Hi Terry,
Oh, no, this isn’t my original Optacon. Far from it. I don’t actually remember
when my original gave out, but when it did, I got one from a friend who wasn’t
using theirs. Sadly, it turned out that quite a few Optacons were bought that
ended up not getting used. I think I’m on my fourth one now. Also, I was very
fortunate in getting one as a gift from some good friends. So now I have two.
That’s extremely handy because if I need to send one in for repairs, which I
just did a couple weeks ago, I can continue on as usual. There are still people
out there who know how to fix these things, and those of us who value Optacons
are very grateful for them
I would be extremely happy to get one of those small print lenses if you ever
find it. They’re not easy to get these days.
Evan
From: Redacted sender "t.gorman" for DMARC
Sent: Friday, June 05, 2020 12:03 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Question about advertising in books
Sandi,
It’s always an uncertain proposition when you buy something used. That’s the
only caveat. Nothing intrinsic about the scanner itself.
I should say however that I just returned my 4800 this morning because of a
problem it had from the get-go – the belt pulling the scanner head sometimes
slips on the sprocket and the result is that 3 to 4 times in a book I get five
lines of the same jumble of words with no spaces and some words missing. I hope
they are successful in identifying the problem and fixing it. I’ve never had
anything but good luck with that line of scanners. I did have an AC power cord
go bad and a friend of mine had the very same problem on the very same model
but luckily the chord could be replaced.
I’m amazed that Evan still has his Optacon. I got one in 1974 from my rehab
agency which paid $5,000 for it. This is about $27,000 in today’s dollars. My
unit broke about five years later and I didn’t get it repaired. I remember it
came in a heavy wood carrying case.
I bought a camera to read 6 point type in the Schwann record guide and I may
still have it somewhere. It worked with the original Optacon, I don’t know if
it works with the later model developed in the 1980s. I learned a lot about
fonts and print styles and layouts from it.
Evan, if I can find that old camera, would you like to have it? I’m not sure I
can find it but …
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
On Behalf Of sjryan2@xxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, June 5, 2020 10:16 AM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Question about advertising in books
Mine, as I said, still works very, very well after nearly ten years. Terry
seems to indicate that 3800s that work well and last long are not common, but
from my perspective, you got a good deal. I certainly hope it works out for you.
Sandi
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
On Behalf Of Chelsea Dye
Sent: Friday, June 5, 2020 8:55 AM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Question about advertising in books
I went ahead and got the 3800. It was $350, and it should work just as well as
the 4800. Or should I have gotten a new one?
Please go to my website for your braille transcription needs!
www.read-theworld.net
Sent from my iPhone
On Jun 5, 2020, at 9:46 AM, Ann Parsons <akp@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi all,
The price of the 4800 is $779.00. I saw where it was for thousands, but you
can get it on Amazon for $779.00
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=OpticBook+4800&ref=is_s
Ann P.
Original message:
Hi, and thanks for the advice! I have looked on Amazon and new egg so far,
and it looks like these scanners are over $1000. Much more than I expected, but
I could ask my local organization I go through to give me a hand with that.
Just wondering why they are so much more than the one I got with my computer.
Are they flatbed scanners? What makes them so special?
Please go to my website for your braille transcription needs!
www.read-theworld.net
Sent from my iPhone
On Jun 5, 2020, at 6:17 AM, Ann Parsons <akp@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi all,
I agree with Sandy, camera scanners are good for quick things, and they
work the best if you are visually impaired and not totally blind. Unless you
have a stand for your camera, positioning the scanner to best effect is
difficult. They sound good, but unfortunately, that's all they do.
Go with the Plustek scanner. Yes, it is expensive, but it's well worth it
if you are going to scan books. Oh, and don't throw out Kurzie, Open Book has
not been updated in years, and was always an inferior product because it is one
of a multitude of software packages promoted by Vispero. Kurzweil1000 is made
by a company whose *only* product and business is OCR. They don't pretend to be
the be-all and end-all for blind people. They do one thing, and they do that
expertly!
Ann P.
Original message:
Thanks everyone! Sounds like the Plustek scanners might be the way to
go. I notice a lot of chopped off words, and the margins very well
could be the issue. I've never thought to play with the ones I have
now.
A lot of the books I have that I want to contribute are all from the
same publisher, and they all feel similar. All paperback, slightly
rough paper.
Their copyrights are from the late 90s.
Chelsea
On 6/4/20, sjryan2@xxxxxxxxx <sjryan2@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I'm not aware of a Microsoft or Canon scanner that gives the "bookedge"
feature. This feature is important for catching letters inside a very narrow
margin, and the Plustek scanners are phenomenal for these books! I have a
Plustek Opticbook 3800, which cost me $250 nearly 10 years ago and is still
functional, and it has faithfully scanned pages since that time. I use it
with Kurzweil and a Lenovo Yoga 710 (a not particularly souped-up computer)
and my scans take less than 20 seconds. That's fast enough, and the
important thing is they are often nearly perfect, unless the book I'm
scanning has yellowed pages, marks, or some other issue.
Sandi
-----Original Message-----
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Chelsea Dye
Sent: Thursday, June 4, 2020 12:06 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Question about advertising in books
Is that a particular scanner brand? I've got an HP CanoScan. I don't know if
it's book quality or the scanner, but I've run into a lot of errors with it
that I think could be prevented.
On 6/4/20, Deborah Murray <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Chelsea,
The Bookshare policy has always been to leave the ads and blurbs from
other booksâ€â€as long as it scans well enough to be readable.
In my personal opinion, K1000 has always been a superior OCR program
to OpenBook, no matter what your scanning source is.
I’ve never used a camera to scana book, much preferring my OpticBook
scanner to anything else I’ve ever used.
Deborah
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Chelsea Dye
Sent: Thursday, June 4, 2020 7:50 AM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Question about advertising in books
Hello,
In the process of scanning some of my books, I noticed that there is
often company advertising, and mention of other books at the end of a lot
of them.
Are we supposed to keep that in our files? Also, I am considering
switching scanning programs to open book with the pearl camera. Has
anyone on this list used it, and what do you think? Based on the demo
I heard, it sounds much faster than K 1000
Chelsea
Please go to my website for your braille transcription needs!
www.read-theworld.net
Sent from my iPhone
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--
Ann K. Parsons
Portal Tutoring
EMAIL: akp@sero.email
Author of The Demmies: http://www.dldbooks.com/annparsons/
Portal Tutoring web site: http://www.portaltutoring.info
Skype: Putertutor
"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost."
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--
Ann K. Parsons
Portal Tutoring
EMAIL: akp@sero.email
Author of The Demmies: http://www.dldbooks.com/annparsons/
Portal Tutoring web site: http://www.portaltutoring.info
Skype: Putertutor
"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost."
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