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Author Topic: New Scanner for Comics? CZUR AURA?  (Read 4106 times)

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Offline bminor

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New Scanner for Comics? CZUR AURA?
« on: November 20, 2018, 08:51:42 PM »
Does anyone have any experience with this type of scanner?

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/aura-speeds-simplifies-all-your-scanning-needs?fbclid=IwAR1G07D7dkC1VhM9UOlZqIq6_ypIRho3iOX360HvQ8RXV2Ei6Gi534jdeRs#/

Apparently is can scan a open book, and take the curve out of the page!
It is also very fast (it says)

??
Anyone?

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New Scanner for Comics? CZUR AURA?
« on: November 20, 2018, 08:51:42 PM »

Offline Yoc

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Re: New Scanner for Comics? CZUR AURA?
« Reply #1 on: November 21, 2018, 10:07:37 AM »
That is interesting and I'd love to see what a comic scan looked like using it but WOW that's not a cheap item!

Offline Snard

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Re: New Scanner for Comics? CZUR AURA?
« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2018, 02:34:43 PM »
Not cheap? It looks like it is only $179, which does not seem that expensive for a scanner.

Offline bminor

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Re: New Scanner for Comics? CZUR AURA?
« Reply #3 on: November 23, 2018, 04:09:31 PM »
Yeah, 179 is o.k.

Offline Yoc

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Re: New Scanner for Comics? CZUR AURA?
« Reply #4 on: November 23, 2018, 09:44:24 PM »
Ha!  I was looking further down at a bulk buy price.  Sorry about that.
No, that is a good price, I'd love to see what it looked like scanning a comic.

Offline GeneYas

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Re: New Scanner for Comics? CZUR AURA?
« Reply #5 on: December 10, 2018, 01:08:52 PM »
I am interested in this product. The company has a lot of positive reviews. It costs more, but I might be more interested in the ET16 Plus even more. I can't relocate the online comparison I read recently.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H2YCN24/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8
« Last Edit: December 11, 2018, 04:40:58 AM by John C »

Offline Defiant1

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Re: New Scanner for Comics? CZUR AURA?
« Reply #6 on: February 26, 2019, 06:26:20 PM »
After reading this thread, I mentioned to my girlfriend that I was interested in getting one of these. She ordered me the CZUR ET16 Plus because I was concerned about the CZUR Aura being a budget model that might not have as much to offer.

Anyway, I am nowhere close to being as skilled with a scanner as the people here.
I have a lot of learning about the features and what this can do.

After tinkering with it for a few hours, I was disappointed. I still see a use for it, but I'll have to tinker with it a lot more to get those uses out of it.
My biggest problem is the color output. I don't feel that the colors are accurate, and I'm nitpicky about the color matching the item I'm scanning.

Upon receipt of the product, I was in awe of the packaging. The packaging is of the highest class. Everything is seated in black hard cell foam. The cables and some of the accessories are neatly (and individually) boxed. They even have a tool taped to the side of the box to help you open it. It's like a guitar pick with a sharp spike extending off the side.

I'm not one to read through hours of installation documentation. If I can figure out what plugs in where, I tend to wing it.
I set it up and the only thing that stumped me was a pop up that I missed. The software wasn't installing because a pop-up was at the bottom of the screen and i hadn't clicked it to allow the setup program to write to the hard disc.

Once I get it working, I just clicked to scan a tabloid sized publication. It had a little wavy curve to it, so I was horrified as to how skewed it was on the monitor. I'll have to try and get a piece of glass or something to see if that helps flatten the item. Again, I have zero experience with this type of scanning. I normally only scan covers or original art.

I switched over a comic that was bought at the last show I attended. This was my output with all the lights on.
https://66.media.tumblr.com/7886900a208c20325f5a417ce8449ae8/tumblr_pnk70lODcq1rl13p0o1_500.png
I was very disappointed with the glare. I turned off the top lights, which I thought were required. I used on the side lights. The roll out mat is wider than it is deep.
Using the only the side lights (and automatic cropping), I got this:
https://66.media.tumblr.com/5e3e297e507a39a929208a64f053d50f/tumblr_pnk71rjHTB1rl13p0o1_540.png
I was still VERY frustrated by the glare. I turned the comic sideways so that it was further from the side lights.
I finally got this:
https://66.media.tumblr.com/3bae037409328dbef76f08d71d6c0f1c/tumblr_pnk72eHdcL1rl13p0o1_500.png
That would be fine, but I still don't like the colors and the high contrast look of it.
The output was 250dpi. That was disappointing . I'll have to look and see if it can be increased. That's on the list of things I'll need to investigate when I have more time.

My Mustek scanner produces more accurate colors.
https://66.media.tumblr.com/714decd2f1a143ebc121fdf1dbf731db/tumblr_pjubckhEBw1rl13p0o1_500.png
My next goal was to see what it looked like if I tried to scan a foil cover. Foil typically scans as black, regardless of what color foil is on the comic.
The CZUR produced the same results... the foil was black.

My last test of the evening was to see how a CGC encased comic would scan.
This is the result:
https://66.media.tumblr.com/23b1e6b169e3ad61bf58a3708645798f/tumblr_pnk73jnXfh1rl13p0o1_540.jpg
I'm not horribly disappointed with the results, but I might try it again with white cardstock paper under the slab.
One on my previous scanners (either Canon or Mustek... not sure)  gave me overly blurry results.
https://66.media.tumblr.com/108d1c0b3417a8cc8346a01be8a0b9ac/tumblr_pnk74o0kMO1rl13p0o1_400.png
I did not try to scan an open book with curved pages. That will be a future learning curve.
It seems to work best when automatic edge detection/cropping is on. The box does jump around even when the feature is activated.
I did not test the OCR, since it's something I would rarely use.
I'm really more interested is seeing how 3-D objects will look when scanned.

This is just my first impression after a few hours of setting it up and playing with it. I think it's really cool, just not as cool as I wanted it to be.
I will probably NOT use this as my primary tool for scanning. I will probably set it up on a computer I rarely use.

 


« Last Edit: February 26, 2019, 06:38:39 PM by Defiant1 »

Offline Yoc

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Re: New Scanner for Comics? CZUR AURA?
« Reply #7 on: February 27, 2019, 09:29:29 AM »
Cool review! 
Thanks very much for sharing your thoughts on this product D!
I'm looking forward to hearing more about this from you.

Offline bminor

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Re: New Scanner for Comics? CZUR AURA?
« Reply #8 on: February 27, 2019, 10:44:17 AM »
Ditto! Cool review!

You could put polarized filters in front of the lights or in front of the camera lens to (hopefully)eliminate the glare.

Might work.

B.


Offline Defiant1

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Re: New Scanner for Comics? CZUR AURA?
« Reply #9 on: February 27, 2019, 04:25:21 PM »
More info...
I use Windows 10 currently.
I was able to bump it up to 300dpi. That is the highest setting. 250dpi is the default and middle setting. There was one lower setting, but I don't remember what it was.
I usually scan everything and do cropping and editing through the Freeware program Irfanview.
This scanner is essentially a camera, so there is no TWAIN interface to initiate the scanning process through a program like Photoshop or Irfanview.
The scanning process is as fast as taking a picture.
I haven't seen instructions on how to record a video, but it supports MP4.
As you are moving the item on the scanning mat, you see the object on the screen move. There is a slight delay, but otherwise it happens in real time.
The only output format is jpg in the settings, but pdf format is also referenced in the settings, so I haven't figured out yet where that comes into play.
To take the "scan", there is a foot pedal available and a hand held button. It only has one USB port on the device itself. I plugged in the hand held button, but found myself using the mouse to click the button on the screen more than I did the hand held button.

If you were a library trying to scan a book as fast as possible, I can see the foot pedal or hand held button being a huge asset.
You'd literally be turning the pages and clicking as fast as you did so.  I'm a little more picky on quality of the output and knowing if it cropped everything perfectly.
There are two plastic "fingers" to hold the pages open. The software is supposed to remove those automatically. Online reports say that the quality of the "fingerprint" removal is inconsistent.

The side lights are interesting in that they attach with a magnet. There are two flat electrical contacts on the device and you just align it with the side lights and a magnet hold it in place. The magnet doesn't seem to be super-magnet which would be hard to separate. If you are moving it and bump your hand against it, it'll pop off with not much effort. It uses 3 lasers that evidently map out the curves of an open book. I'm pretty sure the software would not be able to flatten the curved pages if you turned a book 90°.

When you scan an item, it adds the item to a sidebar in the software. By double clicking the image, it opens in your default image viewer.
That's how I get it into Irfanview. If I delete the picture, it still shows in the scanner software. You have to back up to a previous menu and then go back forward to the scanning menu for those deleted images to disappear from the sidebar.

It's nice that Irfanview opens it in the sidebar because I can re-save it as just about anything at that point. I can quickly scroll through all the scanned images in the folder using the space bar on the keyboard. Irfanview allows for batch conversions and file renaming of files in the folder, so that's all perfect for me. Irfanview even allows me to send the image to Photoshop for more intense editing.

I probably won't use it today because I have to catch up on the sleep I lost yesterday playing with it.
« Last Edit: February 27, 2019, 04:30:10 PM by Defiant1 »

Offline Yoc

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Re: New Scanner for Comics? CZUR AURA?
« Reply #10 on: February 28, 2019, 10:52:53 AM »
Very interesting!
:)

Offline kerein

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Re: New Scanner for Comics? CZUR AURA?
« Reply #11 on: November 16, 2019, 06:38:28 AM »
thats great!  >:D _
« Last Edit: November 18, 2019, 06:42:04 AM by kerein »

Offline kathleentnorris

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Re: New Scanner for Comics? CZUR AURA?
« Reply #12 on: March 17, 2023, 09:33:56 AM »
I know this thread is a bit old, but I wanted to chime in and say that I actually have some experience with the CZUR AURA scanner, and it's pretty awesome! It can definitely scan an open book and straighten out the curve of the pages, which is a huge plus if you're scanning comics or other books that are hard to lay flat.
One thing you might want to consider is using Smart Engines OCR SDK to help you with your scanning. It's a really powerful tool that can recognize text in scanned documents and make it searchable, which can be super helpful if you're scanning a lot of comics or other books. Plus, it's really easy to use, so even if you're not super tech-savvy, you should be able to figure it out.
« Last Edit: March 17, 2023, 11:33:25 AM by kathleentnorris »

Offline agentdynamo

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Re: New Scanner for Comics? CZUR AURA?
« Reply #13 on: March 17, 2023, 08:14:44 PM »
I posted a review of the newer CZUR ET24 PRO scanner on this thread:

https://digitalcomicmuseum.com/forum/index.php/topic,15259.msg83765.html#msg83765

The interior of America's Best #3 was scanned with the ET24 Pro:

https://digitalcomicmuseum.com/index.php?dlid=35266