[bookshare-discuss] Re: Better Scans?
- From: "Mary Otten" <maryotten@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 09 May 2004 19:31:52 -0500
Hi Allison,
I'm also a kurzweil 8 user, and I have a really old scanner, a big clunky hp 4p
for which I have a back up waiting in the wings when this one goes. I scan as
you described, with two pages at once, with the book
pressed flat onto the scanner. And I never use the lid when scanning. It would
take too long to open and close that every time I wanted to do a set of pages.
Plus, pressing the lid isn't nearly as good, in my opinion, as
getting in to direct contact with the book. Only use I see for a scanner lid
is to put it down when the scanner is not in use so as to protect the glass
from having something accidentally dropped on it. As for how to
improve one's scans, I suppose the fix depends on the sorts of errors you are
seeing. And yes, post scan editing is always a good idea, unless you have the
patience to read through the book as you're scanning,
which I find hard, because you have to keep stopping the scan to fix errors on
the fly when you hear them. Testing your brightness setting before you begin
and adjusting according to the errors you see can really
help. There is a huge variation in print out there, so one brightness setting
definitely does not fit all. And keeping the book really flat, so that the
print near the binding is picked up also helps a lot. Fine engine
occasionally puts in junk characters, especially if you scan a book in
landscape mode, that is, with top of book to either left or right of scanner.
Some people say that happens because of the book not being pressed
flat enough. Some people say adjusting brightness up a few numbers will help.
Those junk characters are the single biggest issue I have with scans produced
by fine reader or fine engine, if using K1000 and, I
presume Openbook as well. Ranked spelling can help you quickly fix up errors,
and a search and destroy mission for common junk characters, such as the
vertical bar character, or a tab character followed by things
like ; j i etc, can also be done fairly quickly, and helps the accuracy of the
scan a lot. I think somebody was compiling a list of scanner tips, but I'm not
sure what happened with that. Kellie, was that you?
Mary
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