Skip to Main Content

FIU Digital Project Guidelines and Help Materials

The internal standard operating procedures for FIU Libraries' digital collections

(Part A) Checking Calibration of the Cameras

PERFORM THE STEPS IN THIS SOP BEFORE THE “Metering and Calibrating Exposure (Part C)” SOP!

1) Turn on the main switch for the ATIZ scanner power strip.

2) Take the lens caps off of both camera lenses.

3) Open the BookDrive Capture program on the PC.

4) In the “Save As” dialog box, set destination for the desktop of the PC.

5) In order to ensure even and stable lighting conditions, make sure that the blinds are closed and the office lights are off.

6) To check the calibration of the cameras:

a) Focus the cameras by following these steps:

i) Place your open book on the book cradle, under the glass.

ii) While the lenses are set to auto focus “AF” (see figure 1), lightly press the shutter button (see figure 3) on each camera until the lens stops moving and beeps once.

iii) Without moving the lenses, switch them to manual focus “MF” (see figure 2).

b) Place the gray cards in the center of each side of the book cradle, under the glass, on top of the book.

c) Click the “Capture” button in the BookDrive Capture program. (see figure 4).

d) Minimize the BookDrive Capture program window.

e) From your desktop, go to Libdlc2 (Cocoa) > ATIZ > ATIZtest > calibration.

f) View the thumbnails in Windows. Open the images of the gray card in Photoshop.

i) Be sure to keep track of which image came from what side of the book cradle (refer to figure 4). Theoretically, the images should be almost identical if the exposure settings in the “Settings” menu are the same.

ii) Crop the images to the edges of the gray card

(1) When cropping it is important to crop out the entire background book image.

(2) You should have an image that is approximately 2500px wide x 1900px high.

iii) For each image, go to “Filter” > “Blur” > “Average”

iv) Go to “Window” > “Info”

v) With the cursor on the gray card, the reading for the K value in the “Info” box should be between 55-65% (make sure that the K you are looking at is in Grayscale mode under Panel Options).

(1) If it is, you do not need to calibrate the cameras. If not, follow the procedures in the “Metering and Calibrating Exposure (Part C)” SOP.

7) Go to the desktop and delete the images.

8) Be sure to switch the lenses back to auto focus “AF”.

(Part B) Book Scanning

Setting and Powering up the ∆TIZ

1)       Turn on the computer

2)       Turn off of the lights in the room.

3)       Turn on the power adapter behind the ∆TIZ.

4)       Place the book open facing you and lower the glass.

Calibrating

1)       Lift the glass and open to a page in the book with text.

2)       On the cameras, turn the focus switch to automatic (AF).

3)       Half-press the shutter button. Do this a few times to check the focus. Make sure your shadow or your hand does not get in the way of the focus.

4)       Once done, turn the focus switch back to manual (MF).

5)       Turn the book back to the cover.

 Book Information

1)       Open BookDrive Capture Software

2)       A startup wizard will open up and let you choose whether you want to start a new project, or continue an old one.

3)       Under the Settings tab, have the following options selected or typed:

a.        Location:

                                                               i.      Book Name: FI# (I.E. FI12051106)

                                                              ii.      Destination: (Choose the location of the folder)*

b.       How to name files:

                                                               i.      Prefix: FI#_ (I.E. FI12051106_)

                                                              ii.      Number of Digits: 3

                                                            iii.      Starting Number: 1

                                                            iv.       Add L,R Suffix

c.        Page Sequence:

                                                               i.       English (L,R)

d.       Rotate JPEG:

                                                               i.      Rotate actual file: L(270), R(90)

e.       Rotate RAW:

                                                               i.      Rotate in preview only: L(270), R(90)

f.         Resize cropped files (unchecked)

g.        EXIF

                                                               i.      Retain EXIF information (unchecked)

4)       Under the Metadata tab, leave everything blank (the metadata will be filled in later)

Scanning

1)       To take a test shot, click ‘+’

a.        If for some reason the program gets stuck or freezes, close the program, shut down the computers and cameras and reboot everything. Then turn on the computer first and then the cameras.

2)       To change a setting on the camera such as the shutter speed or focus, click on the setting of the camera and use the UP and DOWN arrows to change them.

3)       Once the test shots are good, press ENTER or click “Capture” in the program to take your shots.

a.        For automatic capturing, click on the side of the ∆TIZ the Auto-Capture switch and change the Time-Lapse Capture at the top of the screen to 5.

TIPS:

A)      To delete pages:
If you need to delete the previous shot, click DELETE on your keyboard or change the switch to ‘Replace’. Select the bad images and take your new shots. The old images are now replaced with the new ones.

B)       To inserting pages:
If you need to insert some images, click INSERT on your keyboard or change the switch to ‘Insert’. Select the position of where the new images will go and take your new shots. The program will rename the files automatically where they belong.

C)       To take a picture of only the left page:
To scan only the left page, press “/”

D)      To take a picture of only the right page:
To scan only the right page, press “*”

When a book has a tight binding, gently tap on the handle so the pages are not obscure.

(Part C) Metering and Calibrating Exposure

FIU Libraries, Digital Collections Center
Standard Operating Procedure: Metering and Calibrating Exposure for the ATIZ BookDrive (Part C)

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE PERFORMED STEPS IN THE “CHECKING CALIBRATION (Part A)” SOP BEFORE CONTINUING WITH THIS SOP!

1) After checking the calibration (using the “Checking Calibration” SOP), if you find that the cameras need to be recalibrated, begin with step 2. However, if the room and scanner are already set up, you may skip to step 7.

2) Turn on the main switch for the ATIZ scanner power strip.

3) Take the lens caps off of both camera lenses.

4) Open the BookDrive Capture program on the PC.

5) In order to ensure even and stable lighting conditions, make sure that the blinds are closed and the office lights are off.

6) Place the gray card in the center of left side of the book cradle, under the glass.

7) Lightly press the shutter button of the camera on the right side (see figure 1).

8) Look at the light meter reading on the camera’s LCD panel (see figure 2)

a) You will be looking at the meter upside down. From your perspective it should read +2..1..0..1..-2.

b) For correct exposure the meter should point to the 0 (meaning there is 0 compensation needed for correct exposure).

c) If the meter is pointing to either side of the 0, you will need to either increase or decrease the exposure.

9) Open the BookDrive Capture program.

10) Click “Settings” in the top navigation bar. (Here is where you will find the exposure settings).

a) The AE Mode should always be set to “Manual”.

b) If the light meter is showing over exposure (closer to the +2 on the left side of the LCD) you may increase the “Time Value” number. This shortens the exposure time. If the light meter is showing under exposure (closer to the -2 on the right side of the LCD) you may decrease the “Time Value” number.

i) This may seem counterintuitive but the “Time Value” number represents a fraction of a second so 60 actually means 1/60 of a second.

ii) For example, if the light meter indicates -1, you will need to increase the “Time Value” by one full stop, to 30.

iii) You will notice that there are numbers between 60 and 30. These are partial stops and can be used if the exposure is off by a fraction of a stop.

iv) Try not to set the “Time Value” below 30. There is occasionally some movement of the support structure when the glass platen is raised and lowered. This, in conjunction with a low “Time Value” may blur the scanned images.

11) If for any reason you need to change the “Aperture Value” or “ISO” settings for exposure compensation:

a) Do not decrease the “Aperture Value” below 3.5.

i) A larger number for “Aperture Value” will decrease the exposure.

b) Do not increase the “ISO” above 400.

i) A larger number for “ISO” will increase the exposure.

12) Metering Mode should remain on Spot.

13) After making your adjustments, re-meter following steps 8 - 13. If the exposure is correct (the light meter points to 0) continue to step 15. If not, repeat steps 8-13 until you get a correct exposure.

14) You will need to make these changes for the other camera. Make changes so that the settings are the same for both cameras.

b) Place the gray card in the center of right side of the book cradle, under the glass.

c) Lightly press the shutter button of the camera on the left side (see figure 1).

d) Check the light meter (step 9).

e) If changes need to be made, follow steps 11a-14.