What is best camera settings to make an image of a document?

I want to photograph an 8 1/2x11 paper document
so that I can reproduce it on my photo printer. That is,
I simply want to make a good copy of any paper document,
and store that JPG for future use - should I need additional
paper copies.

I have a Canon A510 (the newer A75), so I have a lot of manual
settings to choose from. If anyone knows of a web
page that gives such settings and advice - please post it here.

THANKS,
Gene

"Gene" wrote in message
...
I want to photograph an 8 1/2x11 paper document
so that I can reproduce it on my photo printer. That is,
I simply want to make a good copy of any paper document,
and store that JPG for future use - should I need additional
paper copies.

I have a Canon A510 (the newer A75), so I have a lot of manual
settings to choose from. If anyone knows of a web
page that gives such settings and advice - please post it here.

THANKS,
Gene



Buy a cheap scanner

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 15:48:06 GMT, "Gene" wrote:

I want to photograph an 8 1/2x11 paper document
so that I can reproduce it on my photo printer. That is,
I simply want to make a good copy of any paper document,
and store that JPG for future use - should I need additional
paper copies.

I have a Canon A510 (the newer A75), so I have a lot of manual
settings to choose from. If anyone knows of a web
page that gives such settings and advice - please post it here.

To give you an idea, a fax machine scans at 200dpi, each pixel is
either fully black or fully white. 2200 x 1700 = 3.7Mpix. And a fax is
a questionable quality of document copy.

Use the highest resolution your camera supports. Storage space is so
cheap now, you'd be crazy wasting your time shooting at any lower
resolution.

Set up a jig that holds the camera over the document aimed at the
center at a 90deg angle from the surface. Allow suitable distance to
get even lighting of the document and shoot at the sharpest aperture
for your lens (probably around f/8 or f/11). Store images as medium or
high quality JPEG, but keep the resolution at it's best.

Quality-wize, You will not be able to beat what a cheap flat-bed
scanner can achieve for this same task.

--
Owamanga!
http://www.pbase.com/owamanga

Gene wrote:
I want to photograph an 8 1/2x11 paper document
so that I can reproduce it on my photo printer. That is,
I simply want to make a good copy of any paper document,
and store that JPG for future use - should I need additional
paper copies.

I have a Canon A510 (the newer A75), so I have a lot of manual
settings to choose from. If anyone knows of a web
page that gives such settings and advice - please post it here.

THANKS,
Gene

That is what scanners are for.

If you really want to do the job with your camera set the exposure and
WB based on the actual lighting. Using a gray card will help.

--
Joseph Meehan

26 + 6 = 1 It's Irish Math

"Gene" writes:

I want to photograph an 8 1/2x11 paper document
so that I can reproduce it on my photo printer. That is,
I simply want to make a good copy of any paper document,
and store that JPG for future use - should I need additional
paper copies.

I have a Canon A510 (the newer A75), so I have a lot of manual
settings to choose from. If anyone knows of a web
page that gives such settings and advice - please post it here.

The auto exposure is very likely to cause the white of the paper to
come out rather gray. I'd just use manual exposure and check the
histogram; when the paper gets right near the top, that's a good
enough exposure, and then I'd shoot all the pages I wanted at that
exposure. You could instead get the same effect with auto-exposure
and probably about a +2 exposure compensation.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, , http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
RKBA: http://noguns-nomoney.com/ http://www.dd-b.net/carry/
Pics: http://dd-b.lighthunters.net/ http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/
Dragaera/Steven Brust: http://dragaera.info/

I've done it before, but a scanner works better. Just shoot the document at
the proper exposure with decent lighting. You can even do it on the floor
in a well lit room, as long as the document is held flat and the lighting is
even. Then, use your software to increase the contrast so that the printing
is truly black on white.

"Gene" wrote in message
...
I want to photograph an 8 1/2x11 paper document
so that I can reproduce it on my photo printer. That is,
I simply want to make a good copy of any paper document,
and store that JPG for future use - should I need additional
paper copies.

I have a Canon A510 (the newer A75), so I have a lot of manual
settings to choose from. If anyone knows of a web
page that gives such settings and advice - please post it here.

THANKS,
Gene

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 16:43:59 GMT, Owamanga
wrote:

shoot at the sharpest aperture
for your lens (probably around f/8 or f/11)

Firstly, aperture has no bearing on the sharpness of a photo.
Secondly, a lens is at its optical "best" when used at the midrange of
whatever aperture settings are available for the lens.

Instead of simply telling Gene to use a scanner, why not just answer
his question. Perhaps he has a situation that actually warrants the
use of a camera? Perhaps Gene's got craploads of pages to copy and
waiting to scan every page would drive most people to drink; it would
certain push me off the deep end.

secheese wrote:

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 16:43:59 GMT, Owamanga
wrote:


shoot at the sharpest aperture
for your lens (probably around f/8 or f/11)


Firstly, aperture has no bearing on the sharpness of a photo.
Secondly, a lens is at its optical "best" when used at the midrange of
whatever aperture settings are available for the lens.


I disagree. Most lenses are much sharper at f/8, really fancy lenses
might be better at f/11. My D70 setup with a 28-200 (not fancy) goes
from f/3.5 to f/36 & I doubt f/20 looks better than f/8. I know f/8 is
way sharper than the extremes.

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 20:08:09 -0800, paul wrote:

secheese wrote:

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 16:43:59 GMT, Owamanga
wrote:


shoot at the sharpest aperture
for your lens (probably around f/8 or f/11)


Firstly, aperture has no bearing on the sharpness of a photo.
Secondly, a lens is at its optical "best" when used at the midrange of
whatever aperture settings are available for the lens.


I disagree. Most lenses are much sharper at f/8, really fancy lenses
might be better at f/11. My D70 setup with a 28-200 (not fancy) goes
from f/3.5 to f/36 & I doubt f/20 looks better than f/8. I know f/8 is
way sharper than the extremes.

It's probably some anal use of the word 'sharp' he has a problem with.

It's not sharp enough to stab anyone with...

--
Owamanga!
http://www.pbase.com/owamanga