-----Original Message----- From: Foster, Jeff [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 10:11 PM To: J A Foster Subject: RE: Scanners -- again Given this is a one time project of only several hundred Documents any $49-$79 Flatbed scanner should do. Once you get into a grove you should be able to scan 30+ documents per hour manually. For about $199 you can get a flattbed with an auto hopper capable of feeding multiple sheeta through automatically. However, the source documents would need to be consistant in size, shape, etc to feed reliable. As for the file type if disk storage space is not an issue .Tiff is a good choice. BitMap (.BMP)files will take up a lot of space. JPEG (.JPG) would require the least space. Also, The Degredation with .jpg file would only be an issue if the file was going to be edited and save often. Simple copying the original file will not change it. If you opened the image to correct a blemish and then save the overall picture can loose some clarity when being compressed again the second time. If the images will not be modified after being scanned .jpg is a good choice as well. The time required to scan and save in each of the file formats will be insignificant. At most 10 seconds variation between slowest and fastest. The resolution selected is what makes the difference between a scan taking 20 seconds or 2 minutes. For Text document a low 300DPI resolution should be suficient. Maybe not though. Higher resolutions would allow not only reading of a document but analysis of the paper and handwriting if ever required. Remember the higher resolutions will also make the files size much larger. A 20 second 300DPI .JPG file might be 75K verses a 2 minute 1900DPI .jpg scan swelling to 12MB. Hope this helps. -----Original Message----- From: J A Foster [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 9:23 PM To: Foster, Jeff Subject: FW: Scanners -- again Jeff, Can you help this guy out. Dad -----Original Message----- From: Research and writing about Virginia genealogy and family history. [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Henry Wiencek Sent: Thursday, June 01, 2006 9:08 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Scanners -- again Dear Friends, Last August I asked advice about buying a scanner and external cd/dvd burner for my wife , but it turned out that the museum in question forbade scanners! Grrr. So the decision was put off, until now. Today I went out and bought an Epson Perfection 4490 Photo, for the specific purpose of scanning several hundred historical documents (mainly letters, handwritten). I have succeeded in scanning a document into my laptop, so I know that everything works, but my question is: what format should I use? JPEGs deteriorate with multiple copying--right? (That's what the Epsons instructions say.) Should I use BITMAP or TIFF? A major factor is the time required to make an individual scan. Since we have hundreds of documents to scan, we don't want this to stretch into July, but we also want good-quality files in a format that is widely usable. My test runs on both BITMAP or TIFF seem to take about 20 seconds per scan. Does that sound right? Sorry to be such an ignoramus. Any suggestions will be most gratefully received. Henry Wiencek To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html