The second scanner is in operation!

I now have two scanners!

I took Mary's old computer and moved my office scanner to the basement. I don't need it in my office anymore because my new printer comes with a scanner.

Two scanners keeps me pretty busy. I have about 5-10 seconds of idle time between scans. I think this means I could probably handle 3 scanners, TBD.

Regardless, the new scanner only goes up to 600 PPI (pixels per inch). So it will only be used for the lower-quality stuff (e.g. notebooks, pictures without people in it, etc.).

Scanning Notebooks

Some decisions on scanning notebooks:

• When scanning spiral-bound notebooks:
• Use wire clippers to remove the spiral
• Then scan the pages individually
• Easier than tearing the pages out
• Best not to scan the notebooks with the wire-spiral attached
• It will scratch the scanner surface

Scanning Larger Notebooks

When scanning notebooks, it's helpful to set up the input pages (waiting to be scanned) on the left  and the output pages (fully scanned, front and back if necessary) on the right. Like this:

When feeding a page onto the scanner, you have to flip it so the front side is scanned first:

Then you flip it to scan the back page:

This is, frankly, a little confusing because when the scan is done, you're now looking at the front page, which always seems to throw me. So now the page is completely scanned (front and back) and you can flip it and put it on the output (scanned) pile:

Scanning Smaller Notebooks:

• When scanning small notebooks (if multiple pages can fit on the platen)
• Scan them in "reading" or "book" order
• So that the two pages which would be both be facing out as you flip through the book are on the same page

This last part is trickier than it sounds. It requires careful management of the pages as you scan. Here is the setup that I am using.

First:  The scanner is set up with the two pages (which face each other), face down on the platen.

The input stack (pages still to be scanned) is at the bottom. Notice that the input stack is in order, as the pages are bound in the note-book (first page on top).
 
The output stack (pages already scanned) is at the top. Notice that the output stack is face-down (because they've already been scanned). New pages are placed, face-down, on the output stack once they are completely scanned.

The setup looks like this:

What I do first is to take the right-hand page and flip it over and place it on the output stack:

Then I flip over the remaining page on the platen and move it from left to right:

Then I turn over the page from the input stack and place it on the left-hand side of the platen:

With this scheme, if there's an occasional blank page, it's best just to scan it, so that you don't get confused and start missing pages.

With this sequence, I can generally keep everything straight:

1. The input stack is face up.
• So pages are scanned in order (first to last)
2. The output stack is face down
• So pages are placed face down in order (first to last)
3. Pages are scanned as if you're reading them from a book
4. Every operation is a flip

Scanning Really Small Notebooks

If the notebook is so small that it can contain more than two pages, then:

• If the back pages are all blank
• Scan as many pages as possible (in order) on each scan
• If the back pages need to be scanned
• Then only scan two pages at a time, use the process from above

I may change this if I get a lot of small notebooks. TBD.

More Decisions on what to scan

Some more decisions about what to scan and what not to scan.

• If the back as a date on it -> Scan it
• But if the date is the same as the backs of the previous photos -> Do not scan
• Unless it's hand-written
• Negatives
• If you've already scanned the positives -> Do not scan
• There is no way the negative could ever be scanned as good as the positive
• Unless the positive is defective in some way (torn, faded, falling apart, etc.)
• Envelopes
• If they have dates, addresses, or hand-writing on them -> Scan it
• Pictures from friends of family who you don't know -> Scan it
• But only scan it at low resolution
• Scan documents as photographs
•  

Scanning Decisions

Okay, so at the start of a large scanning project there are few decisions to make. Here I record some of them (just some!) and my reasoning. I am writing this in-between scans (grin), a sentence at a time.

Technical Decisions

Mary and I compared various Dots Per Inch, DPI (or more accurately, Pixels Per Inch, PPI) and did some research on the web. On the web, the general consensus was that 600 DPI was "perfectly good", but when looking at our first sample image, Mary and I both felt that 1200 DPI provided (very slightly) better resolution at very high zooms.

In terms of color depth, the choices are 24-bit (8 bit for each channel, Red, Blue, Green) or 48-bit (16 bits for each channel, RGB). It is impossible to determine the difference between a 24-bit color image and a 48-bit color image on a computer monitor, because all computer monitors only show 24-bit color (apparently).

Also what file format? JPEG (web/internet standard) is a "lossy" compression format which means smaller file sizes but less careful preservation. JPEG can only represent (max) 24-bit color. Meanwhile TIFF images are perfect, lossless storage and can hold 48-bit color, but they take up a lot more space.

Finally, how long does it take to scan an image? And how much disk space does it take?

Based on some experiments, we decided on the following parameters:

• 600 DPI @ 24 bit color for "less important" images
• DISK SPACE:   2-3mb
• TIME TO SCAN:  25 seconds
• USED FOR:
• Scenery without people in it
• Hotel bedrooms (without interesting luggage or personal effects)
• Tourist attractions
• The backs of photos (when there is writing on the back)

• 1200 DPI for "more important" images (see below)
• DISK SPACE:   820mb (!!)
• TIME TO SCAN:  Over 2 minutes
• USED FOR:
• Any scan with someone we know
• Pictures which are especially beautiful or notable for any reason (gorgeous scenic views, anything which looks historically interesting, etc.)

I'm going to need a large, multi-terabyte hard drive...

What to scan

This is a more interesting question than one might assume. Currently, our decisions are:

• Take a camera picture (with iPhone) of the book / album itself
• Only the front is required, unless there is something interesting about the back (e.g. hand writing)
• Scan the fronts of all photographs
• Scan the backs of photographs if they have writing on them
• Scan any labels
• Position the label on the scanner so that it is either above or to the left of the picture

 Since my first scanning project is Box #13, "Panorama Photos" this is as far as I've gotten in terms of decisions.

The Scanning Process

So far, in terms of a scanning process, I have the following:

1. Open up the box
• Create a folder for the box & label it
2. Get the first item
• This is a folder, album, book, batch of letters, etc.
• Create a folder (under the box folder) for the item & label it
3. Take a picture of the item with a camera (for context)
• Only take a picture of the front & spine, unless the back is super interesting for some reason.
4. Extract the pictures from the book
• Preserve the order!
5. Scan the fronts of each set of pictures
• Pack as many onto the platen as possible
• In order, from left to right, top to bottom
• Scan the labels as well
• Place them above or to the left of the photos
• Take care that there is enough blank-space around all items on the platen
6. Scan the backs of the photos
• Turn them over and scan them in-place
• Only scan the backs if they contain writing
7. Remove the pictures from the scanner and place them into a stack
• Do *not* put the pictures back into the photo album
• Preserve the order
• Put the labels into the stack before the photo which they describe

The first scan!

Started the scanning process!

• Got an old laptop & cleaned it up
• Swept the basement (cricket carnage!)
• Set up a scanning table
• Unpacked the scanner
• Installed the (3!) sets of scanning software
• Downloaded and installed all of the updates
• Connected up the scanner

And now we're reading to scan.

I'm starting on Box #13, because that was the one which was closest to me. I want to get the boxes off the ping-pong table so we can play ping-pong first. 

I'll post a link to where some scans are located as soon as I have actually scanned something.

PS: It's cold in the basement!