Photographing a document

[Desertprep]

I hope I am not intruding here with my question. I have a family that was created in the early 1900's and traces my family back to the late 1600's. The paper is old and fragile - reminds me of rice paper. I want to digitize it and give the files to an AI app to stitch together - that is the big picture (pun intended). I am posting this here to get suggestions on how to capture the original document. It is about 24" x 30", bound, with about 60 pages. AI says I should capture at a very high resolution so that names and lines can be accurately rendered on places that might not be clear. One source suggested to be able to print at 300 dpi or 600 dpi. One suggestion was to use a camera that shoots at 45mp (rent $125-150), another as high as possible. I have seen a few digital cameras that can shoot at 100 mp (rent $300). I know that photos from lesser cameras can be stitched together, but is the result aeamless? When I get finished with this, I want to upload it to a website and connect it to the name of the town where my family is from in Canada. I hope to link the site to other sites with genealogies from New Brunswick, and hope I will unite my extended family a little bit. I am familiar with camera basics, but only related to taking pictures of people and scenery. Questions: Is museum glass useful? if I use it and have ample indirect lighting, will I still need additional lighting? Which camera/lens? Exposure settings? I am not rich, by any means, but want to do this one time and do it well. I will most likely donate the paper copy to a museum of Canadian history when I am finished. I have posted this question on a few genealogy forums but got very little help. It seems that most people use the forums to search for sources of data rather than to scan old documents.

 

[F.O.V.68]

Why not approach a museum, they have the ability and knowledge to carry out the task..

 

[Desertprep]

Why not approach a museum, they have the ability and knowledge to carry out the task..

I have approached a couple of local museums. They either did not have the equipment or were not willing to let it be used for something outside of their own needs. I live in WA state - New Brunswick is on the eastern side of Canada.

 

[F.O.V.68]

This might help......

 

[Desertprep]

This might help......
View attachment 300343

Thanks! I sent out some requests....

 

[tinytmp1]

I hope I am not intruding here with my question. I have a family that was created in the early 1900's and traces my family back to the late 1600's. The paper is old and fragile - reminds me of rice paper. I want to digitize it and give the files to an AI app to stitch together - that is the big picture (pun intended). I am posting this here to get suggestions on how to capture the original document. It is about 24" x 30", bound, with about 60 pages. AI says I should capture at a very high resolution so that names and lines can be accurately rendered on places that might not be clear. One source suggested to be able to print at 300 dpi or 600 dpi. One suggestion was to use a camera that shoots at 45mp (rent $125-150), another as high as possible. I have seen a few digital cameras that can shoot at 100 mp (rent $300). I know that photos from lesser cameras can be stitched together, but is the result aeamless? When I get finished with this, I want to upload it to a website and connect it to the name of the town where my family is from in Canada. I hope to link the site to other sites with genealogies from New Brunswick, and hope I will unite my extended family a little bit. I am familiar with camera basics, but only related to taking pictures of people and scenery. Questions: Is museum glass useful? if I use it and have ample indirect lighting, will I still need additional lighting? Which camera/lens? Exposure settings? I am not rich, by any means, but want to do this one time and do it well. I will most likely donate the paper copy to a museum of Canadian history when I am finished. I have posted this question on a few genealogy forums but got very little help. It seems that most people use the forums to search for sources of data, while home window tint Houston is obviously a completely different topic from preserving and scanning old documents.

I’d focus more on sharpness, lighting, and a stable setup than simply buying the highest-megapixel camera. For a fragile 24" × 30" document, use a tripod or copy stand, shoot RAW, keep the camera perfectly parallel to the page, and use a sharp normal-to-short-telephoto lens. Two large lights at about 45° from the document should provide even illumination; museum glass isn’t necessary unless a conservator recommends it. Avoid pressing the pages flat because of their age and condition. Aim for roughly 400–600 PPI in the final stitched images and save archival masters as TIFFs while keeping the original RAW files. Before photographing all 60 pages, I’d test the setup on a few pages and make sure the smallest handwriting and faint lines remain readable.