Scanning Hardcover Book "Das Pl@ymate Buch" (The Pl@mayte Book)
 

This week I bought a Canoscan 9000F Mark II.

Now I want to scan the book "Das Pl@ymate Buch" (The Pl@mayte Book).

Since I am a Linux user, I do not use the software that came with the scanner.
I use Xsane for scanning, gimp for editing and imagemagick for batch processing.

Scanning the book is not easy, since it's a hardcover and larger than A4.
The book does not lie completely flat on the scanner because of the binding. This leads to a shadow along the spine.

I scan with 300 dpi and save the images in pnm (bitmap) format. The files are about 25MB.
Then I open these images in gimp, crop them and save as JPG-files.
The JPGs are about 2MB.

I will keep the pnm bitmap files. If I decide to process images later I want to have the best source quality.

Here are the first scans:
https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/73/0b/Hx9JkTX6_t.jpghttps://thumbs2.imgbox.com/11/03/hs64bu39_t.jpghttps://thumbs2.imgbox.com/2f/df/hmSeEGud_t.jpghttps://thumbs2.imgbox.com/e0/51/yRP4lMwa_t.jpg

https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/c0/a0/mn8RouAN_t.jpghttps://thumbs2.imgbox.com/7e/33/qaeXVRqo_t.jpghttps://thumbs2.imgbox.com/73/c4/UNQyfJjb_t.jpghttps://thumbs2.imgbox.com/a7/79/m9uT9mGj_t.jpg

https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/12/43/0k2wqTmg_t.jpghttps://thumbs2.imgbox.com/b0/aa/dG1sTalv_t.jpghttps://thumbs2.imgbox.com/8c/44/bSqh2VUb_t.jpghttps://thumbs2.imgbox.com/e2/36/JcdeyFFT_t.jpg

https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/b2/3b/rBH369yV_t.jpghttps://thumbs2.imgbox.com/bb/cf/022yX6Zh_t.jpghttps://thumbs2.imgbox.com/41/6c/mthdpjN4_t.jpghttps://thumbs2.imgbox.com/be/fb/WzFOz827_t.jpg

https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/62/0a/UTmLiLMN_t.jpghttps://thumbs2.imgbox.com/cb/09/EBWqXyFq_t.jpghttps://thumbs2.imgbox.com/30/fc/v7uH2GJT_t.jpghttps://thumbs2.imgbox.com/58/a6/seDOMxnz_t.jpg

https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/c0/2c/oNDkg535_t.jpghttps://thumbs2.imgbox.com/e5/cd/iEIOsvrl_t.jpghttps://thumbs2.imgbox.com/91/06/4h4Tq4ET_t.jpghttps://thumbs2.imgbox.com/93/71/li0AvA2K_t.jpg

https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/ef/6c/xhKixGjk_t.jpg
Before I continue scanning:

• Does anybody have tips or suggestions?
• Should I change the file size or resolution?

magazines and books can be printed differently, which may have impact on the scans.
If your scan software has different settings, you can try a few and see which setting gives the best result. Not that it's really necessary, your scans look good.

300 dpi is the perfect scan resolution imo, no need to change is.

This version is half the file size of yours:
https://t15.pixhost.to/thumbs/23/57576591_halvar80.jpg

If you can't see the difference I would suggest changing the quality setting to 80%, this will greatly reduce the file size.

Thanks for the hint. I now use imagemagick 75% quality 'convert -quality 75 ...'.

A few tricks for scanning bound volumes:

-- you want the subject bathed in very soft light. Hard directional light magnifies the impact of the geometry

-- photographing at a distance with a telephoto lens will tend to optically flatten a bound volume, that is the depth of the seam will be somewhat less noticeable.

I currently do not have the equipment to do this.

The cardboard DIY-book scanner described here could be feasible. https://anonym.to/?http://diybooksca.../en/intro.html
With good lighting it could produce good results, as you suggest.

I have only a couple of more books to scan, If I had more I would invest in some equipment.