Scanning books for collection/insurance purposes...

[Blue Meanie]

What DPI is a good DPI to scan books at? I've been scanning a few books that I recently purchased in a collection. Some I will keep but others will be sold. The DPI I've been scanning at is 200 - 300 DPI. The size of the files are huge. I basically want to get a really nice scan of my books. I know that 200 - 300 is overkill...but what would be the right size to scan at. Keep in mind I also want to be able to have the scans look good so that if I should sell there won't be ANY QUESTION about condition of the books. 72 DPI is OK...but the detail is not quite there. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

[emeraldknight47]

What DPI is a good DPI to scan books at? I've been scanning a few books that I recently purchased in a collection. Some I will keep but others will be sold. The DPI I've been scanning at is 200 - 300 DPI. The size of the files are huge. I basically want to get a really nice scan of my books. I know that 200 - 300 is overkill...but what would be the right size to scan at. Keep in mind I also want to be able to have the scans look good so that if I should sell there won't be ANY QUESTION about condition of the books. 72 DPI is OK...but the detail is not quite there. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

I take it you are scanning just the covers and not the whole book? That being the case, and if you are scanning them at actual size, than scanning them at 150 ppi and saving them out as hires jpegs (if there IS such a beast) should give you an image of enough quality that no insurer is going to b***h if you have to file a claim on them. Hope this is helpful info....!

[Blue Meanie]

I'll give it a try tonight. Thanks. While on the subject...I have an early version of Comic Book Database. Is the newer version worth the investment...or are there other database programs out there that might be as good or better??

[johnmiic]

I've heard you should scan line art @600 dpi for printing purposes. Since you're not going to print these anything under 600 dpi should be good. 150 dpi sounds cool for what you want to do.

[rche]

if'n you are insuring with a company that specializes in paper type collectibles, you should probably ask them what resolution they prefer. They may have to store that info as well and I am sure they know that hi rez pics will chew up drive/storage space very quickly.

[emeraldknight47]

I've heard you should scan line art @600 dpi for printing purposes. Since you're not going to print these anything under 600 dpi should be good. 150 dpi sounds cool for what you want to do.

Actually, 300 ppi is usually sufficient to produce a print-worthy image. Anything over that is just creating a HUGE file size and doesn't really translate to the printed piece any better than 300 does due to the contraints of most image and/or plate setters.