On Mon, 15 Feb 2010 10:05:19 -0500, "J. Clarke"
wrote:

Brent wrote:
On Mon, 15 Feb 2010 06:12:34 +0000 (UTC), Brent wrote:

Actually I ended up taking a photograph of the document
Then printing that photograph to PDF
But the results are substandard

I should mention that the reason the results sucked were mostly that
some strange effect cropped in the picture so that NONE of the four
sides were parallel with each other!

I'm not sure why, but, somehow the camera introduced a bending of the
edges!

Google "barrel distortion" and "pincushion distortion".

Somehow, the 8.5x11 sheet of paper, when photographed, had the sides
bent at a slight angle such that cropping could only be done by
cutting into the margins.

Even then, the edges of the text didn't coincide evenly with the
edges of the cropped edge of the paper.

Three options.

First, if your lens can fill the frame with the document through its entire
zoom range, try different focal lengths and see if it has a low-distortion
sweet spot--if it does then remember to use that for document copying.

If it doesn't have a sweet spot that's good enough, then you need to do
distortion correction.

To do distortion correction, first check whatever image editor you are using
and see if it has a built in capability--if so try that. If it's not good
enough then you need a third-party product. PTLens works and is cheap, DxO
has more features and is not so cheap. Both have free trials.

Or you can if you are using a DSLR or Micro 4/3 camera get a purpose made
macro lens.


Or use any of the super-zoom P&S cameras which have extremely low geometric
distortions. A good example being the Canon Powershot S2, S3, and S5 IS P&S
cameras. All using the same lens design. Perfect for document copying
projects.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons3is/page5.asp
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canons5is/page5.asp

"Barrel distortion - 1.0% at Wide angle, Equiv. focal length: 36 mm

Pincushion distortion - 0.1% at Telephoto, Equiv. focal length: 432 mm

The S5 IS exhibits remarkably low distortion given the huge focal length
range - 1.1% barrel distortion at the wide end, and no measurable
distortion at all at the full 432mm telephoto end. There is also only
barely measurable - and hardly noticeable - vignetting."

This is something that few if any DSLR lenses can accomplish. There are
other super-zoom P&S cameras from other companies with similar exceptional
performance. Hunt them out. In the above example, the barrel distortion is
mostly at the wide-end and nearly all of the full focal-length zoom range
is devoid of geometric distortion.

No need for overpriced DxO bloatware to try to correct all the problems
with overpriced and special-use DSLR novelty glass.

(When are you DSLR Trolls going to realize that your hopeful imaginings are
never going to win against reality.)

If you absolutely must frustrate yourself with badly corrected and
overpriced DSLR optics, you can get a little break from the money you've
wasted so far by using a free "Lens Correction" plugin from this link

http://www.photo-plugins.com/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=68&I temid=43
Usable with virtually any editor that supports plugins, including all the
freeware ones.

Granted, there are better plugins out there, and most editors these days
include lens-geometry correction filters already built-in. But if you are
without, the above will probably suffice. Use the zoom buttons and then
move the image so a border of your image is up against the viewing frame,
then make that edge aligned straight with the viewing pane's straight-edge.