Best result when you scan a manual?
If you want to scan a manual, schematic or other paper document, I have here small guide that can help you to get the best result with a minimum amount of space.
It is easy to make a very good quality scan, but if you not are using the optimal settings the scanned pages will take up to much space. If you are using the incorrect setting, a document of 40 pages can fill 200 Mb. But if you using the correct setting the file size will be about 5 Mb, and this is without any quality loss.
When you scan a page the best way to save the scanned pages are directly to PDF. This requires a PDF writer like Adobe Acrobat (not Acrobat Reader, this is only a viewer.). Some programs that came with scanners have a built in PDF writer, and this is also OK. But if you do not have the opportunity to save directly in PDF, then the next best format to save in is TIFF or BMP. When you save in TIFF or BMP the paper size will be the same if you scan in 300 dpi or another resolution. Some times when you save in TIFF or BMP the file can be bigger than a GIF or JPG, but when the TIFF or BMP files are converted to PDF the size is reduced (especially when you are using two colours) and the paper size is still the same. If you save in TIFF or BMP you can pack the files with ZIP or RAR to reduce the size, and then you can sent the files to mods.dk.
Before you scan a paper look at the paper to see what the contents are.
If the papers you will scan include only text, scan the paper in two colours with 300 dpi in resolution.
If the papers you will scan include text and drawing or schematic, scan in two colours with 300 dpi in resolution.
If the papers you will scan include schematic with few colours (normal red) scan in 16 colours with 200 dpi in resolution.
If the papers you will scan include schematic with few colours (normal red) scan in 16 colours with 200 dpi in resolution. If you reduce the colours you may increase the resolution to 200 or 300 dpi, depend on the numbers of colours you are using.
If the papers you scan include photos in colours scan in 256 colours with 150 dpi.
If you have a graphics program like Adobe Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro or similar and you have saved the scanned pages in TIFF or BMP, it can be an advantage to reduce the colours in pages that are scan in more than two colours. If you have scan a greyscale photo in 256 greyscale colours, many times it can be reduce to 16 colours with a minimum of quality loss, but still the same resolution.
If you are using these setting the result will be good, and with a minimal size of the file. Of course you can use higher setting and this will give a better result, but the size of the file will increase very fast, and mods.dk will in many times recompile the file to reduce the file size.