I have a few photos, odd size documents and BIG books that are VERY old that I would like to digitize by taking a photographs with a digital camera and/or iPhone. To get the least distortion I need to have the camera perfectly perpendicular and/or plumb to the image depending if it is laying flat or temporarily wall mounted. I know lighting is a big deal too. What light color 4K, 5K, 6K? LED or other? How many, just two enough or do I need more?

I'm looking for advice on how to best do this right. I know lighting will play a big factor and I don't have a problem buying a few pieces of equipment to do it correctly. Any recommendations?

Additional Info:
- few dozen photos
- few large format drawings or sketches
- several very large books, hundreds, maybe thousands of pages, some would be considered historical fine works of art
- all of these documents are historically significant to my family as certain branches have been here before the United States existed or was ever an idea. Many of them are in the mid-1800's for the photos to early 1900's. The other items probably older. Dad has a fire vault stuffed full, but only about half of it I need to address.

How many pictures are we talking about?

A nifty thing the iPhone does is when you’re taking a picture of something laying flat and you’re facing the camera downward two crosses, one yellow and one white, appear on the screen. If you line them up so it looks like one cross your camera is parallel to the ground.

Pictures are hard to photograph the light has to be very diffused. Maybe a light tent would help.

Build a light tent using two sheets or drapes. Place lights at 45° angles to object being photographed.
As for lights, use two or more. Color temp should be the same for both, and those lights should be the only source. Don’t mix sources, or allow another source to contaminate the scene, as it will cause a color cast. iPhones adjust for color temp very well.
Lining up the two crosses (mentioned before) is a great tip.
If objects are in frames, move lights until no reflections or hot spots can be seen. Bouncing light off a white ceiling is also effective.
You want diffused, even light of the same color temperature all throughout the scene.

I'd start with buying/building a light box (tent) of the appropriate size.

Copy Stand

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
A nifty thing the iPhone does is when you’re taking a picture of something laying flat and you’re facing the camera downward two crosses, one yellow and one white, appear on the screen. If you line them up so it looks like one cross your camera is parallel to the ground.
<snip>

Neat! Thanks for that tip.

RE: phones - there are some apps that help with projects like yours. Here's a recent review of a couple. That article also has some hints/suggestions if/when using the phone to do critical scanning:

quote:

Choose the best phone: The quality of your phone camera will impact the results

Curate your images: Don’t feel like you have to scan every photo.

Remove from albums: It may be tempting to save time by scanning photos in frames or albums, but plastic and glass layers will boost the risk of reflections.

Clean your photos: You can use a soft brush or compressed air to remove dust. Try a lint-free cloth if there are marks or stains, but do not use cleaning supplies, and always go slowly and gently. Any fluid, even water, is likely to cause damage.

Use a plain background:

Natural lighting is vital: Bright and soft natural light is best, so scout out a location and do a couple of test runs. Avoid strong light sources and artificial light, as they can cause glare.

Position carefully: You want to be directly above the photos and as close as possible. Avoid taking shots at an angle and ensure they are in focus before you scan. It’s also crucial to be still to avoid blurring.

I have used Adobe Scan (not one of the apps reviewed) for quick and dirty stuff. I am not a pro using it, but unless there are some hidden features, I don't think I'd use it for reference scanning.

What I will say next echoes the sentiments towards the end of the linked article, where it looks at an inexpensive flat bed scanner - if quality matters a lot, use a scanner and not your phone.

I have a couple Epson scanners - one is a flat bed (hand feed) and the other is an amazingly useful bin-fed that flawlessly feeds maybe 30-40 sheets at a time. That's what I use if the quality of the results matters. Flat-bed for odd formats, books, slides, beat-up originals, etc. and bin-fed if it's separate printed documents in good shape.

Wouldn't a flatbed scanner be a better choice?

A scanner was my first thought.

A third for the flatbed scanner.

Is there a reason to use a cell phone camera over a scanner other then not wanting to buy the scanner?

For the items I am referring to a flatbed scanner will not work because it’s not big enough. I would need a book scanner and a good quality one is over $2K for what I consider entry level for quality.

Maybe you can have it scanned at a shop that does printing, etc?
I don't think using a cell phone camera will give very good results.

quote:

Wouldn't a flatbed scanner be a better choice?

I've scanned many documents. This is the easiest choice. Any post-processing can be done afterwards.....

You need to have the camera simulate a copy stand.
Camera is directly in front of the subject, lights are at a 45 degree angle to the subject and have the same illumination level.
Lens flare and glare on your subject are the things to watch for.
If your trying to capture a textured subject you may need to increase the angle of your lights and increase or decrease the light output of one of your side lights, this will increase the amount of texture your able to see.

You should use a lens that is slightly longer in focal length than normal. If you were shooting 35mm a 50mm would be considered normal. a 85-105 would be a good chose for shooting flat art as it tends to flatten things out a bit, just like if your shooting portraits.

Make sure you have a GOOD tripod and have it substantially weighted down. Also use a cable release or a timer on your camera.
Look at the front of your camera lens and make sure you have no lens flair.Use a lens shade or rig up gobos around the camera lens if needed to shield the lens of any flair. Turn off or block off all other sources of light.

The smaller stuff can be handled by a flatbed scanner and you don't have to worry about all the technical settings as much. Software will handle color correction.

You get to the larger pieces, color temperature becomes a big problem. Color accuracy and resolution will add a lot of complexity. Assuming this is a once in a lifetime project, I assume it's important to you. iPhone is nice but for best accuracy, controlled studio lights are the cats meow. Pro cameras have their own internal color settings. Then you have to calibrate the studio lights to your imaging software. Then... you have to calibrate to your printer. People think it's just the press of a button.... oh no.

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Very true about color temp.
choose either quarts lights ( a very consistent 3200 kelvin temp, but VERY hot to work with.)
or strobe lights with a quarts modeling light.Close to consistent daylight kelvin temps.
I would choose the Quarts lights for simplicity.

quote:

You need to have the camera simulate a copy stand.
Camera is directly in front of the subject, lights are at a 45 degree angle to the subject and have the same illumination level.
Lens flare and glare on your subject are the things to watch for.
If your trying to capture a textured subject you may need to increase the angle of your lights and increase or decrease the light output of one of your side lights, this will increase the amount of texture your able to see.

You should use a lens that is slightly longer in focal length than normal. If you were shooting 35mm a 50mm would be considered normal. a 85-105 would be a good chose for shooting flat art as it tends to flatten things out a bit, just like if your shooting portraits.

Make sure you have a GOOD tripod and have it substantially weighted down. Also use a cable release or a timer on your camera.
Look at the front of your camera lens and make sure you have no lens flair.Use a lens shade or rig up gobos around the camera lens if needed to shield the lens of any flair. Turn off or block off all other sources of light.

Here's what I had or bought for my project:
1. I already have a mirrorless camera (Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mk II) that can be tethered to a computer to assure good visualization of the image, controls on the computer software (Olympus Capture).
2. 60 mm Zuiko macro lens
3. Kaiser copy stand from Amazon, about $150
4. Metal board with magnets to hold pages/photos flat
5. 2 Godox LED64 lights
6. 2 Manfrotto articulated arms to hold lights at 45 degrees from vertical, to prevent glare

This is for about a hundred or so old family photos, some over 100 years old. Results are quite satisfactory.

However, regarding your large art books: I don't know the value or rarity of the books. If delicate and valuable, I would go to a graphic arts place (they do blueprints, large format photos, etc.) and see what it would cost to have them scan the book.

Another option: here's a place that rents large format scanners. No idea how much.
Large format scanner rental

Or maybe this would be large enough:
Epson large-format scanner/printer
The scanner on this printer/scanner will scan up to 13 x 19 inches.
I actually bought one of these from Amazon for this family photo project but have not yet used it!

Good luck!