Turning on the Software and Setting up a New Book

    1. Turn on Bertha’s PC and use the guest account to login
    2. Open the Book Drive Capture 6 application on the desktop
    3. It will ask whether you want to start a new book or continue a book already in process. By default, you enter information about the New Book. If you are continuing a book, select the book name on the list of books under “Recent books.”
    4. When scanning a new book, you are presented with two tabs: Settings and Metadata.
    5. In the settings tab, put the title of the book in the “Book Name” field.
    6. In “How to Rename Files”, put a shortened version of the book title in the first text box, followed by an underscore.
    7. Click the folder icon next to destination to set a place to save the book. Just select the desktop.
    8. Don’t change any other settings. You do not need to write anything on the metadata tab, the program saves that information in an unnecessary text file.

      9. Your settings should look like this:

    9. Click on start to go to the scanning screen

    Getting Started

    1. If the cameras are not already mounted, locate them and insert the batteries.
    2. You can now place the book in the scanner. Begin by lifting up the glass cover in the center of the v-shaped cradle using the black handle right behind the keyboard. Then, using the horizontal lines as guides, lay the book down in the center of the cradle.
    3. Start by taking test shots of the book. In order to take your test shots, choose a page in the middle of the book, ideally one that has a lot of text. Then, gently place the glass cover on top of the book.
    4. Turn on the LED light (the switch is located by the front light).
    5. If necessary, wipe down the platen with the glass cleaner. 
    6. Screw each camera into its base so that the center of the lens is even with the white line down the center of the pad—you can measure its alignment using the small ruler if you want to be extra careful. Also be certain that the back of the camera is flush with the back of the plate–you can use a ruler as a guide.

    Calibrating Through Test Shots

    1. First, turn on the right-hand camera. You will notice that as you power on each camera, book capture will recognize it, and it will give you information on its battery life and its settings.
    2. Next, turn on the left-hand camera.
    3. Set the camera on Av mode (Aperture Priority) with the top dial and use the following settings:
      4. F-Stop: 4.5
      ISO: 100
      AWB (Automatic White Balance)

      To change the settings, press the Q button (red circle) and use the arrow keys (blue arrow) to select each option and adjust to the right setting:

      Here is a screenshot of the proper settings’ display in Book Capture:

      Please note that sometimes you can only lower the f-stop down to a number like 5.6, depending on how zoomed in the camera is. Just use the lowest possible f-stop setting.

    4. Use the “+” button on the number keypad to take test shots. If you aren’t pleased with the test shots, return to the steps in getting started, but hopefully things will be in order.
    5. If the pages are upside down and on the wrong side, go to Settings > Invert Camera. When you take another shot, the pages should face the right way.
    6. The right-hand camera controls the left-hand images and vice versa. Starting with the right camera, look into the viewfinder and make certain that the page is fully in view. 
    7. Check to see that you have a similar view in the left camera. 
    8. Check to make sure the manual zoom number  on the outside of the lens is the same on each camera.
    9. The Cameras also have their own fine-tuned auto-focus system. You can activate this by making sure that the switch on the lens is turned to AF. Then hold down the shutter button half way to get a clean view of the page.
    10. You can adjust the brightness of each image by selecting the AEB settings, which look like this:

    Raise or lower the amount to adjust the brightness of the image. Make sure the text of the image is still readable.
    This is an art, not a science! You may have to make a few adjustments that will differ with each scanning session.

    Most important goals:

    1. Get all parts of the book in the shot with as little of the black background as possible.
    2. Get both pages the same size and lined up with one another. (you can slightly change the size by tweaking the manual focus ring; you can slightly change the alignment by moving the camera just a hair up or down on its base.
    3. Have as crisp of an image as possible by keeping the camera on auto focus while photographing with text pages.

    You are Ready to Scan!

    1. If the spine is broken, you can fold our black cloth underneath the broken side of the cover to support it so that the weight of the glass cover doesn’t do additional damage.
    2. You can also use this black cloth to support the front or back covers when you are toward the beginning and ending of the book when there aren’t enough pages to fully support the book.
    3. You’ll start scanning from the front inside cover. Note that you’ll usually keep the camera switched to auto-focus (AF), but when you are scanning pages with no text on them, the camera can get locked up, so when scanning any blank pages, switch the lens to manual-focus or (MF).

    4. Make sure you aren’t leaning too close to the book as you’re scanning so that your shadow isn’t cast into the photographs.
    5. You will need to lift the glass cover to turn the pages. Put the four fingers of your hand under the front edge of the glass cover and lift it straight up as you turn the page with the opposite hand.
    6. As you’re scanning, it is VERY important that you do not cut off the text in the gutter of the book. In order to avoid this, make sure that the seam of the glass cover is placed firmly in the gutter.
      1. If a book gutter does not allow you to get the glass cover into it far enough to capture the full text of both pages, you will need to photograph each page individually. First, lift the glass cover up and to the right on the right page, so that the cover is still in contact with the right page but there is a little bit of space on the left page. Lift it until all of the text is visible on the left page. Then, hit the [/] key on the numpad to take a picture of just the left page. Then, do the opposite for the right page, lifting the glass cover up and to the left so that it is touching the left page and there is a little bit of space above the right page. Hit the [*] key on the numpad to take a picture of just the right page.
    7. When you have scanned every page, you can just close the program. All of the images have been saved to the folder on the desktop you created at the beginning. You can then copy them to an external hard drive for your project.
    8. When you’re done, be sure to turn off the cameras, take out the batteries and charge them, and shut down the PC.
    It is recommended that you try to scan the entire book in one session, so that the image quality is consistent. If you have to scan in multiple sessions, you can simply close the program and open it again later.

    Other Useful Info

    1. There are a lot of view options under the view menu that can be of use to you. You can “show magnified window” to be certain that the text isn’t blurry. Also in this menu you can zoom in and out on the image, and choose “full screen” to get a better view.
    2. The software includes several shortcut keys for capturing individual pages or re-inserting pages into an already scanned book.
      1. To do a basic new page insert, hit the [Enter] key
      2. To replace an image with a new one, hit the [del] key and then use the up and down arrow keys to place the new pages appropriately in the list of pages.
      3. To insert missing pages in the workflow, hit the [ins] key, then use the up and down arrow keys to place the new pages appropriately in the list of pages.
      4. To take a picture of the left side only, hit the [/] key
      5. To take a picture of the right side only, hit the [*] key

    Shortcut Keys

    Troubleshooting

    Restarting a Book

    Book Drive Capture only lists the 10 or so most recent books on the side when opening the program again. If the book you worked on is not on the side because a number of books have appeared since them, you will need to create a new book folder and merge the two folders together when you’re done scanning.

    Pages Upside Down

    When first starting the program, sometimes the pages will appear upside down and on the wrong side. This can also happen if you let the cameras fall asleep, and they wake up inverted. To fix this, go to Settings > Invert Camera. When you take another shot, the pages should face the right way.