[sane-devel] Webcam-like book scanners

[Low Salt Popcorn]

On 27/12/24 20:38, David Legg wrote:
> Just to add to what Torfinn mentioned elsewhere in this thread: -
> 
> I use a CZUR ET16 Plus to scan things like pamphlets and Xmas cards 
> etc.  I have to use it on a Windows machine because there are no Linux 
> drivers for it.  Don't think of them as simply web cams.  As Torfinn 
> hinted at, the real advantage of the proprietary software is that it can 
> automatically crop and rotate the image and even scan two facing pages 
> at once to produce both pages as separate images.  The CZUR scanner even 
> fires off a laser just before scanning so it can estimate the curvature 
> of the paper.  Then there is also the addition of a foot switch to begin 
> scanning if you have both hands full.

I don't think the cheap ones have lasers and other such stuff. And the 
cheap ones are what I'm planning to buy.

If these more expensive document imaging cameras are not UVC compatible, 
then how are they identified by a utility like lsusb? Even USB hardware 
that's unsupported at the kernel level would announce itself to the 
system as a device of some sort.

 From my experience any device that creates a /dev/videoX node is 
supported by the kernel and therefore ffmpeg, which is good enough for 
my book imaging needs. I've used no-brand "action" cameras that when 
their flash media storage is removed transform into webcams. Their 
quality is IMHO nearly acceptable. And they're 1/3 to 1/4 the price of 
the cheapest document cameras.

Since my budget is limited I'm therefore looking for scanners in the 
$30-$50 range that's not CIS, as these can't take 3D images. If it can 
image a book better than a budget cellphone, then it's fine with me.