G'day GUEST,Q and CapriUni,

Whether you can scan in depth depends upon the type of inmaging system in the flatbed scanner. The older, deeper, styles use a lens system and can be used for a number of "photographic" tasks. I normally have a box, larger than the plattern and i use suitable coloured sheets of paper for backgrounds.

The newer compact flatbeds - the thin ones, no more than 50mm deep, used a CCD cluster for imagine - but only work on close objects and image. Ultimately, you need to test the results, but the deeper, older ones do the 'deepest' images.

Anyway, either one can scan in flat art from books - as long as the book can be helf reasonably flat on the plattern without damaging the binding. Fragile old books should be professionally imaged - but they are the exception, not the rule.

Regards,

Bob Bolton