Czur ET24 Pro - How-to: Scanning a book

[@charleshussey118]

I have been plodding through a project to digitise 150 volumes of Parish magazine, dating from 1864 to the present day and in a variety of formats and bindings. I started out using a DSLR camera on a copy stand which gave quick image capture but the post-processing (mainly using batch processing in Irfanview) was slow. I then switched to using the Plustek Opticbook 3800 which made the post-processing and OCR simple but still did not handle tight gutter and spine curvature well - and the scanning speed was slow! I have just acquired a Czur Aura Pro and have found your video invaluable. Using the automated settings gave a poor PDF (I now stick with 'Keep original image' option and 'medium' setting for PDF quality) and I find the side lights do not provide even illumination. I find the page flattening and finger removal (not using cots) works fine and I am getting quite acceptable searchable PDFs in half the time of previous methods. Incidentally, the software for the Aura Pro does support insert and repeat functions just as in the ET24. I have used Scantailor in the past but the attraction of the Czur setup is that all the post-processing can be achieved with a single click.

[@mavluke3633]

Have you though of using a glass platen to flatten the pages instead of using your hand to hold the book?

[@sj1765]

I’ve seen that some people do that. I haven’t felt it necessary to - seems like a lot more work for not a lot of noticeable difference. Using ScanTailor Advanced to straighten out the text for any slightly wonky text does the trick.

[@mavluke3633]

@@sj1765 But how does the software perform regarding removing fingers from the pages, I have heard that it doesn't work properly and you will have to do some image editing to remove them using some other image processing programs.

[@sj1765]

@@mavluke3633- I do go through that in the video and show the fingers being removed. I mainly scan in black & white, so when you do that the finger removal is brilliant. If you scan in non-filter, the finger removal can be hit and miss. Some people have used bamboo chopsticks to hold down the pages, others use a piece of glass over the top but scanning in B&W doesn’t need any of that.

[@mavluke3633]

@@sj1765 My question is would it better quality wise instead of buying this scanner mount a DSLR camera overhead and take pictures of books it and then use ScanTailor to process the images and remove fingers?

[@sj1765]

@@mavluke3633 I don’t know as I’ve never done that. That sounds like more effort than just getting the scanner but if you already have a DSLR and a system to mount it, then go for it. I think that’s what ScanTailor was originally created for. I like how quickly I can scan a book with the ET24 and not really have to set anything up.

[@robertmueller2023]

I gave up on the auto-cropping feature after only a few day of use and went with the full screen view. Too many skewed botched scans. I don't know if that will affect the flattening feature. I wonder if you can do that later with my full scans?

[@sj1765]

If you mean scanning as “no processing” where it effectively just takes a picture of both pages, then no, you can’t use CZUR’s software to then flatten it afterwards. I have to say, I don’t get many skewed or bad pages using the ET24 Pro so this might be user error. I would say it’s worth persevering with the flattening; maybe just try some different techniques to find what works best for you. For example, I have regularly scanned 600-900 pages books and not had any skewed or botched pages. You can use ScanTailor Advanced to split the pages of your non-processing scans, deskew, and also to do some dewarping. I only use ScanTailor Advanced to edit now.

[@nathanielcook-o4q]

Hi! just got my et24 pro today. Thank you for this video, it helped a ton! What is the name of the software that you use to edit? Scan something? Couldn't catch the full name of it in the video. I have photoshop, and might just clean them up in that but if there's something less time consuming I'd be interested in trying it. Also, I noticed that you use your fingers instead of the provided finger cots. I'm having a hard time with the cots not being fully removed in the scans by the et24 software. It's also not removing my fingers when I use my fingers. Any tips that you've discovered with this? Again, could likely remove them in photoshop but I'm planning to scan thousands of magazines so it would be a huge project to go through and do that after the fact. I'm hoping to figure out how to minimize the et24 pro picking up the fingers / cots in the scans. Cheers! NC

[@sj1765]

Awesome! Hope you’re enjoying it and glad the video helped a bit! ScanTailor Advanced is what I’m using to edit now. The link should be in the description as well as tutorial video from another guy that was extremely useful to me. I don’t use the finger cots at all as the finger removal works well enough for me. Scanning in B&W makes it remove them better than non-filter or auto. That being said, ScanTailor Advanced should work a lot better and quicker than Photoshop editing, I would think. I now scan mainly in “non-filter” and then let ScanTailor Advanced do most of the work of making it B&W (apart from the parts I want to be in colour or greyscale which you can draw around in “Picture Zone” or something in ScanTailor.)

[@nathanshaw6303]

​@sj1765 to get the file in scantailor, what is the best process moving from the Czur software?

[@sj1765]

@@nathanshaw6303 Hey Nathan, I’m not entirely sure what you mean. I just locate the folder that CZUR software saves into and then open that folder from within ScanTailor. Let me know if I’m misunderstanding your question.

[@nathanshaw6303]

@@sj1765 That is what I expect to happen, but when I try to create a new project, the saved files from Czur are no longer showing in the destination file. Is there an incompatibility with the file type? Czur seems to create .jpg files.

[@sj1765]

@@nathanshaw6303 - Open ScanTailor and click 'New Project'. Then in 'Input Directory' click 'Browse'. Navigate to the folder that holds your Czur-scanned images and then click 'Select Folder'. It'll then create an Output Directory automatically and on the right-hand column named 'Files in Project', you should see all of the jpg files. Then just press 'OK'. That'll import them all into ScanTailor ready for you to edit.

[@fed9096]

biggest issue I'm having is figuring out how to save to an external drive or a folder of my choice, do you happen to know if this is possible and how to do so? thanks!

[@sj1765]

Hmm, unsure. I think it just creates a default folder somewhere. Can't see a place to change that.

[@TimPollack-ye1lk]

Thanks a ton for your videos, Scott. I need a portable scanner to use with hand-written archival materials, so I have quite a number of very specific and critical requirements. Is there any way that I can pose some longer questions about CZUR products to you over email?

[@sj1765]

Hi Tim - you’re very welcome. Yeah, sure thing. You can email me at [e-mail] but can’t guarantee I’ll have the answers you’re looking for but I can try!

[@Digmen1]

This looks like a great scanner. But it seems very hard to find where to buy it

[@thegoodthebadtheugly3321]

Thank you for this video. Do you have tips on how to limit the monster size of PDFs while retaining quality? Also, I notice the ET24 software sometimes glitches and the following options stall out: Inserting a new scan before or after a particular spot; ability to zoom in on a scan in the post-scan screen, ability to resize the leftside panel with editing and export modes, and the ability to SHIFT-Click page selections in long ranges. Do you know how to keep all that in working order? Also, I wonder if there's a better software package out there that would work with the ET24, because this app is rather clunky compared with a decent scanning application made by Canon or Epsom. Thanks!

[@sj1765]

Hey! The CZUR software is buggy though I’ve never had an issue with inserting pages. They update the software but never tell what they “fixed” and often it breaks something else, for example, they updated the software a few months back and it made PDF exports go to hundreds of MB rather than something like 30mb. Had to reinstall and old version I’d kept on my PC whilst waiting ages for them to create a fix. I am basically always scanning in Czur’s software and now editing with ScanTailor Advanced.

[@Digmen1]

Is there a way to set some of the drop down options as the default?

[@sj1765]

What "drop down options" are you talking about?

[@Digmen1]

Hello. When I convert my scanned book pages to Word OCR it uses an old format of word and puts a text box (dotted around each page and also adds a Carriage return (Paragraph mark) to each line. This is very annoying as it will take me ages to tidy up each page! Any suggestions?

[@sj1765]

I just did a test on mine and it didn't do this. I selected the pages, clicked 'Word(OCR), selected 'English', file type as 'Word 97-2003', size 'Auto', and 'Auto Adjustment' on Image processing mode. The exported Word document is fine; not dotted lines around any pages or paragraph marks.

[@shadricosuave]

I noticed you've tried both the shine and ET 24 - which do you prefer? Are the features worth the price on the higher end model? Is there a way to show your scans with both pages of each spread on one image? Anyway - I'm about ready to pull the trigger on the shine ultra or shine ultra pro but if the ET is worth the cost - let me know.

[@sj1765]

Yeah, I’ve had the Shine Ultra, Aura Mate Pro, and ET 24 Pro. The ET 24 Pro for me is far superior to both of those other models because of the laser lines (which weren’t on either of the ones before.) The quality is far better as well. The Shine I used before used to create blurry edges at the bottom right of the page. The Aura Mate Pro was an improvement on that but ET24 Pro is even better. You can just use the flat pages or no processing function to image both page onto one page but unsure if it then doesn’t do the page flattening feature. I would go for the higher quality ET 24 Pro with the laser lines and the side lights!

[@Digmen1]

Can you clear all of the selected images ? Ie deselect them

[@sj1765]

If you mean just uncheck them, yeah, click the button in the right-hand window that has a tick icon inside two boxes. If you mean clear all of the images in order to start a new book/document then no, you have to close and reopen the software.

[@kwinzman]

Do you like the grayscale mode vs B&W?

[@sj1765]

I haven't particularly used the grayscale mode. It seems okay...! More recently, I'm just scanning in "non-filter" and then doing all editing in ScanTailor Advanced anyway, which seems to give the best of both worlds!

[@kwinzman]

@@sj1765 Thanks for answering my followup question!

[@JakiurRahaman-i9i]

after scanning and making it searchable pdf, can i use that as AUDIO BOOK ?

[@sj1765]

If you find another piece of software that can read OCR'd PDF files, then yeah. Speechify or Adobe Acrobat Pro DC etc.

[@Theguywhodoesparkour]

Its me henry from parkour

[@sj1765]

Whatsup, Henry from parkour!

[@beentheredonethat580]

You're moving through it all in a chaotic rush, and I find it quite irritating. I had to stop halfway through because it was impossible to tell which commands you were clicking.

[@sj1765]

Not really sure what you mean. There’s hardly any “clicking of commands” on this video. It shows me using the “auto scan” feature which means I turn the page and it automatically scans. There’s a couple of parts where I check the pages by clicking the pages and you can clearly see the cursor throughout the video. It’s also a 25 minute video with me narrating exactly what I’m doing throughout. A very odd comment.

[@kwinzman]

@@sj1765 To me it was perfectly understandable and easy to follow on 2x video speed.

[@sj1765]

@@kwinzman - thanks, Kwinzman! Appreciate it!

[@Digmen1]

Gee I wish you you speak slower and clearer

[@sj1765]

Seems fine to me but change the playback speed to 0.9 or whatever. Turn captions on if you need to.