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    Portable Scanning/Archival Solution?

    Discussion in 'Accessories' started by lineS of flight, Apr 14, 2011.

  1. lineS of flight

    lineS of flight Notebook Virtuoso

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    Hi...

    A colleague of mine has a problem which I will list hereunder. I did not quite know where exactly to put it, so I am posting here. Mods, please move this to appropriate section. Thanks.

    The problem:

    A colleague needs a secondary portable laptop (which is easily taken care of). She also does a lot of archival work which requires her to make copies - either by scanning or by photocopying. This last bit is posing a problem for her. When she is in the archives, she copies about 50-75 pages per day. While some of the locations she visits have in-house copying facilities, others do not. She is thus looking for a portable copying solution. Some of the options that we have discussed are:

    (1) A portable scanner - I don't know if this would hoild up to her scanning requirements. But a possibility?

    (2) Using a digital camera to take pics of the documents and then to convert them to PDF or another readable and editable format. Problem with this is that the output of this option leaves much to be desired for. Moreover, I am not sure the conversion of images into text would work well. However, if the conversion is indeed possible to so smoothly (if necessary by buying the necessary software), then this may be a viable option. She has tried doing this with one of the low end digital point-and-shoot cams, but as I mentioned earlier, the output is horrible.

    Are there any other options or suggestions that you can make? The key is portability.

    She is in a bit of a hurry so...please...thanks.

    Cheers!
     
    lineS of flight, Apr 14, 2011
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  2. MidnightSun

    MidnightSun Emodicon

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    Moved and retitled.

    From my experience, at least, you're definitely want to use some sort of specialized scanner. A digital camera is not going to cut it, even if it is a DSLR, since it results in huge file sizes but very variable quality unless you have a rig that's built to make sure the output is consistent every time (and in that case, it may be faster--see the Google Book and other similar projects).
     
    MidnightSun, Apr 14, 2011
    #2
  3. lineS of flight

    lineS of flight Notebook Virtuoso

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    Thanks. Much appreciated. Any rig that can be set up would be rather involved and, I am guessing, cumbersome. I personally think she is out of luck...but let's wait to see if there are alternatives.
     
    lineS of flight, Apr 14, 2011
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  4. KLF

    KLF NBR Super Modernator Super Moderator

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    Would she need a flatbed scanner (for example Canon makes those that power on USB directly and are small) or something with a document feeder?

    Example of the latter one would be like this one:
    Fujitsu Scansnap S1300 Scanners | Portable PDF Scanners : Fujitsu United States

    For Canons, their website doesn't like me, so I googled this:
    Canon CanoScan Flatbed Scanner - Scanners - Canon UK

    Both have their advantages, but I'd choose the one with document feeder anytime if there's just plain papers to scan. Fill the machine, press scan and forget it :)
     
    KLF, Apr 15, 2011
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  5. d2tbydt2

    d2tbydt2 Notebook Consultant

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    I suggest looking at the Canon line of scanners. I have personally used the CanoScan LiDE 100 for a couple of years now. It is USB powered and can be carried in a backpack along with a laptop :). The supplied MPNavigator software can be used with the one-touch buttons on the scanner to scan to PDF, and the buttons can also be customized (resolution settings etc.)
    It does not come with a document feeder, but the new line (iformula) of scanners come with a feeder (I havent used any of them).

    -
     
    d2tbydt2, May 9, 2011
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