Out of all the book scanners features, the camera is arguably one of the more important parts. In this article, we’ll cover all your most frequently asked questions on the subject.
What types of book scanner cameras are there?
Book scanners inevitably come with some sort of camera. The camera will differ in where it is positioned, depending on what type of book scanner you’re looking at, as well as in its quality.
The image quality that can be captured by a scanner camera is measured in Megapixels, whereby the higher the number of Megapixels, the more crisp and clear the image is produced.
What is a good resolution for book scanning?
A good resolution for book scanning would be anywhere between 15-25MP (megapixel). For scanning regular books, with mainly black on white letters, a 15 MP camera should work just fine.
You should know that the quality of the camera greatly effects the price of the scanner and also the speed of the scanning.
Which book scanner has the camera with the highest quality?
With 23MP, the VIISAN A2 overhead book scanner is the scanner with the highest camera quality on our book scanners comparison list.
What affects the camera quality?
In order to get a crisp and clear image with your book scanner, the most important thing you need to do is ensure that there’s no dust (or dirt, or smudges) on the camera lens, since this will ruin the image quality. You can read more about this in our article about how book scanners work.
What else is important for image quality?
There are several important things to consider about image quality. The most important of which has to be OCR scanning (more on that shortly), and you may also be interested in such features as Page Turning Detection, Book Flattening Technology, and Auto-adjustments.
Let’s take a look at each of these book scanning features in turn.
What is OCR scanning?
Now, as we have already mentioned, OCR scanning is the most important feature you can have in a book scanner. OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition, and the feature describes the book scanning software ability to recognize words and letters on a page.
But better yet, because it is able to pick up these letters, this means that the final digitized copy of the book is searchable. This way, you can just open the software, search for a particular word or phrase, and you will be taken to the first instance of the phrase within the e-book, followed by all the remaining instances.
This can be incredibly value when using digitized books for creating an online library catalog.
What book scanners have a camera with OCR?
Because it’s such a valuable feature, most book scanners on the market offer OCR scanning. The difference is in the quality of the OCR and how many languages it can recognize. Some OCR softwares can only recognize 5 languages, while other can recognize over 180 languages.
The quality of the OCR also differs from one book scanner to another and some softwares will be able to recognize unique fonts on old books while others will not.
So if you’re scanning old books or a language other than English, make sure you get a book scanner with OCR that can support this.
What is page turning detection?
Book scanners that have page turning detection built in can automatically detect when a page has been turned, so it knows when it should be scanning again, automatically.
This is an amazing feature because it can save you a great deal of time when scanning an entire book. All you have to do is flip the pages and the scanner does all the rest.
What is page continuous scanning?
Book scanners that have the feature of continuous scanning can be set to take pictures in intervals of every few seconds.
This is a more basic version of the page turning detection feature, it allows you to keep flipping the pages will the scanning is done automatically.
What is book flattening technology?
When hardcover books lay on the cradle they are not straight but a bit wavy near the center, which makes it hard to scan, compared to a flat A4 peace of paper..
Book flattening technology is a feature which makes adjustments to the image, to make the book appear flat rather than curved.
This is an excellent feature, because it helps to rid the digitized copy of the shadows that present themselves near the center of the book’s pages so that the digitized file looks like a flat document.
What are auto-adjustments?
Some book scanner’s camera can make auto-adjustments which make the scan look a lot better. This includes the likes of smart tilt correction, automatic cropping, automatic zooming, automatic lighting and brightness and so on.
Some book scanners brands have auto adjustments and some require that you do the adjustments manually.
What is fully automatic book scanning?
Fully automatic book scanning is a process done by automatic book scanners and without any human intervention. These devices are big and expensive and are usually found in industrial establishments or at book scanning shops.
What else should you consider about book scanning?
There are a few more things to think about before buying a book scanner other than the camera. You might want to read about the legality of book scanning and about how you can scan a book on your phone using a special phone app for book scanning.
Happy book scanning!