Portable Black/White Scanner for reading in sheet music

[markmorgan]

Right now I've got a canoscan which is ok - but its too bulky.
Im using SharpEye2 to scan in music for piano (my preference is jazz) but am thinking of getting an accurate hand held scanner if something like that exisits.

Id just need it in black and white - and if it can run power off the pc then so much the better.

DOes anyone have any ideas on a good scanner to use ? I have a PC. and to recap- the resolution / colour isn't important - Id be more than happy with 600 dpi in monochrome.

i'd just like something in monochrome if possible and something that runs off usb (either 1 or 2)
thanks



thanks

Mark

[chardin]

Personally, I would stay away from hand-held scanners. I've tried some in the past and they were a pain. You had to paste together strips of scanned images, etc.

I also have a CanoScan and it's not much bigger than a laptop. Get another laptop bag, stuff the scanner in there, and off you go.

Hmmm, I re-read your post and now I'm not sure if portability is an issue or not. If this a desktop space issue, the CanoScan can be placed vertically. I haven't tried it but the package included vertical holders.

At any rate, I would stay away from hand-held scanners. Just my 2 cents.

[flippya2000]

Alt' solution: Try a digital camera that has a high resolution & a text setting.

[markmorgan]

Cheers guys

Well thinking about it Im pretty happy with the Canoscan for now), but bear in mind that a lot of this would be for 'bits' and pieces, so it wouldn't be that much of a hassle to piece bits together.
Chardin, even though they were a pain to use - what were the results like from the handheld scanner. I imagine that a lot of the issues are down to the software rather than the hardware - so if there is a good handheld scanner around - then i could still be interested.
Flippya - ill be honest mate - so far I've used a couple of cameras - but the results haven't been as good as when I use the Canoscan. Remember this is for musical scores so the text setting isnt that important - but did you have a particular camera in mind ?
thanks
Mark

[flippya2000]

Flippya - ill be honest mate - so far I've used a couple of cameras - but the results haven't been as good as when I use the Canoscan. Remember this is for musical scores so the text setting isnt that important - but did you have a particular camera in mind ?
thanks
Mark

Hi Mark,
Soz for the l8-ish reply. I have a Pentax Optio A20 to put scores as .jpgs on my monitor for when I practice. The results are better than using a music score holder because my monitor screen is bright & I don't need a well lit room (I would need lights to read the paper scores), also my monitor is at the correct height, so it just makes it easy to learn new pieces.

The camera gets good results if the lighting is correct, I usually go to a room with a see thru roof to take pictures from music I'm learning from. I'm quite happy with the results, but sometimes using the paper scores can be easier (eg, if there's a long piece, it's better to have everything on 1 page than on multiple jpgs).

[chardin]

Chardin, even though they were a pain to use - what were the results like from the handheld scanner. I imagine that a lot of the issues are down to the software rather than the hardware - so if there is a good handheld scanner around - then i could still be interested.

To be honest, the results sucked. The biggest problem is that you must have a rock-steady hand while dragging the scanner across the page. If you're too fast or veer from a straight line, you get streaks and wavy lines. This was several years ago, but I returned the hand-held for an HP flat-bed and never looked back. The HP died a month ago and I replaced it with the Canon.

[markmorgan]

again guys - thanks very much for your help...i think Ill be happy with my canoscan for now.