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Really waaaaay off target :-(

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You’re welcome. Think nothing of it.

k2edm Loc: FN32AD

I bought anEpson st-4000, printer,scanner,copier, primarily because it uses tanks of ink. The saving in ink has been hugh, the thing was kinda expensive, but it turned out to be the best thing since sliced bread...

tetherington

I've done some document photography on archival materials. I found the simplest way to do it is to use the longest lens you have, your 140, and back off about 6 feet and use the built-in flash for your light. The flash is bright enough that you can shoot at F-22. That was important for me because some of my materials were bound and I needed to get a little bit of depth of field to bring everything into focus. A tripod is a big help if you can manage one. If your 140 mm lens does not let you zoom in enough maybe you can borrow a longer lens to use.

Just Fred Loc: Darwin's Waiting Room

Thank you. I have a 56-300mm f/45-5.6 tele-zoom, but didn't think about using it. However, my working assumption is that I would be able to handle the documents, thus having close proximity to them. But it might be handy to keep my distance and let the lens (and lighting) do the work.

Thanks, everyone, for your replies.

Bridges Loc: Memphis, Charleston SC, now Nazareth PA

Yes, I've photographed documents before. I like taking them on the back deck in the shade for nice even lighting. A macro lens would be your best choice since the nature of a macro lens is to have better edge to edge sharpness than other lenses. For the lenses you have, you should just do some experimentation. Since you are working with a 2 dimensional subject you do not need to stop down to f16 or f22. Usually the sharpest focus of a lens is somewhere in the middle range. In olden days a rule of thumb was the sharpest a lens was, was 2 stops down from wide open. That would mean a 2.8 lens would be sharpest at f5.6. With the newer computer designed lenses that is no longer true. With that 2.8 lens, you could use 5.6, 8, or 11 and have excellent sharpness. If you have to copy inside, two lights, either hot lights or flash should be placed on opposite sides of the document to even out the light. Otherwise using only one light will make one side of the document brighter than the other.

Paaflyer Loc: Kansas City, MO

I use either my iPhone or iPad and use adobe document scanner. Free app if you have an adobe account. Take a picture using the app and click OK the app creates a PDF of the document. You can check that the edges are good and trim if necessary. You can also adjust color. Docs are then saved to adobe documents folder. you can share and email them as you see fit. Just a thought.

Just Fred Loc: Darwin's Waiting Room

Well, the deed is done! I used my 18-55mm with available lighting. There were nearly 2,000 documents to photograph, and while I brought a tripod (a Peak Designs Travel Tripod), I would have done better with my Velbon VS-3, as the Peak doesn't have a way to position the camera overhead, and the Velbon does. Lesson learned. I wound up leaning over to take the shots, and now my back is complaining a bit!

I had a helper to feed the documents, so all I had to do was use my back button focus and snap the shutter.

As I said (I think), I wasn't trying for art, I was trying for legibility. In that regard, mission accomplished. This was a volunteer job, not a paid assignment, so I obviously didn't spend the same amount of prep time I would normally.

Thanks, everyone.

splatbass Loc: Honolulu

I use Genius Scan on my iPhone. Works great.

k2edm Loc: FN32AD

A: never volenteer
B: go to A

72fototech

what a funny - read stupid ?- bunch of nonsense.

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Welcome to Hawgsville. You don’t like Hawgsville normal ? Hope you left a trail of breadcrumbs ...

If the biffers have gathered up all your breadcrumbs to lure their prey, then you’ll just hafta work on your sense of humor, or die with your boots on.

Rotsa ruck widdat .....

Fstop84 Loc: Idaho

I'm in my 48th year of owning and operating a solely owned publishing and bookbinding business. A major part of the business required my learning and applying ever changing photographic principles to achieve the highest degree of quality in all of the many products we produce.
I'm still learning, and if I can help anyone, photographically speaking, with some of the things I've learned over the years....(first camera - 1949,. U.S. Navy Photo-Facsimile Technician [sending and receiving classified wire photos and documents] .1955-1959, began publishing - 1970, started the bindery and small press business - 1972 to today.
One of the projects I'm currently working on is a Macro-photo comparison study of crystals and gemstones (requires very difficult lighting) modern coins (requires proper lighting, strict macro processing,
(minimum requirements necessary for publishing) and lastly.... patience...Most of my work is shot with a Nikon P600 -16MP cmos, proof shots are with an LG Stylo-3, and an LG LM2, both 13MP ok for proof shots and 'bracketing'. BE AWARE - LG is closing it's Mobile phone business, and support may be very limited or non-existed.
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