Brian Swale wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> Some of you will have seen the photo of my bearded friend from away back
> when, that I put online.
>
> He actually spends about $600 a year at libraries photocopying technical /
> scientific papers for his research. He is looking for a way to cut this cost,
> and has in mind a camera he could use for copying.
>
> He has discovered the Samsung Digimax L85, which includes text
> recognition software and therefore can take a photo of a printed page and
> spit out a document in word-processing format.
>
> http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/L85/L85A.HTM
>
> However, it has never been sold in New Zealand as far as I can tell.
>
> Have any of you encountered another camera with similar abilities?
>
There is nothing special or unique in this product other than hype over
a camera/software bundle. This camera does not produce text output
directly, it simply has another picture mode labeled "Text", probably
with contrast high, and text recognition software you must install on a
computer to process the "text" image
Any digital image of text from flatbed or film scanner or digital camera
may be processed by any of numerous text recognition software products
to accomplish the same thing. In fact, I would expect the combination of
the larger sensor on a DSLR, a prime macro lens and regular text
recognition software to outperform the Samsung combo.
The more difficult problem seems to me to be the physical setup to do
what he wants reliably. Keeping the subject flat, properly lit and
parallel to the sensor plane is not a trivial matter in a library
environment. The success of text recognition varies with the quality of
the image captured. The process, in my experience, is never 100%,
although it can be quite good with a good image. With poorer focus,
lighting and/or contrast, the number of unrecognized words goes up and
he time spent goes up. As simple examples, shadows next to bindings and
reflections of light off coated paper can cause areas where the text
isn't readable.
Most flatbed scanners come bundled with decent text recognition
software. My cheap Canon came with something called ScanSoft Omnipage
SE, which has worked well the few times I have needed it. VueScan has
recently added text recognition, but I haven't tried it.
It should be possible to try out this approach at home with little or no
initial cost using existing hardware and software. If it proves
workable, then money can be spent, if necessary, on equipment and/or
software better suited to the intended use.
Moose
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