Before judging any method one must be familiar enough with it. For example, for taking best possible photographs one must spend lots of time in experimenting, as the amount of variables to control is quite large. Image Processing The black writing on a black, rough background of the carbonized papyri is a challenging image processing problem. There is no simple feature that could be used as the perfect classifier. In practice, that is hardly possible, but one can always enhance the images to a more readable form, and search for any features that could be extracted with image processing methods.
Image processing takes easily vast amounts of processor time even on the fastest computers.
Our small test image consists of 131.120 pixels. A simple algorithm may require, say, a 5x5 matrix to be applied to every pixel. With maximum resolution, the size of the test image is almost 1.000.000 pixels. So, one should keep in mind the limits when searching for a good algorithm. It should also be remembered that the image should not be modified too much and that by manipulating the images one can easily create artifacts that show up as parts of characters.