Advice on hardware sought

[daphnis]

At that size there would be no reason/benefit for scanning at 600dpi, especially with conductor scores.

[Peter]

I always have the tendency to scan A4 at 400-600 dpi when the target will be monochrome while with the same source, I'm satisfied with 300 for grayscale target. The reason is that the conversion to monochrome (which I don't ever let my scanner software perform, btw) always produces loss of information which becomes visible in grainy edges. I try to compensate for this loss by using a higher resolution, the result of which is appreciated on a computer screen but a print-out does not improve much hereby.

I also concur with the strong advice against all-in-one devices. I had a Brother with a wobbling glass so that parts of the scan were just out of focus . What about the (optional) feeder in cheaper standalone scanners?

[Carolus]

Actually, I use staff size as a determinant for scanning resolution more than page size. For example, there are a fair number of 9 x 12 - and even 10 x 13 - scores where the staff size used is still quite small in comparison with those found in piano music. I tend to scan these items at 600 x 600. For example, I have been scanning a Kalmus reprint of the Durand study score for Saint-Saens' Samson et Dalila. Even though it's an enlargement of the original, the staff size is still nowhere near that of a typical piano piece.

Piano music seems to do fine at 300 x 300, so I expect 600 might be overkill for what we're trying to achieve here. I probably didn't really need to do the Sleeping Beauty score at 600, as the staff size on the 10 x 13 pages is fairly large. (It's still a smaller than most piano music, though.)

[daphnis]

Carolus is correct in that it has more to do with the staff size. I was using the page size as an indicator as it often follows the staff size.

Peter, for maximum quality you should scan natively in 1-bit, which means there should be no software interpolation or conversion taking place (but be sure to always use optical resolution in settings). Unless some other settings are in place (like an inappropriate threshold level for the medium used), this will produce the most crisp result.

[Vivaldi]

So therefore I should use the staff size to determine whether or not to scan in 300dpi or 600dpi? Maybe let's say if a staff size is 3/4" or higher I can use 300dpi. If it's any lower then I'd use 600dpi.

[daphnis]

I'd basically go by the guideline that if it's too large to fit in an A4 scanner, then it can be scanned at 300dpi. When I say larger than an A4 scanner, I don't mean the physical page but the printed portion of the page. Often times Dover scores' paper are larger than A4, but the printed portion can still be captured in A4 size. Only if this isn't the case do I use my A3, and I'd also note that in the thousands upon thousands of pages I've scanned and contributed, I can't recall a single time when I've had to scan on my A3 scanner at 600dpi.

[Vivaldi]

I see. Thank you for your advice.

[dooger]

Sorry if I give information already known. The copiers from the last 4-5 years can scan at high speeds to a pdf file. I sold Sharp copiers that read face and back and would scan to a pdf file at 28 to 45 pages per minute. The resulting file gets sent to a desktop on the network or to an email address.

[daphnis]

That is so, but outputting scans directly to a PDF doesn't allow accurate or feasible post-processing so often needed in scanning music.