Asking for advice regarding scanning a textbook

[Paul Smith]

> > I need to scan a textbook, black and white. Could someone please
> > advice me about the settings (resolution, brightness, etc.) in order
> > to get a small pdf file?
>
> Some time ago, on this very list I believe, someone posted the results
> of their OCR experiments. It seems that accuracy peaked at about 300
> dpi if I remember correctly, and actually dropped off below that. I
> don't remember what OCR engine he was using. I wouldn't scan the
> textbook directly to pdf, even if your only intention is to reprint
> it. In that case, just go to a photocopier. OCR and reformatting the
> text will look much nicer. If it's English text, then it shouldn't be
> much of a problem.

Thanks, Dotan. I have set the resolution at 300 dpi, but I get 1 MB
per page. Can one reduce the size of the pdf file?

Paul