In message of 22 Mar, Peter Amsden <amsden@btinternet.com> wrote: > > > From: Tim Powys-Lybbe <tim@powys.org> > > Reply-To: SOG-UK-L@rootsweb.com > > Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 17:53:25 GMT > > > I'm jealous then. My old camera (early last year) will only do > > colour and it was not cheap either. > > > > The perpetual problem Tim. Once off the forecourt it becomes next > years scrap! Well, I have done a further RTFM and the very fine print says it has a B&W mode... (Obviously I was using last year's glasses.) So I did a trial and yes it was indeed in black and white. But it was 24-bit black and white and the file size only came down from around 2.3 Mbytes to around 2.1 Mbytes. My trial was to photo a yellowed sheet of paper with poor type-writing from 1926. I tried quite a few tricks to get the file size down but could not get signficantly below 500K before significant detail was lost. Doubtless a better program could have done a better job. Anyhow the Plustek book scanner looks very interesting, though I suspect the sponsorship to The Society would need to be nearer £1,000 to provide the necessary PC with monitor and printer as well. -- Tim Powys-Lybbe tim@powys.org For a miscellany of bygones: http://powys.org

On Tue, 22 Mar 2005 22:36:46 GMT, Tim Powys-Lybbe <tim@powys.org> wrote: >Anyhow the Plustek book scanner looks very interesting, though I >suspect the sponsorship to The Society would need to be nearer £1,000 to >provide the necessary PC with monitor and printer as well. The deployment of the scanner would be decided by the Librarian with advice from the IT Working Party. In the best case scenario no further equipment would need to be purchased, as the scanner would be connected to an existing PC and print through one of the several network connected printers already present. In the worst case scenario one would buy all the equipment, but this need only cost: - PC Dell Dimension 2400 £199, which includes 17" CRT monitor and CD-ROM drive (plus £29 for a CD-RW drive) - Brother HL 5139 laser printer £120 (from Simply Computers, now taken over by Misco) So the total cost would be £462 (scanner £143, PC £199, printer £120) which excludes VAT, since the Society would get that back. There would be a few more pounds for delivery of these items. So the estimate of around £1,000 is rather misleading and might put off a potential donor of the scanner. Cheers, John John Addis-Smith Thurleigh, Bedfordshire, England