the pleasure and pain of taking pictures posted by MrWalkingDead

[CSJournals-migration]

Don't let your comics fly out of your aching hands and break on the floor

 

So as soon as I get home from walking to the local Walmart where I purchased a scanner to start the long process of scanning in all of the 180+ comics (front and back)to spice up my set there is a message from the Red Ninja informing me of how his search for a big enough scanner was in vane. I didn't read this message before I bought the scanner, didn't think to measure anything, and after 45 minutes of battling my computer to get the scanner to work- wouldn't you know- the scanner is too small!

 

my house is lined with sky-lights- so there is no escaping the light in the day- I guess I could read the instructions to the camera to make things easier- but who has time for that- so after weeks of moving around my house trying to locate a good spot to take pictures I finally nailed it- or at least its good enough for me. only thing is I can only take pictures at night- every picture has to be cropped or it turns sideways in my gallery- and because of how I have to squat down on hold the camera, my old- can only take so many pictures until my arms are jelly, and my knees ache, and my back is soar. so at the rate I'm going- shooting and cropping 15-20 books a night- I should be done in about...6-7 months- my first causality was my number 11 9.0. as I pulled it from the box, it flew from my hands and hit the hard wood floor pretty good. the case cracked, but the comic is ok...and instead of waiting to fix the case- I figured this was the perfect excuse to go ahead an upgrade to a 9.8. so I did.

 

oh and look!- some of the bags I buy to store them in (since CGC bags are ) are wrinkly- so now I need more bags too.

 

the good side to all this- its been a blast revisiting old covers I've not gazed on in quite some time. handling each book pegs my nostalgia meter to 10- some of the cover art is amazing- though I wont lie- the use of computers to make things just right kinda bugs me- but its the future man!...

 

Working on this comic set makes me feel pretty hyped! I really want to give these books, and my collection the respect it deserves. it might just be plastic, paper, and horror to an average Joe; a superficial task to bother with- but this has been a huge part of my life for sometime now- I have to do them justice! plus its pretty fun!

 

Breaks over! back to work!

 

See more journals by MrWalkingDead

[Silver Collector]

Hi MrWalkingDead,

You may want to search for a used scanner to get the size you need. They don't make too many legal sized scanners anymore, and if they do they are really expensive.

I use a HP ScanJet 4c. It will scan something as large as 8.5" x 14" (perfect for CGC books). You will need to get a SCSI card for this scanner. Old Adaptec 2940 cards work well and I've found drivers that work all the way up to Windows 7 (32bit or 64bit).

 

Mike

[Ozark Comics]

Purchase an HP 8270. You can pick up a used or refurbished one on eBay for about $250. New they are $600 to $900.

 

It has a large enough scan area for CGC comics.

 

Good Luck!

 

[Sensei Ryan]

I'm diggin' those WD boxes, my man!

[MrWalkingDead]

i built ONE box- thinking it would be years til it was full- (2 weeks later) 2 boxes, then 3, now 4... i have one box that is soley devoted to the number 1 reprints-

 

if i go 5 boxes, im afraid they will break through the floor!