Stands I Have Known—Revisited
Contributed by Joel Zimba, Special Projects Coordinator, MDTAP
As hinted in the last post, I finally got my hands on the Fopydo stand. It set me back a whole $15 direct from the manufacturer. There may be less expensive stands available, but let’s call this the low end of the scanning market.
Fopydo as seen from the side
Fopydo (it stands for photo copy documents) actually makes two kinds of stands. The one I bought specifically states it is made for users of the KNFB Mobile software. I believe the other stand comes with bundled software, though I have no idea if there are other differences. It costs just slightly more, so feel free to try your luck.
The stand comes folded flat in a cardboard mailing envelope. Assembly, if you can call it that consists of folding the foam core body of the stand according to the directions and inserting tab A into slot B. Saying this takes 30 seconds would give you time to take a swig of coffee mid-way through. When ready for action, the stand sits on two metal bracket legs and suspends a platform over a flat surface, such as a table top. This platform is supported by folding a bit of the foam core back in at about 45 degrees to meet with the long surface of the Fopydo. An awkward description of a simple structure.
I placed my iPhone 6+ on the top surface and laid a printed page between the two metal legs. It scanned perfectly. Instead of lining up the camera lense with a hole in the stand, the business end of the device just peaks out over the edge of the stand. Keeping things squared up is probably unimportant. It might be slightly harder with a smaller device, but I just lined up the hindquarters of my phone with the back edge of the Fopydo’s top.
Fopydo as seen from above
The Fopydo has a much smaller footprint than the ScanJig discussed last week. It is also a fraction of the weight. While it seems sturdy enough when assembled, I doubt it would support an iPad quite as well as the smaller iOS devices. Also, folding and unfolding the Fopydo will likely only happen a finite number of times; remember, the slots and tabs are just cuts in standard foam core. For now, it will live on my desk so I can scan at will. So, ease-of-use, price and size are great. Durability maybe not so much, but good enough for jazz.
