An Inexpensive But Powerful Solution

The workstation pictured here is built around a relatively inexpensive consumer digital SLR camera (dSLR) and other readily available components. The camera is tethered to a computer via a USB cable and is controlled with software specifically designed for the camera. The software permits the user to control virtually all the exposure settings on the camera, including such features as time-lapse photography and interval shooting. Digital images are automatically uploaded to a folder of one’s choosing on the computer, thus allowing the user to work almost entirely from the computer itself. This setup provides the working scholar with a powerful image-capturing capability. With dSLR prices continuing to fall, it is now possible to add on such a digitizing camera setup to one’s computer workstation for less than $1000.

Today’s digital SLR cameras possess, and this wide range of image-capturing functionality makes them ideal tools for integrating into a For this reason they are much more flexible than a flatbed scanner for copying and creating digital reproductions. Indeed the Internet Archive’s book digitizing project utilizes a very similar technology setup pictured here, using off-the-shelf Canon digital cameras to scan book pages.

The camera pictured above is a Nikon D50 dSLR equipped with a macro-capable Nikkor lens.