Portable Scanner Solutions for Research?

Fished asks: "Lately, I'm finding that I need to do a lot of research in Libraries -- remember those? I'm tired of feeding dimes to the copiers, and would like to buy some kind of portable scanner to go with my Powerbook. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find one that will work. Back in the eighties, this were as common as dirt: they were small, four inch wide scanners that you could run over the page. Also, while I've found three portable scanners for PC's (from Antec and Pentax) even if I could somehow get them to work with Mac OS X, they are sheet-fed, which is useless for scanning pages out of books. Does anyone still make the old-fashioned Hand Scanners, and do they make them for Macs?"

Use a digital camera.

[scott1853]

Seriously. My GF has used ours to take pictures of the monitor when 98 locked up while she was writing letters.

A 2MP should probably work just fine, and if you have a laptop with you, just upload them, erase the card and grab another x pages.

Re:Use a digital camera.

[CreepyNinja]

Damn straight, just cut out the middle-man.

It is interesting to see that scanner prices have dropped with better and better digicams going on the market. It's portable, you have less resolution lost, and it's faster thanks to firewire.

Lightweight Flatbeds

[SJS]

Why not go with a lightweight flatbed scanner? It'll fit in a backback, and many of them are powered from the USB/fireware/whatever connection as well.

If you put the scanner at the edge of a table or desk, you can scan pages of books quickly and easily with less distortion than you'd get from a hand-scanner. This may help make up for the slightly less convenient form-factor.

Try the discount/clearance table at your local Office Depot / Staples / Office Supply store. I always see "clearance" scanner there.

I've not actually tried this with my TiBook, so YMMV.

Re:Use a digital camera.

[Anonymous Coward]

OCR software works with tiffs or jpegs just like the ones from digital cameras. Might want to convert to b&w first though

Re:Use a digital camera - i second this

[Splork]

yes, i've done this as well. 1600x1200 is way more than enough for a page of text. I haven't tried running the image through OCR software, but given that canon has twain "scanner" drivers for their cameras i'll bet it would be easy.

For glossy paper and to avoid annoying the others around you it is best to not use the flash. if you're in a low light situation, get a small tripod and a book stand.

For a very good affordable 2mp camera today i recommend the canon powershot A40 [powershot.com]; search on my simon [mysimon.com] for good prices. Any 2mp camera will probably work for your needs; but why buy a crappy one?

Wafer-Thin Flatbed Scanner

[Egotistical Rant]

Some of the thin Canon models (n656U, n1220U, LiDE 20, etc.) are overall about the same size as a PowerBook, and they draw their power from the USB port; no need for a wall wart. No OSX drivers for the earlier models though...poke around Canon's site for details on what's compatible.

Scanning is slow though...I have to agree with others suggesting just using a digital camera of sufficient resolution.

Try Camera

[Anonymous Coward]

I found on vacation last year - I could take pictures of very detailed signs at tourist attractions (E.g. Papal well at Orvieto) and they were quite readable. Saved looking for brochures, etc.
Almost all decent digital cameras have macro mode and tripod mounts.
If you are at all handy, you could rig up a mounting bracket and a folding copy stand to take a picture. Just find good lighting, so you don't annoy other library patrons (or anal-retentive librarians) with repetitive flashing. (of light...)

I've done this

[[l0l]Bobo]

Flatbed scanners have become really slim and rugged. My GF has one that's 8.5x14 and slimmer than her iBook. It's a USB scanner that requires no external power source (it has all it needs from the usb port). If you're already carrying the laptop around, this adds almost no weight or volume to the total. This is what I used for my trips to the library.

The scanner she has is something like this one [canon.com], and I'm sure there are other ones. Pretty cheap too!

Re:Jesus Tits

[Didion Sprague]

What I'd like to know is what the fuck is up with guys who step waaaaay back from the urinal and then whip-whacks the drips off so everybody and his brother (a) gets a unpleasant glimpse of limp pecker and (b) gets an ass-spatter if they're standing in the wrong place.

Cripes.

But to answer your question: I, too, recommend a digital camera. I use a Nikon Coolpix 900 and it focusses just fine on text. I have to steady myself with my elbows, but 95% of the shots are at least legible.

OCR is a good idea.

Me, I just use the camera technique for getting free porn from the library when I go up to the periodical desk, request the latest Playboy, and then go find a carrol that's out of the way so I can start snapping.

Penscanner - only B/W

[Mu*puppy]

Had a roommate who got one of these penscanners. They did passable for reading black text on a white background, but God help you if you have to scan colored text on white, or black text from an even slightly (say, a light gray) colored background. If you're going to pull text out of 'traditional' books, you should do just fine, but I think you'd do better to grab a small flatbed scanner if you wanted something more generally usable.

"I do what the voices in my head tell me to... and they don't like you..."

Re:Use a digital camera - i second this

[j_dot_bomb]

I use my A40 as a fax scanner to send faxes from home. A40 is awesome I totally agree.

Try a C-Pen

[YuppieScum]

The C-Pen [cpen.com] is a stand-alone, highligher-sized single-text-line scanner with OCR, LCD display, 4MB memory and IrDA. Software is available for Win32 and Mac.

My g/f used one of these during the last 2 years of her degree, and swears by it - it's so discrete you can use it anywhere, including libraries and even book-shops!