Document Image Capture with a Camera

Your Document

Babel Reader and TopOCR require images to be in portrait orientation for OCR. The document should be laying on an uncluttered flat surface.

Portrait Orientation

Configure Your Camera

Bring up the Camera Settings dialog by pressing the camera button on your phone or by running the "Camera" program. Change the following settings:

* Set resolution to 5MP or less (No limit for TopOCR)
* Set JPEG quality to "High"
* Enable Anti-Shaking
* Enable "Text Mode" if supported
* Use a Time Delay to allow you to get a straight even image
* Other items can be set to Automatic


Typically, the image files that you capture with your camera are stored under My Storage\DCIM.

Light

For Best Results - Use a Lamp


Make sure there are no shadows on the page from your hands or camera.

Holding Your Camera

Holding the Camera


When you take the picture, the camera lens must be EXACTLY parallel to the page being photographed. In practice, this is not too hard to do. Simply hold the camera directly overhead while looking through the viewfinder. Frame the page as much as possible while keeping the horizontal and vertical edges as straight as possible.

Advanced Features

TopOCR and Babel Reader require images to be in portrait orientation for OCR. The shape or "aspect ratio" of the image that the camera captures is the exact opposite. Babel Reader has the ability to automatically rotate the image to the correct orientation. This gives you the ability to place your image in "landscape orientation" like this:

Portrait Orientation Landscape Orientation


Capturing documents in Landscape Orientation will allow you to use the camera's resolution more efficiently to increase OCR accuracy.