Category Archives: M

With the development of the M150 camera, MCROBOX has taken the quality of the X71 camera into a new league. With the M150, you now have a 152 megapixel camera for all our professional scanning systems that combines unique image quality with high productivity.

By using the latest generation image sensor with global shutter, the M150 offers an attractive combination of high frame rate and impressive dynamic range.

The modular concept and the integrative software not only enable the realization of individual, tailor-made solutions; they also allow integration into existing work processes and special systems, such as the Grazer Buchisch or Wolfenbütteler Buchspiegel.

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A miniature book (mini book, micro book) is a very small book whose features and typography are adapted to its small format, but which must also remain legible. The standards for what can be called a miniature rather than just a small book have changed over time. Nowadays, collectors in particular only consider a book to be a miniature if its size is no more than 100 × 100 mm or 3 to 4 inches or less.

Miniature books are as old as the history of writing and books. After the invention of printing technology, book printers began to test the limits of what was feasible. Around 200 miniature books were printed as early as the 16th century. In the 19th century, technological innovations allowed the creation of smaller fonts and spawned a new wave of miniature books.

There are highly valuable miniature books, decorated with gilt edging, bound in the finest leather and lavishly illustrated, but they are also available as commercial mass-produced goods. In the Victorian era, miniature etiquette books were very popular with women because they were easy to carry with you. One of the world’s most famous miniature books is Abraham Lincoln’s “Proclamation of Emancipation” from 1863. The first edition of the text was printed as a miniature book and it is estimated that one million copies were distributed to Union troops during the American War of Independence.

The most popular types of miniature books across the ages include Bibles, encyclopedias, dictionaries, short stories, verses, travel guides, almanacs, children’s stories, editions of world literature, and erotica.

Today there are also publishers who specialize in the publication and artistic design of miniature books. The modern production of miniature books is aimed at collectors who organize themselves in national and international associations and societies and who cultivate the miniature book as part of the book culture.

The digitization of miniature books poses special challenges. In order to digitize miniature books optimally, a high-end scanning technology with the best resolution, high depth of field and professional, gentle book cradle with V-pressure is required, since this type of book can usually only be opened with a very small angle.

Technical analyses of materials are used in libraries, archives and museums, especially when questions of origin (provenance), authorship, creation process or authenticity of manuscripts, documents, drawings, paintings etc. need to be clarified.

Non-invasive analyses include imaging techniques and spectroscopy.

Multispectral imaging is one of the imaging techniques that make it possible to take images of objects in the range of selected, very narrow wavelength ranges of the reflected light in order to obtain information about objects that cannot be perceived by the human eye. It can be used to detect and visualize materials and structures that are invisible to the human eye.

Many scientific fields, such as forensics, geology, meteorology and art technology, use multispectral imaging to document and analyze important data about nature as well as man-made objects.

When multispectral imaging is performed, images are usually first taken in the visual spectrum, which means that an object is imaged as it is seen by the naked eye. Then, specific images are taken in different wavelength ranges (e.g., ultraviolet, infrared, and near-infrared) where specific content becomes visible. Such imaging can also be done in combination: i.e., one constructs a composite image that combines the input of multiple spectra, a so-called false-color image. In this case, data from spectra outside the visible range are represented either with an artificial color such as red or blue, or in grayscale. Composite images can show high-energy regions and other interesting things.

In art technology, multispectral imaging is used especially in painting and graphics analysis to reveal image supports, overpaintings (pentimenti), underdrawings, or watermarks, among other things.

Book2net has developed a novel, filterless method that is particularly suitable for the multispectral analysis of graphics, hand drawings and written material.

The book2net multispectral system works without changing filters (i.e. vibration-free) and without post-correction of sharpness and focus in the spectral ranges (i.e. pixel-scale accurate).

Single or series of scans can be performed in definable nm intervals. The scan results can be superimposed and analyzed with pixel accuracy.

For further information see: https://book2net.net/en/multispectral-imaging/

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When digitizing with planetary scanners, the margin area of the documents is of crucial importance.

Experience has shown that the sharpness of scans decreases towards the edge. Special lenses are therefore needed to ensure that documents and originals are uniformly sharp across the entire imaging area, i.e. not only in the center but also in the critical edge areas.In addition, distortions or color fringes sometimes occur in the peripheral areas.

To prevent this, all our systems are equipped with apochromatic corrected industrial optics designed specifically for digitization.

The term megapixel comes from the field of digital photography and describes the sum of the available image points (pixels) on a sensor. A megapixel stands for 1 million pixels. Basically, it can be said that a high number of megapixels also stands for a higher resolution of the images or scans. However, you have to note that several factors naturally have an influence on both the quality and the resolution. For example, appropriate lenses are necessary in order to be able to bring the quality to the sensor through the optics. It must also be taken into account that the resolution of the scan or the image always depends on the distance between the lens and the original as well as on the focal length, pixel size and the relationship between the sensor format and the original format. Commercially available consumer cameras usually have a possible resolution of 20-30 megapixels.

For our scan systems we only use our in-house developed and produced X71 camera. As the name suggests, this is a camera with a 71 million pixels sensor. In addition, the camera is equipped with a special lens and designed for the highest demands of scanning documents.

What are the advantages of a motorized focus?

Our systems work with a fixed focal length as standard. This has the advantage that there is no permanent change in focus during scanning, as is the case with the autofocus systems of commercially available consumer cameras, for example. Thus, the constant size of the scans is guaranteed and a continuous mechanical wear movement is avoided.

We also equip some of our flexible systems additionally with a motorized focus that can be adjusted to different formats at the push of a button. This ensures that the focus is set correctly for each template without having the disadvantages of a classic autofocus.

In addition to conventional and artistic photography, there is the large field of industrial photography, for which special machine vision cameras are designed. This segment has developed very strongly in recent years and has become the innovation engine for sensor technology.

By now, 9 billion sensors are manufactured annually, with growth rates of about 20% per year. With such volumes, competition is intense, as is innovation.

Key features

• A wide range of different sensors in terms of the number of pixels
• The demand for fast sensors is growing strongly.
• The fastest ones can now process 30000 images per second.
• Only CMOS sensors are used; power consumption and heat generation are much better. Mechanical shutters are no longer necessary.
• Unlike in artistic photography, emphasis is placed on uniform sharpness over the entire surface.
• Cost-intensive innovations can only be justified with the corresponding quantities, which only this market makes possible. But these are also made.
• Machine vision cameras serve only a specific purpose and task.

Fields of application

• Security technology, surveillance
• Automotive industry
• Production monitoring
• Scientific photography
• Cell phones
• Aerospace
• Robotics
• Gaming

Machine vision cameras are generally well-suited for tasks in the cultural sector if equipped appropriately; image quality, performance, and price are in harmony.

The innovation cycles are pleasingly short.

Why do museums need special scanners?

Besides archives and libraries, museums are the main custodians of movable cultural assets. With regard to the holdings, there is certainly an overlap within these institutions. The spectrum of museums and their collections is almost limitless. In addition to museums with a specific collection focus such as art, design, folklore, history, archaeology, technology and science, or a distinct specialization (e.g. architecture museum, toy museum) there are museums focusing on special functions such as museums for children or blind people.

State sponsored museums are also service institutions that collect, develop and preserve. On behalf of the public, they are supposed to undertake research and provide their visitors with as much information about their collections as possible. At the same time, such research also serves the exchange within the academic community. But also private museums, e.g. of companies, religious communities, political parties, associations or private individuals can be of high social importance due to their unique holdings.

Since museums can usually only exhibit a fraction of their collections, the presentation and communication of relevant information is increasingly taking place digitally. Virtual tours, exhibitions and annotated object databases are new communication channels. As part of the cultural heritage, museums can be massively threatened by disasters or become primary targets of armed conflicts. The thorough digitization of museum collections is therefore both a form of public information and active cultural property protection.

Due to the enormous diversity of museum holdings in general and within individual museums themselves, museums need extremely flexible scanning systems so that they do not have to purchase their own device for each requirement.

Especially in large museums of cultural and regional history, which often contain objects of all kinds, from books, cards, glass negatives to jewelry, coins, specimens, herbaria, thin rock sections through to paintings and photographs, requiring different handling, capturing and lighting technology, flexible scanning systems are indispensable.

Such systems must also meet the highest preservation requirements, since the objects to be digitized are mostly irreplaceable unique items that can be extremely fragile and light-sensitive. Museum scanners should therefore absolutely comply with internationally recognized digitization standards such as METAMORFOZE, FADGI or ISO.

We therefore offer innovative, flexible reprographic scanning systems for digitization projects in the museum and cultural heritage area. They meet the highest conservation standards and offer the greatest possible flexibility in terms of format, texture and lighting of the objects.

In addition, we have developed special applications such as the book2net multispectral system that supports scientific research.

Metamorfoze is the Netherlands’ national program for the preservation of paper heritage. The program is an initiative of the Ministry of OCW (Education, Culture and Sciences) and started in 1997 as a venture between the Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library of the Netherlands) and the Nationaal Archief (National Archives). The program is coordinated by Bureau Metamorfoze, the National Preservation Office that is situated at the National Library and counsels heritage institutions in formulating proposals for projects and carrying them out. The Bureau is also responsible for releasing information related to the program. As part of its mandate, the Bureau created guidelines for digitizing books and paper documents, which are now internationally recognized as one of the main standards. Metamorfoze is an important source of information within the international community when it comes to the mass preservation of a country’s paper heritage.

The digital images produced for Metamorfoze must adhere to specified quality standards and retain a verifiable relation to the original in such a way that they can serve as a replacement of the original object, as the originals are withdrawn from use after preservation. However, there will be different requirements for different types of material.

The Metamorfoze Preservation Imaging Guidelines are available online as a PDF document. Moreover, the Bureau Metamorfoze has also drawn up a Checklist for digitization of valuable manuscripts.

Metamorfoze describes three tiers of quality:

However, the purpose of these levels is not to give a fundamentally negative judgment on digitization, which is carried out with a quality below the preservation grade quality.

There are applications in which it is completely sufficient to reach a lower level. This applies in particular to projects where the legibility of the pure text material is more important than the accuracy of the tone and color values. If the user can clearly read the result, then the quality achieved is more than sufficient for the task.