter of
placing the cover on the easel and snapping an image. You do place the
cover in the same spot every time.

Once you have the setup the way you want it, You can shoot one cover every
few seconds.

If your record album covers are like mine, you will want to touch them up in
PhotoShop.
 
Thanks... I've tried image stitching before. Even downloaded
software supposed specifically made for that. But I ran into a few
problems that I can recall...

1. My scanner has an annoying habit of straightening images according
to what it thinks are straight lines. I only got to LP #2 when it did
this. I flipped and tilted them this way and that, but it kept
happening. This "feature" cannot be turned off in the software
either. The manual just says to reposition the item on the glass, but
because of the size of the LP, it was impossible.

2. Because LP covers are so thick, the two halves are never perfectly
flat and so they cannot scan at the exact same "brightness." Because
the left edge of the scanner glass has no indication where it ends, I
have to rotate the covers 180 degrees and scan against the right side
as it's and the top are the only two definite starting points for the
scan. This means you have to use the right-hand side for every scan
to get it straight for stitching later on. It's hard to explain, but
when you rotating one image 180 degrees and then try to align the two
image halves back together, you can easily see the join because of the
different light shading. They also never matched. There was always
one half too short compared to the other.

3. The image stitching software I downloaded... just didn't! All it
did was allow me to open two images and move them around manually
using the mouse. I thought, "I can do this in any image editor!?" So
I never did work out what all the fuss was about using stitching
software - unless I just picked a poor program. I thought the
software would recognise the same line of pixels on both halves and
automatically overlap the images at that point. Instead I was doing
it all myself.

To the folks that suggested using a camera... Thanks, but if there's
a scanner of LP size, I'll look into that route first. I've tried
photographing in the past, it's even worse than scanning halves and
stitching. Without some kind of framework, it's impossible to
photograph at the same distance, covers are still slightly curved, the
light reflects all over the place off the shiny covers...

Considering I've got a few hundred LPs, it sure would be easier to lay
Click to expand...
Download a trial copy of Vuescan from hamrick.com. This allows better
control of your scanner. In particular it won't rotate your image and
you can lock the exposure so that both halves of the scan will be the
same brightness.

The stitching software I suggest trying is Panorama Factory, it has
two modes, auto and manual as well. In auto it will attempt to fix
rotation and brightness differences before stitching. You can also
download and try this for free as well.
 
The suggestion of stitching so far has been based on two scans
per cover. I think many flatbed scanners do not reach the
length either: A4 = 297 mm so less than the 12" LP itself and
the cover will be even longer. A secondhand A3 scanner most
likely will not cover the width either. My Agfa Horizon Plus
A3 isn't wide enough for both versions of "Exile on main
street". The covers are 1/2 or 2/3" wider. The Epson 3200
doesn't do it in the length. Four scans + stitching is a lot
of work for what probably will never need the real detail a
scanner is capable off. Not my method. And I have made quite
creative use of the Epson 3200 for scans + stitching of larger
originals than an LP cover but then I needed the detail.

That's why I suggested a digital camera on a copy stand. I
have an old Polaroid MP4 that has its camera part replaced
(used the camera for another project) by a small Fuji compact
and it works well.

Ernst

--

--
Ernst Dinkla


www.pigment-print.com
( unvollendet )
 
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