What could be the best camera for consealed picture-taking in library? Need advice!!!

[greekly]

Hello everybody,

I need to buy a digital camera for a very special purpose. I am conducting a research project in the main public library of St.Petersburg, Russia. For that project I need to make copies of newspapers from 1930-ties, 40-ties and 50-ties. Totally I need to copy as many as a few thousand pages. The library chrges over $1 per copy of a stangard page (8 1/2 x 11) which, in my opinion, is outrageous. There is no way I can afford that.

I own Nikon Coolpix 4500. It's a bit bulky and has fairly slow focusing speed but I took it to the library anyway and started taking pictures. At first it was OK, then library employees spotted that and kicked me out. Their logic was that by taking pictures I undermined their business.

Nevertheless, there is no way I am gonna pay that money for copying. I'd rather invest a few hundred bucks in another digital camera and try to take pictures again. So I need the camera that would fit the following criteria:

1. Small size (the smaller - the better; an SLR definitely won't do :-). I am thinking of something in size of a palm so that it attracts as little attention as possible and is hard to spot.

2. The fastest focusing, picture-taking and card upload speeds (I am not sure if I use the correct terms). You see, in order to take the picture I have to move as far away as possible from the paper (so that I could catch as large area as possible). That means briefly standing up. If the camera takes a few seconds to focus (like my Nikon), then another few seconds to take the picture and then another few second to upload it to the memory card, by the time I am done the entire library is looking at me. What I need is something that's really fast, so that I can stand up, focus, take a picture and sit back before anybody becomes interested.

3. Highest possible quality of pictures in low-light settings. If possible, I'd like not to use the flash at all in order to attract as little attention as possible.

4. Lense as wide-angled as possible. You know how big the newspaper pages are. The bigger area I could capture in one shot the better.

There are a few more things (good macro mode, large and easy-to-read display) that I'd like to have, but size and speed are the main factors. Can somebody suggest something? May be someone have done picture-taking of a large number of documents and could share the experience. Any advice will be highly appreciated.

I know all this might sound a bit crazy but I actually thought of even more bizzare options, such as handheld scanner or spy-type consealed camera (you know, the one that you place in a buttonhole or glasses). If anybody had any experience with those and could share that it would be great.

Thank you in advance for your help.

[PhilR.]

Although I would not normally reply to a posting wanting info for semi-nefarious purposes, I guess you're far enough away where it won't really matter....

Your situation demands a camera with a "fast" lens - one that lets in a lot of light so you won't need a flash. However, just about every small camera out there has the same lens speed, averaging about f2.8. Therefore, you will need to consider other things that will help you take pictures without flash. One camera you could consider using is the Panasonic FX7, which is a small 5 megapixel camera that uses image stabilisation technology. This will allow you to shoot pictures at slower speeds that what could normally be done. This will help when shooting indoors without flash.

PhilR.

[judge9847]

From my own experience of archiving tens of thousands of highly technical documents, including witnessing what needs to be done for thousands of detailed drawings, I can tell you that you've got a major, major project on your hands.

Apart from the obvious issue of being caught doing it - and it'll happen again for sure - I don't think there's a consumer digital camera with the sort of specification you're talking about that will be able reliably to produce what you want consistantly. I am assuming of course that you want the detail of what the pages have otherwise why bother?

The sorts of quantities of images you're talking about really is something for a professional agency to do and that costs you money.

How about negotiating with the library? Surely the sorts of quantities you want would demand a healthy discount?

Personally speaking, I think your chances of completing what you want to do by using a consumer camera are on the bad side of sweet nothing. And that's being optimistic!!! But good luck anyway!

[greekly]

Thank you very much for your input. I must have not made myself clear. I do not need the exact copies of a few thousand newspapers, a few large pages each. I do need to go through them though and copy an article here and there (say, one article per paper). It would only include plain text and occasional pictures; no technical data, no drawings and etc. Therefore, the picture quality is not my first priority (as long as I can read it that's fine).

This project is going to last at least a year. It's not like I am gonna order everything at once. Therefore, there is no way I can get a discount (I expect to make a few dozen copies per visit which is not a huge number to get their attention). But being a history student I simply can't afford to pay what they ask :(

[Newbie]

Not sure how the library works, but back to the possible agreement, you can ask to talk to a manager or osmethne of the library and tell him your problem... You are an history student and have a pretty big project to do and for your project you need to look at ties(?) from the newspaper. You believe that you will need to make about 1000 photocopies during that one year. Unfortunatly being a student you can't afford 1000 photocopies at 1$, perhaps he could arrange you something where each photocopies would cost MUCH less... Perhaps this could be done with a "photocopy card" which you would have to pay...

As a little note, what a crazy library you have there ?!? At school, I can make photocopies at 4¢ each with my student card and 10¢ each otherwise. The worst place was my city library which costs 25¢ I think(maybe its 10 tho).

[greekly]

You see, government does not support the libraries well in Russia. Inflating the price of copying is the only way for them to survive. So I don't blame them. If I was to make a few copies I would have paid a few bucks and never bothered to care about the camera. But with a thousand copies the cost becomes prohibitive so I have to find other ways...

[Rhys]

In Russia, it'd be a lot easier to buy some bottles of vodka, make friends with the head librarian and gain access via his drunken friendship. That might even get you free photocopies or even the newspapers themselves.

[greekly]

Well, I am Russian, so I know exactly how it works :) The down side of what you suggest is that not only you have to bring the head librarian vodka but also share it with him. After that I doubt you would be able to make any copies. And besides that, I believe cirrhosis is too expensive price to pay for my project (remember, I have to go there on a constant basis) :(

[judge9847]

Thank you very much for your input. I must have not made myself clear. I do not need the exact copies of a few thousand newspapers, a few large pages each. I do need to go through them though and copy an article here and there (say, one article per paper). It would only include plain text and occasional pictures; no technical data, no drawings and etc. Therefore, the picture quality is not my first priority (as long as I can read it that's fine).

This project is going to last at least a year. It's not like I am gonna order everything at once. Therefore, there is no way I can get a discount (I expect to make a few dozen copies per visit which is not a huge number to get their attention). But being a history student I simply can't afford to pay what they ask :(
OK, thanks for that - I understand better now what you have to do but again, I really don't think there's a camera in what I'd call the consumer market, or even the more expensive prosumer market, that you could rely on to deliver the results that you want 100% of the time. To be able to capture text that you can read, from even a tabloid-shaped newspaper, is going some. It's a difficult ask, it really is and that's not even thinking about things like lighting, holding the camera steady and so on. Of course, if anyone else has attempted it and succeeded, I'd be delighted to hear about it.

Don't you have microfiche storage or microfilm that you could get copies from? I realise what you say about havig to pay that much - but as has been said, it's frankly an outrageus cost - so I think you'd be better off taking the cost of the camera and offering it to the local librarian!!

I don't see a way of doing what you want, reliably, with a consumer digital camera. Sorry .... :(