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Most of the yearbook pictures and various yearbook photos have been scanned using a flat bed scanner. I have had a couple, but the one I have now is a Canon 8800F. It is quite old, probably over 15 years old. I just obtained a Windows 11 PC, and it was difficult to get it running on it. It hasn’t been updated since Windows 8 was a thing. It is difficult to place a yearbook on the platen, it stresses the binding of the yearbook, and is also is very slow. To scan a complete yearbook would take the better part of a couple days. I did the 1975 yearbook that way.

In trying to find a better way, I heard about the CZUR book scanners. I looked at these for a couple of years, and last year I finally decided to get one. I purchased the Aura Pro. Unfortunately, it has been a big disappointment. It probably would be OK for typical books with mostly text. But the image quality of photos is far better with my old flat bed scanner. The other problem is images too dark AND too light on the same page! You cannot get consistent looking brightness on a page, with either of the built-in lamps or any external illumination. I even bought a special diffuse light for photographers, and it didn’t help much.

So for making a PDF of a yearbook, I can do it in a few hours, but the quality is not great. If I want to pick a photo to scan where the quality is better, I will still need to use my flat bed scanner. Hopefully I can keep it going for a few more years.