How do you get good pics of slabs? 0

[Ride the Tiger]

Like the title says. I've taken pictures with my cell phone and digital camera but you always see shadows and reflections from the light. My scanner works great for raw books but I see so many great pictures of slabbed books and wonder how you guys do it. Large scanner?

[lizards2]

If you submerse the slabs in clean, still water, it removes the light reflections.

[ADAMANTIUM]

There is a scanner thread. Maybe a couple of pages back. I don't know the name or I'd link it. 

Older old school scanners can handle the depth in the cgc cases that you need. Newer scanners I believe can too but they are the expensive kind...

Edited April 2, 2018 by ADAMANTIUM

[ADAMANTIUM]

Here is one.... just Google scanner followed by cgccomics.com and there are a few top results

[ADAMANTIUM]

Here is another one with a few more posts...

[STORMSHADOW_80]

I take pics with my phone. I usually use a desk lamp to the side to help take away the glare and reflection

[ADAMANTIUM]

Definiely lighting matters, mostly indirect and without the flash on your phone. I always found it hard to get a good one where you can read the fine print on the label. As far as reflection, that's a trickier subject but can be done from further away but requires a better camera.... I don't believe that any has told me that my pictures were necessarily bad, but indirect light and picture at a angle works best for me. 

Edited April 2, 2018 by ADAMANTIUM

[Bomber-Bob]

First off, it's not easy ! As Adamantum has stated above, definitely avoid a flash. You need to angle the book, or the camera, just a bit. It's tough to totally eliminate all glare but maybe you can reduce it to a small, isolated spot. I try to 'move' the spot to the label area, not on the book itself. 

[zeezee]

1 hour ago, lizards2 said:

If you submerse the slabs in clean, still water, it removes the light reflections.

I just tried your suggestion, and it messed up the books, water seeped in and ruined them, you owe me a AF 15 and TEC 33.

[Martin Sinescu]

To get rid of reflections, you should have a black board between your phone and the slab. I use a piece of black foam core with a hole cut out for the lens to peek through (although I use a DSLR, not a cell phone, but the principle is the same). This way your slab mainly reflects black, not you, your phone, your wall posters, your lighting, etc.

[Joseph Zdyrski]

Idk if this makes sense but I have a book rack more of a movable cart to hold library books but I hold short boxes on it.  This results in short boxes that do not sit flat but are instead angled slightly away from me.  I simply put slabs on these short boxes take pics and since they are angled up and away from me.  They don’t not reflect light directly back and pics come out great. 

Edited April 3, 2018 by Joseph Zdyrski

[BlowUpTheMoon]

Paging @seanfingh

[jdennis3]

The big thing with a scanner is it needs to use CCD technology and not CIS, which 99% of at home scanners use today. Here is a link to the scanner forum. The page linked has a list of older scanners that will work for scanning slabs.

[Dick Pontoon]

 

 

 

Edited April 3, 2018 by Dick Pontoon

[Artboy99]

I went to a local pawn shop and bought an older HP legal sized scanner for $10.00.

it works great!

[Mayor006]

17 hours ago, jzeze said:

I just tried your suggestion, and it messed up the books, water seeped in and ruined them, you owe me a AF 15 and TEC 33.

I'm betting you either moved the water when you put them in or the water wasn't clean enough.

Edited April 3, 2018 by Mayor006

[seanfingh]

If my photobucket account still worked, I would show you.

[Dick Pontoon]

2 hours ago, seanfingh said:

If my photobucket account still worked, I would show you.

Edited April 3, 2018 by Dick Pontoon

[Junkdrawer]

22 hours ago, STORMSHADOW_80 said:

I take pics with my phone. I usually use a desk lamp to the side to help take away the glare and reflection

A light source from both the left and right works great. Ample light and no reflection of the light source. Zoom in with the phone too so to not catch it’s refection either

[Ride the Tiger]

Lots of good answers. Thanks everyone for all the help.For not searching first I deserve 50 lashes. Funny to see this topic has been around for about a decade. I laughed when I saw someone talking about Windows 7 then I realized i'm still using an old laptop with Vista. Time for an upgrade.