Have you seen the HP 4670 scanner? Is a frame which you can place over a book (or whatever you want to scan) or hold against something on a wall, or hold above what you want to scan. Or place single sheets in the frame. Has OCR software. Is very light and easy to carry around with you. Has the attachment for scanning slides too. I am in the process of scanning our OE (0verseas Experience) slides from the 1960s. With this scanner and a notebook computer - wow!! Jan in New Zealand ----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard A. Smith" <richard@torrington.demon.co.uk> To: <SOG-UK-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 4:02 AM Subject: RE: [SoG] Scanning an old book > I have digitally photographed the pages of an old book and put the result > though OCR software and finished up with an MSWord document, I hope this > helps > Richard > > -----Original Message----- > From: Phil Warn [mailto:philwarn@ntlworld.com] > Sent: 22 March 2005 14:37 > To: SOG-UK-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [SoG] Scanning an old book > > > Hi gang, > > Generally, you are a very knowledgeable lot! > > Could some one suggest whether a hand held scanner would the best bet for > scanning an old book? > > I do not like the idea of using a flat bed scanner because of the fragility > of this 94 year old book about the Warne Family in America. > > The devices I have seen contain some local memory and I do not mind having > to "stitch" together images to from an A4 page before OCR'ing the image so > formed. > > Apart from a few pictures and a couple of hand drawn Coats of Arms, the > rest is text. > > I see a hand held device as not having any ill effect on the spine, etc. > > I want to be able to produce a Word Document or PDF file from the scanned > images of the pages. > > Any thoughts would be most welcome. > > Has any one used a digital camera for this purpose, for example? > > Many thanks > > Phil. > This email has been scanned for viruses by NetBenefit using Sophos anti-virus technology

This gadget seems a bit odd at first glance, but maybe it might have some use in scanning books - especially, as Phil had in mind, in repositories where basic but efficiently fast data-gathering combined with portability and flexibility are higher up on the agenda than making a faithful image, free of distortion and shadows, of the original page. It has a stablemate, the Scanjet 4600, which though also see-through is described as a flatbed (the 4670 is called a 'vertical' scanner). Both share almost identical specs, including 24oodpi resolution and 48-bit colour depth. They seem to be designed with speed and convenience in mind, as scans are quoted at 6 and under 6 seconds respectively (but at what resolution?), and I can well see the benefits in being able to se the original doc through the scanner window as one lines the two up together. Though it scans a standard A4 area, it apparently comes with software that allows composite 'panoramas' to be compiled, which would make scanning old maps, for example, feel very natural and responsive, though the alignment of contiguous map segments would no doubt be haphazard to say the least, unless some sort of robotic arm was used to place the scanner with presicion each time - while the robot's grabbers no doubt punched holes in the map in the process! The 4670 retails for about £150 in the UK. More details of both models are on the HP website at: http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/ho/WF02a/5043-5683-5687.html. Lawrence. -----Original Message----- From: Jan Gow (by way of Geoffrey <lists@sog.org.uk>) [mailto:jangow@beehivebooks.co.nz] Have you seen the HP 4670 scanner?... With this scanner and a notebook computer - wow!! Jan in New Zealand > -----Original Message----- > From: Phil Warn [mailto:philwarn@ntlworld.com] > > > Hi gang,... > > The devices I have seen contain some local memory and I do not mind having > to "stitch" together images to from an A4 page before OCR'ing the image so > formed. > > Apart from a few pictures and a couple of hand drawn Coats of Arms, the > rest is text. > > I see a hand held device as not having any ill effect on the spine, etc... -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.8.1 - Release Date: 23/03/2005 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.8.1 - Release Date: 23/03/2005