Help with a Scanner Please

[Shivabali]

no luck w/ scanners

 

Hello out there. I've purchased two scanners in a row, and both won't focus on the CGC books since the slab keeps the comic off the bed surface. My brother has one that works but is small and cuts off the top/bottom. Does anyone use a scanner that they are happy with for scanning the whole cover + cgc label? Your help would be much appreciated. There are just too many to choose from, and I'm tired of wasting time setting up the suckers only to find they don't work and have to return. Thanks!!!

 

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[StuporMan]

The problem with modern scanners is that they use LED bulbs, which work great if what you're scanning sits flat on the scanning surface - but CGC books don't. They still make scanners with fluorescent lighting, which scans books perfectly, but then you still need to find one that does large format scans 9x14" and they are $$$$.

 

So it depends on your budget and the volume of what you need scanned. Some local print shops will have large format scanners and will gladly scan your books at $0.50-$1.00 per scan - but look away when they man-handle your precious items CGC will also scan your books that they process, which is worth it if you don't have a lot of existing stock to scan.

 

If you have excellent PC skillz, I recommend getting a used Microtek large format scanner on eBay or Craigslist. I have a Microtek 9600XL scanner that I bought specifically for scanning CGC books.

[MacFarlane]

 

I also went through this mess when I was looking for a scanner. I went all over the new market and found nothing that could do the job (and I had purchased and returned a few over this issue). In the end I did some forum reading and heard that the HP Scanjet 8300 was the cats meow.

I bought one on auction that was from a Government Office and other than the fact that I had to freshen up on my French (since all my screens are permanently set in French) it's been doing a great job. I don't do any touchups to the ones in my profile-you can check out the results for yourself to see them.

Just my two cents.

 

[Shivabali]

Thanks for your quick reply and great technical information. Will check out the scanner you mentioned. I have 1,000+ books, so don't mind spending a little money. Was using a dig camera, but just more of a pain trying to shoot without glare off the plastic. Scanning is so much easier. Thanks again! Mark

[Shivabali]

Oui.

Thanks so much for the info and prompt reply. I'll check into that scanner, as well as one from another post. Great information!!! Mark

[Shivabali]

Do you do any touch ups...saturation/contrast/sharpening? Your scans look great, and if those are "out of the box" that Microtek kicks bootie. Also, why did you say I'd need mad PC skills? I'm not a technophobe by any means and am proficient in Photoshop, but why the PC skills? Just don't want to get in over my head. Thanks again, Mark

[Shivabali]

Your scans look really good. Esp. w/o any touchup. Nice.

[BlowUpTheMoon]

Read this.

[StuporMan]

Do you do any touch ups...saturation/contrast/sharpening? Your scans look great, and if those are "out of the box" that Microtek kicks bootie. Also, why did you say I'd need mad PC skills? I'm not a technophobe by any means and am proficient in Photoshop, but why the PC skills? Just don't want to get in over my head. Thanks again, Mark

 

It depends on the model of scanner and the interface - USB, firewire, SCSI, etc, usually the older the interface, the cheaper the scanner. My version is an older SCSI interface, which took some work to get it running on a Win7 PC - that's where it takes some PC skills to deal with legacy hardware and/or drivers. With HP/Microtek/Epson you're safest bet is USB.

[Shivabali]

OK....Roger that. Thanks. Only have USB, so makes it easy w/ limited options.

[HMH]

I purchased the Plustek Optipro A320 scanner from New Egg and I am very happy with it. It has an 11 x 17 scanning bed so it'll fit any slab. The image quality is very good though I do have to make minor adjustments to the image color. It has programmable buttons so all I have to do is push one button on the scanner and the image is automatically saved on the computer. I don't have to go back and forth between the scanner in the computer when doing multiple scans. It retails for about $500 but I bought an open box for $350. I hope this was helpful.

 

Thanks,

Tim

[cheetah]

Do you do any touch ups...saturation/contrast/sharpening? Your scans look great, and if those are "out of the box" that Microtek kicks bootie. Also, why did you say I'd need mad PC skills? I'm not a technophobe by any means and am proficient in Photoshop, but why the PC skills? Just don't want to get in over my head. Thanks again, Mark

 

It depends on the model of scanner and the interface - USB, firewire, SCSI, etc, usually the older the interface, the cheaper the scanner. My version is an older SCSI interface, which took some work to get it running on a Win7 PC - that's where it takes some PC skills to deal with legacy hardware and/or drivers. With HP/Microtek/Epson you're safest bet is USB.

 

If you don't have mad computer skills, there is a program called Vuescan that provides an interface for non-supported scanners on modern operating systems. I use it and it has been a huge time saver and has produced significantly better scans that what I was getting before. You can buy a $50 legal size scanner and use $50 Vuescan and get top notch results.

[StuporMan]

If you don't have mad computer skills, there is a program called Vuescan that provides an interface for non-supported scanners on modern operating systems. I use it and it has been a huge time saver and has produced significantly better scans that what I was getting before. You can buy a $50 legal size scanner and use $50 Vuescan and get top notch results.

 

I would like to 2nd that - I use this software as well. It's inexpensive and works amazingly well. I purchased it after upgrading to 64bit OS.