Planetary scanner
From the Scanner reviews page:
A planetary scanner is a scanner that scans objects from an overhanging arm situated above. This has two benefits
- No need to flatten a book completely on a glass plate, which will damage the book.
- Much faster, because there's no need to shift the book upside between each page.
Planetary scanners, sometimes also called orbital scanners, typically use one or more digital cameras as the optical component.
Usage of planetary scanners is unavoidable when working with fragile, unique copies of books. When working with common or modern books, even when you want to preserve the spine, a flatbed scanner such as the Plustek Opticbook will do fine.
Components
Most planetary scanners have the following components:
- a book cradle
- a glass plate to flatten the page
- one or two cameras
- lights (full-spectrum without UV?)
- reflectors to diffuse the light
- a pc and software to control the device and to further process the page scans
- a table or cabinet that contains all of the above
Some planetary scanners have a robot that turns a book's pages, so that the operator only needs to replace the books
Models
The following models are available on the market. Prices are hard to come by, because most planetary scanners fall into the category of "if you have to ask how much it costs, you probably cannot afford it".
- Atiz Bookdrive
- Atiz Bookdrive DIY (US$ 5000 without cameras,US$ 7200 with)
- Bookeye (est. US$ 10,000)
- Minolta 5000
- Copibook
- Kirtas BookScan 800
Furthermore, The Internet Archive uses a custom-built planetary scanner called Scribe.
Cradle
The primary function of the book cradle is to support the (often fragile, ancient) book so that it does not get damaged. A V-shaped cradle requires the cameras to be attached diagonally over the book.