CompuServe Thread

#Best way to scan?

10 messages in this thread
#27252From: John A. OlsonMar 3, 1993 3:23 AM
Hi, Which offers higher resolution and the best results when grabbing an image of printed material for use in DTV? a copy stand and video camera feeding into the Toaster a flat bed color scanner working into ADPRO I have been doing the former (without a copy stand – the ole thumb tack into the wall trick), and am now considering buying one of the 600 dpi flatbed scanners supported by ADPRO (HP Scanjet IIc, Epson 600 or 800C). I'm accustomed to hearing scanner resolution expressed in dpi . . . what is comparable resolution for a live video camera framegrab of a still image into the Toaster? Can that be expressed in dpi? Probably depends on the number of pixels in the camcorder's CCD, doesn't it? How about relative hue/saturation, etc. between the two methods? Thanks, John
#27293From: john bennettMar 4, 1993 6:24 AM
Scans from a flatbed will be much better than video frame grabs even within the Toaster. With a flatbed scanner you can always sample down the image after scanning to get the right size. Of course both are necissary in a Good setup, I use my JX100 and toaster freeze about equally……
#27310From: Matthew J. W. RatcliffMar 4, 1993 9:03 PM
Actually DigiView will work better than a Toaster with a color video cam, unless you have a very nice video cam indeed. The B&W cameras are higher resolution. Scanners have fixed max. resolution. If you wanted to get a detail off a stamp, the scanner would only give you so many dots.. period. To get more you would need a better scanner. Using a camera, you can adjust the optics to fill the screen with the the stamp and get much better resolution. They are kind of different. The camera gives you fixed output size 768×480, with widely adjusta the scanner gives you more variable output size, but you can never zoom in below a certain maximum size. Depending on your materials, different options work better. Scanners don't give you the kind of noise you can get from a video camera also…
#27322From: john bennettMar 5, 1993 8:23 AM
I also got a Zapshot SV camera that works very nicely in some cases. I've never gotten nearly the results on frame grabs with Digiview as I can get with the Toaster. What I see on the switcher screen is what I get as a frame store, Then IFF . (period). DCTV is a great display device, but difficult to get good frame grabs. ….John Imagic Hollywood, Ca.
#27320From: John A. OlsonMar 5, 1993 1:52 AM
Hi John, Thanks for the reply. Now the tough question: is there a noticeable difference between 300 dpi and 600 dpi scanned images after two generations of editing and eventual display from VHS on an NTSC monitor? In other words, is 300 dpi (or less) good enough for most prosumer purposes? Thanks, John
#27323From: john bennettMar 5, 1993 8:23 AM
John, No problem…:^) Flat bed scanners are flying off the shelves these days now that the rest of the world (mac,pc) are discovering Multi-media… I think they are much misunderstood. Most scanners interpolate up to 600 dpi, which is just scaling the image up on the fly. Mostly it *all* depends on the size of your input image and the size you want for output. I doubt you'll ever need to scan a full 8×10 at 300 or 600 dpi. That would be 2400×3000 pixels (300 dpi), and take atleast 24 megs RAM to handle. But at 100 dpi that would be just about video resolution after scaling down alittle. The advantage of a hi-res scanner is that you can scan small art and still get a fairly hi-res scan. My Sharp JX100 and ADPro have proved to be a great combo, but I would like to get a JX320 (8 1/2 x 11). ….John Imagic Hollywood, Ca.
#27514From: Vic WagnerMar 11, 1993 7:31 PM
Better yet, IMHO, would be the Epson ES-800C.
#27388From: Matthew J. W. RatcliffMar 8, 1993 12:27 PM
How big will the Image be in dots? Having more dots than ~768×480 will be wasted after the first time to NTSC, so 300dpi should be enough for source images bigger than about 2" by 1.5"
#27715From: John A. OlsonMar 18, 1993 1:03 AM
Thanks for the info, Arnie. Sorry, I've been off the forum for a couple days. Assume from your reply, therefore, that if you're dealing with a particularly small image – which you may want to enlarge to use – more than 300 dpi might be a good idea. Again, thanks for the reply. John
#27321From: Stan Kalisher (Impulse)Mar 5, 1993 7:55 AM
No question about it, the scanner's the way to go. –Rick Rodriguez