Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[robinkaspar]

@al99337: I haven't heard mention of a copy stand for years. Can you explain what yours looks like? Did you make it yourself? If I remember a picture I saw a long time ago of a homemade one, it allowed the camera to point straight down, unlike what a tripod will do (expect maybe for those GorillaPod things).

Robin

[Betty]

My newest camera (inexpensive Canon A590) has 'image stabilization' built in, and that has been a great help to me.  I'm greatly pleased with this camera and was amazed at how camera prices had dropped since I had purchased the one it replaced.

[Patt]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned GSC Associates digital microfilm reader camera mount. I bought this about 1 1/2 years ago and love it. I took it to SLC last year and everyone there loved it.
You can read about it at: http://www.gscassociates.com/dcm.html
I'm not associated with the company. However, it works great for microfilm. The instructions say you have to use a remote shutter release, however, the time delayed picture works just as well. This eliminates any movement you cause by pressing the shutter.
Patt

[edited to correct link]

[RTimmons]

Here are some tips on photography on a microfilm reader, most I obtained from genealogists in France.

Search for smooth surface paper (NOT glossy).  It is what used to be known as "clayed" paper.  Often it will say "For Inkjet printers".  Also look for a high brightness.  Tape this paper on the surface of the reader and zoom the size down until the page just fills the paper.  Then zoom in on the paper with your camera.  This seems counter intuitive, but the paper surface gives a much better image than using the normal surface.  Of course, at a higher zoom, stability is more important, so a tripod, monopod, or the clamp that was mentioned, are good ideas.  Oh, don't forget to turn off the flash <grin>.

One point about cameras with image stabilization.  There are two types.  The better type (Optical Image Stabilization) has an accelerometer in the camera that actually moves a part in the optical path to compensate for movement.  The more common type (Digital Image Stabilization) senses when the camera is moving and shortens the exposure time (which does not help much in low light conditions). 

Of course, it is much better if you find a library that has optical scanners for microfilm (such as the one in Florence, South Carolina).  I have even borrowed a film using inter-library loan at a library with no reader, then taken the film to Florence.  The image sizes can be big, so you either need a big USB memory stick, or I just email the images to my gmail account (which doesn't complain about big files).

[burridge5]

A great topic. I recently went looking for a higher resolution camera for my genealogy pics and found the Fujifilm A850 on sale for around $100. Never heard of it, but it came with a large lcd screen, 1gb memory card and 8.1 megpixel resolution. Not the highest now available, but pretty good. I was very pleasantly surprised to see a "Text" setting among the dozen shooting modes!

I have to travel long distances to look at original docs for my genealogy. Saving time and money is a necessity, since I have to stay in hotels, usually in large cities, and my genealogy slush fund is never enough for more than 4 or 5 days at a time. I make sure to set the resolution to the highest number so if I have to edit the pics, the quality doesn't get as degraded.

Tips -
Take extra batteries or at least 2 sets of rechargeables, and don't forget your recharger.
Take an extra memory card. They're not that expensive now. Easier than downloading to your laptop, and you don't want to rush your downloading, anyhow. You may forget to click a setting on or off, or maybe forget what folder you used, etc.

My problem is the shakes. I do push my arms into my sides and I now have a tripod. The snakey kind won't hold the weight of even my little camera in the position it has to go for book pages, btw. Its difficult to position the camera pointing down with my inexpensive adjustable legged tripod. Maybe if I could afford the over-$100 kind they would be better. I would really welcome information about something that naturally holds the camera face down and whose legs won't interfere with the shot.

Keeping the pages of thick books flat is difficult, too. I'm going to try using a book snake (a sand filled cloth tube like a long beanbag) but I doubt it will work with the early registers in clerk's offices. The pics come out distorted when the page bulges in the middle. I have some software to un-bulge the image but I haven't gotten it to work yet. (I can't just use the one-hand thing because of my shaky hands) A right-angle contraption that would hold one side of the book at 90 degrees supported by legs parallel to the table top and then legs that meet the upright at a 45 degree angle would be great. I just got a book on woodworking so I can rig something up for myself, believe it or not!

[Betty]

Have you tried a remote shutter release for your camera?  I had one of those for the camera before my current one, and found it very helpful, because that camera tended to move every time the 'shoot' button was pressed. 

I do have a small tripod, actually inherited from my husband about 18 years ago.  It's very sturdy, built much like the big tripods, and is adjustable in height.  It will let the camera face down to the page.  With that and the remote release, I could get pictures that are absolutely clear.

[celem]

I confess - I am a breath holder! I tried your suggestion of firing the shutter while exhaling and I believe that you are right. Thank you for the tip!

[jgr]

@al99337: I haven't heard mention of a copy stand for years. Can you explain what yours looks like? Did you make it yourself? If I remember a picture I saw a long time ago of a homemade one, it allowed the camera to point straight down, unlike what a tripod will do (expect maybe for those GorillaPod things).

There are commercially available options for low cost, such as this one. For a little more, money, this is an option.

[Betty]

Welll......I have a real, commercially made copy stand on a shelf in the garage.  My husband had bought it and he used it for enlarging the pictures he had made.  It has been in repose up there on that shelf for almost 20 years now.  Hmmm....wonder if I could use it after all these years!

[jgr]

wonder if I could use it after all these years!

No reason why not! The nice thing about simple low-tech items like that is that they rarely go out of date!

[GogsEditor]

Hey, all. My wife and I have used digital cameras for several years now when reading cemeteries. It certainly speeds up the entire process as opposed to the usual pen/clipboard method. I've also copied book pages at the library using a digital camera. I have a Sony with image stabilization--a must documentation purposes, in my opinion. With it, I've never had to resort to a tripod.

For the cemetery reading, and if you intend to get the cemetery information off the pictures and into a word processor or spreadsheet, here's how I do it:

First, download the pictures onto a computer photo program (I use the free version of Picasa3), resizing the program so that it fits the upper half or so of your screen (Picasa takes up about 3/4's of the screen.)

Next, activate whatever program you will be transcribing the information from the pictures onto. I've used Notepad, Wordpad, and Word, but use whatever works for you. You'll want to resize the program so that it occupies the lower portion of the screen, with out covering up the pictures in the photo program.

After that, you can begin typing the information from the pictures into the computer. You'll be mousing up and down between the photo program and the program you're typing the info into. One nice thing about the photo program is that you can zoom in on the picture you are transcribing from to see the smaller print on the headstones. (A lot of headstones have a wedding ring design in the middle, with a marriage date on it--sometimes too small to see unless you zoom in.)

This same process worked when I photocopied a several hundred page cemetery book so my wife could transcribe the information from it and into Microsoft Excel.

[jgr]

You'll be mousing up and down between the photo program and the program you're typing the info into.

Might be worth putting something together to use a keyboard hotkey to switch between your active windows. (Example: ALT+Tab in Windows XP.)

[MMH]

Many tripods will 'turn upside down' simply by taking out the post that moves up and down and turning it over.   I used one for many years to take copy photos - in the days before digital cameras!   I always used a shutter extension - can't think what it is called at the moment - and they turned out really well.   In fact, I'm now copying the negatives to the computer.   I worked in my darkroom with lighting but was able to make it all portable.   How time and technology make such a difference!
Mary