This really needs to be redesigned for ergonomics.
- Lever should have a button for capture
- Display should be visible while looking down
But now I see why destructive scanning (slicing the binding off and using a sheet feeding scanner) is so attractive. For any non-rare books, this is just too tedious and time consuming to go through for more than a few books.
Your capture triggering suggestion is not as great though. The systems that I shipped with http://diybookscanner.eu actually used a USB foot pedal for triggering the cameras. That's by far a superior user experience to pressing a button while both hands are busy moving a cradle...
Destructive scanning feels incredibly cruel to the books. A non-destructive system like this actually works fairly well. You can expect to get up to about 1000-1200 pages an hour with it.
> Destructive scanning feels incredibly cruel to the books.
I suppose it depends on whether it has sentimental value. When I was young, I'd treat my books like treasures, putting covers on them (even paperbacks), making sure I didn't crease the spine when I read them. Now I consider books to be a temporary store of knowledge as the contents pass to my brain. I fold pages, underline, scribble notes in them. There are thousands more copies out there, I don't feel any need to baby my copy.
- Lever should have a button for capture
- Display should be visible while looking down
But now I see why destructive scanning (slicing the binding off and using a sheet feeding scanner) is so attractive. For any non-rare books, this is just too tedious and time consuming to go through for more than a few books.