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Digitizing Old Magazines?
"I have a lot of old video game magazines, they're nice for playing 'classic games' because a lot of classics are impossible without the manual, and hard without a magazine (the magazine obviously negates the need for a manual usually). But they'd get damaged with a flatbed scanner, and digital cameras are hard to set up right for capturing old magazines. I know that old documents are digitally archived with very high-res cameras..."
So, the question is, what is the best way to capture all the information in old magazines in digital format? Does anyone have a home-built rig taking after the angled-pair-of-scanners setup that Project Gutenburg uses?
Nope, not even close...
Next question?
Now alas, these are probably copyrighted and can't be shared.
Depends. Who owns the copyright? It's possible the copyright was assigned to the publisher and that the publisher has since folded, or that if you contact the publisher and explain your position that you could get a release to archive it online, at least for the parts that the publisher holds the rights on (screenshots, boxcovers, etc. - that's different but will anyone care? Given the use, they're probably fair use as part of the magazine too). The other thing to consider is that it may not be possible for a publisher to feel comfortable giving you permission to reproduce their works, but would the actually sue you?
I personally collect Amiga memorabilia. I would find it absurd for anyone in this day to object to preserving a passion for the system. Of course when there is passion for something there is money to be made, but those businesses working against the collectors for the possibility of gaining a few pennies years down the road that will probably never materialize are not doing themselves any favors with brand perception.
I must respectfully disagree with the above reply. The magazine is not simply a print-out. It's an intact cultural artifact as a magazine. If not now, then in fifty or 100 years from now.
Are you primarily interested in the text of the magazine articles themselves? Or the images (such as 'Mens magazines' like Club International that are primarily images)? Or are you interested in preserving the balance in the layout between the text, the images, and the adverts?
For text primarily, use a stand for the magazine, and a 10 megapixel digital camera with a small tripod. Optical Character Recognition is the way to go in this situation. But it is hard to get the exact right program for your configuration.
Are these magazines in English or a western European language? OCR is much easier and faster with 100 or so ASCII characters than it is with Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. OCR for these languages exists but the programs are expensive if you actually buy them. Personally, I believe that because the Chinese have stolen billions of dollars worth of software from the Americans since the earliest days of computers, the Americans have no moral, ethical, or legal obligation to pay for any software developed and sold by a Chinese company. But, opinions differ on this issue.
Keep the magazines intact. You'll regret cutting them up in the future when a more elegant solution to digitizing them appears that doesn't entail destroying the original materials.
A non-glare glass plate that does not reduce picture quality is probably too much of a dream, but I'm open for suggestions.
If it was me, I'd undo the staples, scan, reassemble. I presume this is not an option.
But scanner or photocopier glass, a ring light. It would be the way I'd go about it. 8MP cameras are common. You might want to go SLR, something like a Pentax or Nikon where you can get the a stock manual focus 50mm. For something that is, I presume, 9x7 inches I doubt you need a macro lens. I didn't say Canon as the mount changed from the manual focus days, but that's an option as well, just good bang for the buck with a used manual focus 50mm lens.
I forget the name of the platform to photograph flat things. But you have the easel, rod, and camera mount. One can construct such a thing with moderate ease and low cost since it would be for something of a standard size, you don't need something which can telescope.
You can get higher resolution from a flatbed without a doubt. I doubt you need beyond 600dpi. The rule of thumb is twice print resolution to convert to digital. That being said the more bulky scanners, as in the ones that have height, these guys often have some depth of field to them making them more ideal if you wanted to rig up a reverse scanner, as in one that scans downward.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
Similarly, the best way to restore a faded, scratched, folded family photo? Ask around the family and see if you can find a better copy! That can give much better results than all the Photoshop trickery in the world. I've seen it work.
Computers obey me.
And people wonder why it's so easy for the RIAA to erode fair use...it's simple, when most people don't even understand what fair use is, it's easy to slowly take it away.
ZuluPad, the wiki notepad on crack
Well, yes, there are scanners with page feeders. But he's worried about damaging his originals, so he can't follow the Project Gutenberg practice of cutting off the spines and scanning the pages. If he can't use a flatbed scanner, he might have to rig up a photo stand with the magazine under lights and a stand which holds his magazine open with the pages at right angles. Unless even that would cause damage. In that case he'll have to wait for CAT scanners to get good enough to read his magazine when it's closed.
You're sadly right. I'm not going to make a personal habit of hiding away my perfectly legal use of copyrighted materials; in fact, I'm going to make such practices widely known. The fact that children are being raised to view the government and industry giants as shadowy figures that "grant" them their rights is disturbing to say the least.
512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
3.1 If your camera has a mirror lockup mode, use it.
Why must lawyers be consulted before every action may proceed? Life is for living.
Daydreaming 50 years into the future..
*checks with lawyer*, *exhales*, *checks with lawyer*, *inhales*, *coughs*, *brain-implement logs: INFRINGEMENT DETECTED $50 fine*
Requiem for the American Dream
Interesting how the comments questioning fair use are generally moderated "1", while the ones insisting that of course making personal backups is fair use get moderated "5".
Anyway here's what the EFF, not exactly a bastion of copyright absolutists, says in their Fair Use FAQ:
"Many lawyers believe" is a far cry from the parent's comment that making personal backups has been "heavily tested". I'd say this better supports the grandparent comment: "Don't bet on it."
The EFF also says:
Note that making personal backups is quite different in flavor than any of these activities, which are all oriented around improving intellectual debate and discussion.