Hi Tom, We use a Bencher VP 400 copy stand: http://www.bencher.com/photo/vp400_50050.php It has a 60 inch vertical travel, and can handle up to a 40 pound camera and lens combination centered over a heavy 25x25 steel base. Itıs a monster and can comfortably handle giclee imaging. It costs about the same as a large bed scanner (not including electricity, camera, or a place to put the beast), but throughput is far higher. For example, last week we needed to image labels for 1200 shellac and transcription discs (so 2400 labels). Not quite the same as your need with LP covers, but perhaps similar enough. For lighting, we used a 10 amp variac powering four 300W halogen lamps, for 1200 watts of illumination. The variac manages the power surge when turning up the lights, and it helps extend the life of the lamps. To keep the heat down for the operator, we bring the current down to about 8 amps and adjust the color temperature at the camera to about 3000K. This level of illumination dominates any ambient light in the room. It also allows us to stop down the lens to f5.6 or f8 for optimal sharpness and less sensitivity to focus. The lights are angled to highlight matrix numbers in the runout. The imaging of the matrix numbers is generally excellent, but when the matrix numbers are very shallow, a bed scanner is superior. To reduce label reflections and image hot spots, we have two 12x24 inch polarizers mounted below the lamps. We find that an additional polarizer at the lens is not needed, and that a polarizer at the lights produces more uniformly lit images than a polarizer at the lens. Lighting is uniform over a 16x16 area (Iıve not measured the variation in terms of stops), and still very uniform over the full 25x25 base. For maximum sharpness, we use a timed shutter release so that there is no camera shake. Altogether, we can get high resolution images of the disc labels and matrix numbers with minimal distortion and good color correction. Throughput is about 30 seconds per label, which includes: * time to pull the disc from a container * un-sleeve the disc * align the disc (rotate so text is horizontal) * photograph with timed shutter release * re-sleeve the disc * put the disc back in the container For uninterrupted production flow, we put the camera on an external power source instead of battery so we can keep the camera on all day without worrying about battery charging. We also tried a large bed scanner, but we couldnıt get sufficient throughput for this project. Aligning the discs on the scanner was far more tedious because you cannot see the label - the label is face down on the scanner, and labels on both sides of the disc are almost never aligned the same. Of course, you can rotate the label in post using various image manipulation software, but thatıs an extra step and yet more time. If you want truly uniform lighting with no linear distortion and consistently excellent surface detail (like matrix numbers), a large bed scanner is the way to go. But the copy stand gets pretty close and is more than good enough in probably 98% of applications. The exceptions, as noted above, are with items larger than 16x16 and some items with 3D information like matrix numbers that are very shallow. And even at 25x25, the image quality and uniformity are still very, very good. Regarding 3D, some bed scanners have surprising amounts of depth of field - 1/4-inch or more - and can scan relatively flat objects with 3D detail. _________________________ Eric Jacobs Principal The Audio Archive, Inc. 1325 Howard Ave, #906 Burlingame, CA 94010 tel: 408-221-2128 [log in to unmask] Disc and Tape Audio Transfer Services and Preservation Consulting On 11/4/14, 5:34 PM, "Tom Fine" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >The HP Sprout: >http://sprout.hp.com/ > >Of course they don't give the full scanning-area dimensions, only "20 >inches wide", but I noted that >the surface cover sheet sold seperately is 22" by 16", indicating to me >that it also covers the >border areas, and thus the scanning area is likely 20" by 14". If that is >the case, this may be a >very quick and convenient way to scan LP covers, magazine pages, book >text, etc. Flatbed scanners >are great, but time consuming. I say this as one who has scanned hundreds >of LP covers the >old-fashioned way. > >One thing I wondered about right off is, how much does ambient light >effect the scan quality? Must >you have exactly-placed light sources as you would using a camera stand >(the big turnoff about that >method).? Or, does this thing have some sort of system where it ignores >ambient light and only uses >whatever light frequency is put out by its LEDs? > >I'm also not clear how it's a "3D scanner," as the way its demonstrated >in the video indiates >nothing like full 3D scanner functionality (360 degree scanning, fractal >modelling, etc). > >-- Tom Fine >