Rig for shooting large document

[bmichel]

<p>We have some scrapbooks of sentimental value that I would like to digitally archive. The pages are too large for a flatbed scanner. </p>

<p>I am thinking of laying the individual pages on a flat surface and shooting vertically. This would eliminate any need to try to hold the pages perfectly vertical and flat. </p>

<p>I briefly experimented with reversing the center post of my tripod and locking the ball head at 90. I plan to use a Pentax K-5. This looks like it would work, but getting and maintaining alignment would be a bit clumsy. I am not sure what lens I will use, but I think a 75mm would do it. B&H suggested some sort of a boom that would attach to the tripod. That might be a bit easier to use if the document was on a low table. </p>

<p>I am open to any suggestions, including some way of doing this with vertical pages. </p>

<p>Also, suggestions for lighting are welcome. It may be that I cannot safely remove a page from the plastic holder, so errant reflections could be a problem. Would a macro ring light be useful?</p>

[noreen]

<p>What distance do you need between the lens and the document? Depending on this, a copy stand might do the trick.</p>

<p>A rather elaborate (four-light) model is shown here, but they also come with two lights or none at all:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.marietta.edu/~mcshaffd/macro/copy.html">http://www.marietta.edu/~mcshaffd/macro/copy.html</a></p>

[Andrew Garrard]

<p>Bruce: Just in case this helps, I'll point out that many office photocopiers can also scan, and many of them can handle A3 or larger documents - the one in my office handles 45cm x 30cm. Would your scrapbooks fit that, at least one page at a time? It might be less trouble than shooting, and higher resolution.<br />

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Otherwise, some shorter macro lenses are designed for a flat field, and might be your best options. I'd light from a relatively extreme angle if you're worried about reflections, but you might also be able to manage them with a polarizer (if the lights are in the right place). Either cross-light or use a very distant light for even illumination (the big yellow one in the sky can be useful for this).<br />

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How flat does the scrapbook fold? You might also get away with using rubber bands on the page edges to hold things flat. If everything is in a plastic holder, you might have options with post-it-style adhesive or gum that comes off, which might allow you to keep everything flat.<br />

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Good luck.</p>

[JDMvW]

<p>It's important to get the angles absolutely square, and to light the subject as evenly as you can manage. That latter problem is why flatbed scanners are often preferable to using a camera.</p>

<p>This is also an application for which a true macro lens or a copy lens may work better than general purpose lenses - and why if you don't have a flat-field lens as such, a reversed lens will work better if you can get the required distance.<br>

Short barrel lenses, even enlarging lenses, on bellows- also good.</p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>A copystand is what you need -- and the way this was generally done before scanners came along. You can use the camera pointed down from a tripod, but as you've realized it can be difficult to keep everything line up straight. A key issue is whether the material can easily come out of the scrapbook -- if it's still in the book, it's going to be more difficult to get it to lay flat. Even if it does come out, you may need to hold down edges or even put a heavy sheet of glass over it. (which, of course, would need to be as perfectly clean as you can make it.)<br /><br />An alternative, which I did in copying some large family photos recently, is to scan the photos in sections on a regular scanner, then stitch them together in Photoshop. A little tricky, but no more so than getting everything line up on a copy stand.</p>

[mukul_dube]

<p>A spirit level should make "getting and maintaining alignment" easier.</p>