Do we really still need flatbed scanners for comic scans? 4 4

[WolverineX]

Yeah, I use Microsoft Lens which is similar to Google photo

[cigars&comix]

On 7/28/2019 at 9:26 AM, adampasz said:

I use Google PhotoScan. It's free.

https://www.google.com/photos/scan/

It has a Glare Removal feature, but if you set up some good lighting, you don't even need it. Glare Removal does come in handy for some reflective covers, like this ASM 375.

I also really like the integration with GooglePhotos, so it's easy to get your pics up on the cloud, organize them in Albums, and share. It is available for iOS and Android, but the integration on the Android version is a little smoother. 

I'm sure there are other nice paid apps. out there that do the same thing.

 

 

I use Photoscan every day - its the perfect solution for nice cover shots and of course resolves the whole - "how do i take pictures of my slabbed books" question.

Never used a flatbed for a comic, I would never subject my precious books to be sandwiched like that on a flatbed.

Edited September 1, 2019 by cigars&comix

[awakeintheashes]

7 minutes ago, cigars&comix said:

I use Photoscan every day - its the perfect solution for nice cover shots and of course resolves the whole - "how do i take pictures of my slabbed books" question.

Never used a flatbed for a comic, I would never subject my precious books to be sandwiched like that on a flatbed.

You don’t have to close the scanner

[Gaard]

Don't own a smartphone. Never will. Wherever I go, people are glued to them. (I think it's a generational thing)

Scanner for me. HP8250. Cost me $50. Works like a charm.

re: glare

I do have some. Seems to work better if I scan the slabs upside-down and rotate the scans 180 degrees.

 

[namisgr]

22 minutes ago, awakeintheashes said:

You don’t have to close the scanner

True.  Besides, even if you do the scanner lid places less stress on a comic than long-term storage in a longbox.  In the one I use the glass platen is slightly recessed and the weight of the lid rests on the sides around the glass rather than on top of it.

 

Edited September 1, 2019 by namisgr

[musicmeta]

2 hours ago, Gaard said:

Don't own a smartphone. Never will. Wherever I go, people are glued to them. (I think it's a generational thing)

Scanner for me. HP8250. Cost me $50. Works like a charm.

re: glare

I do have some. Seems to work better if I scan the slabs upside-down and rotate the scans 180 degrees.

 

HP8250 is what I have and mine works like a charm too.  

[fastballspecial]

I use a cell phone for group shots, but still a scanner for raws.

I see some auctions with 12 pictures now, but usually for sellers that wont put a grade
on a book. The "Not professional graders" group. 

Maybe in a year or two I will switch over entirely, but flatbed still works best for me. 

 

[shortboxed]

I don't use a scanner - I use my phone or a high-quality camera. Below are some examples of pics I've taken with my phone, an Android OnePlus 6T. The current-gen iPhone, Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel have marginally better cameras than my phone. The colors on these photos have NOT been altered, the only editing done is brightening the lighting digitally to lessen shadows and obviously editing out the background to create a pure white background. I use a lightbox and a tripod. 

The most important factor is having good, even, studio-quality indirect lighting. You want natural white light, not yellow or warm lighting that most home lamps use. 

Use a board or backdrop in front of your camera so there isn't any glare or reflection. This takes a lot of experimenting and futzing around with the setup. 

A tripod is necessary to take still photos.

Using this setup I can snap multiple photos of a slab in a few seconds. Then I swap it out for another book and repeat. Editing the photos takes a few minutes per photo. 

Have been experimenting with photo setups for months and have tried almost everything. It's not quite perfect but I'm getting closer. Need to perfect the angles so it shoots perfectly flat, and optimize the camera settings. So far this setup delivers the best/most accurate results with less work compared to a full blown studio setup which I don't have space for in my city apartment. I typically shoot with a Sony RX100 M3 post-and-shoot camera but these photos I took with my phone. 

Edit: the boards compress the photos so they look more grainy than the true, hi-res photos. Example: the small text on the labels are blurry but in reality they are super crisp. But this should still give you an idea.

Edited September 1, 2019 by shortboxed

[FlyingDonut]

On 7/27/2019 at 2:56 PM, fantastic_four said:

For many years in the aughts I loved my legal-sized MicroTek flatbed scanner.  The scan quality was impeccable and the resolution was fantastic.  Now, every picture I take of a comic with my phone looks better than almost any scan I took a decade or more ago.

Do we really still need legal-sized scanners for our CGC books, or is a well-lit photography station and a great digital camera just fine?

Edited September 1, 2019 by FlyingDonut

[vheflin]

anyone know if the scanner lamp emits harmful UV rays?  They sure are bright.

maybe just a bit of fading happening with every scan?

I'm gonna use a camera... 

[badback83]

2 hours ago, shortboxed said:

I don't use a scanner - I use my phone or a high-quality camera. Below are some examples of pics I've taken with my phone, an Android OnePlus 6T. The current-gen iPhone, Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel have marginally better cameras than my phone. The colors on these photos have NOT been altered, the only editing done is brightening the lighting digitally to lessen shadows and obviously editing out the background to create a pure white background. I use a lightbox and a tripod. 

The most important factor is having good, even, studio-quality indirect lighting. You want natural white light, not yellow or warm lighting that most home lamps use. 

Use a board or backdrop in front of your camera so there isn't any glare or reflection. This takes a lot of experimenting and futzing around with the setup. 

A tripod is necessary to take still photos.

Using this setup I can snap multiple photos of a slab in a few seconds. Then I swap it out for another book and repeat. Editing the photos takes a few minutes per photo. 

Have been experimenting with photo setups for months and have tried almost everything. It's not quite perfect but I'm getting closer. Need to perfect the angles so it shoots perfectly flat, and optimize the camera settings. So far this setup delivers the best/most accurate results with less work compared to a full blown studio setup which I don't have space for in my city apartment. I typically shoot with a Sony RX100 M3 post-and-shoot camera but these photos I took with my phone. 

Edit: the boards compress the photos so they look more grainy than the true, hi-res photos. Example: the small text on the labels are blurry but in reality they are super crisp. But this should still give you an idea.

I have an iPhone.  I wish I could take pics like this.  Probably need to figure out a light box situation or something.  My desk lamp isn’t good.  I really have no clue what I’m doing.

[cigars&comix]

On 9/1/2019 at 2:10 PM, DocHoppus182 said:

Need to perfect the angles so it shoots perfectly flat

You need to do a "perspective crop" - its not a regular crop, what it does it lets you choose the 4 corners of the book then straightens out the book so it looks perfectly flat.

If you own photo shop it comes installed already. If not there is a free software called "PhotoScapeX" which has this feature. All my images are perfectly flat books even if the original angle was off by a lot.

 

[Poka]

Google PhotoScan is good enough for me. I Just need to change the background to black

 

Edited September 5, 2019 by Poka

[namisgr]

On 9/1/2019 at 12:56 PM, vheflin said:

anyone know if the scanner lamp emits harmful UV rays?  They sure are bright.

maybe just a bit of fading happening with every scan?

I'm gonna use a camera... 

It takes days if not months in direct sunlight to fade comics.  The ten seconds it takes to scan a comic isn't going to do anything to the cover inks, and I've never seen an example from anyone to suggest otherwise.  Does anybody have one to show?

As for cell phone photos, in many of the examples shown in this thread I find it difficult to make out the flaws that account for the given grade of the CGC slab being shown.  As a prospective buyer, this is a major flaw for me compared to the finely detailed scan that shows every stress line, bend, discoloration, crease, tear, scuff, dirt, and staple problem, while also making it easy to assess the quality of paper preservation of the cover.

 

Edited September 5, 2019 by namisgr

[telerites]

I have to admit I was skeptical of these apps but tried a few including Microsoft Lens, Google Photoscan and one called Camera Scanner.  All did very well.  The Camera Scanner and Microsoft Lens seemed to deliver the best and that was without any effort to mess with the lighting on the comic.

It doesn't replace a scanner but it certainly is quicker and for many things would be work great.  I would use it on Ebay listings for sure.  And a smartphone sure takes up a lot less space than a scanner.

Just my and not even worth that much but glad I saw the thread and tried these.

[Professor K]

I have a HP Scanjet 8200 or 8250. Its in flawless condition. But it leaves glare, too much glare.

I like to keep all my graded books categorized and in order so whenever I get a new one the first thing I do is scan it. 

Example of how it leaves glare- First scan is upright in the scanner bed. Heavy glare on the top edge.

Second scan is flipped 180 degrees and there is glare on the bottom eege. Anybody know if there is a simple program to use on a PC to fix this or a suggestion for a scanner which doesn't leave glare.....or any advice at all? Thanks

 

Edited April 14, 2020 by Professor Chaos

[Max Carnage]

2 hours ago, Professor Chaos said:

I have a HP Scanjet 8200 or 8250. Its in flawless condition. But it leaves glare, too much glare.

I like to keep all my graded books categorized and in order so whenever I get a new one the first thing I do is scan it. 

Example of how it leaves glare- First scan is upright in the scanner bed. Heavy glare on the top edge.

Second scan is flipped 180 degrees and there is glare on the bottom eege. Anybody know if there is a simple program to use on a PC to fix this or a suggestion for a scanner which doesn't leave glare.....or any advice at all? Thanks

 

Not sure why you have glare and I don't.  Maybe that's why they marked it down to a 9.2 ?

HP Scanjet 8200 - just scanned using ArcSoft Photostudio:

Edited April 14, 2020 by Max Carnage

[90sChild]

3 hours ago, Professor Chaos said:

I have a HP Scanjet 8200 or 8250. Its in flawless condition. But it leaves glare, too much glare.

I like to keep all my graded books categorized and in order so whenever I get a new one the first thing I do is scan it. 

Example of how it leaves glare- First scan is upright in the scanner bed. Heavy glare on the top edge.

Second scan is flipped 180 degrees and there is glare on the bottom eege. Anybody know if there is a simple program to use on a PC to fix this or a suggestion for a scanner which doesn't leave glare.....or any advice at all? Thanks

 

 

 

Try putting something underneath the top or bottom edge of the slab to raise it slightly on one side.  The glare is probably from the perpindicular angle.. try changing it to like 70 or 80 degrees.  If you can angle it enough, it might not show up. 
I use this same trick taking pictures of slabs with a camera flash, you want the light to bounce off at an angle.

 

Edited April 14, 2020 by 90sChild

[Professor K]

I pretty much give up trying to eliminate the glare from this scanner. I don't know if an 8300 will do any better. I'm wondering if I should go to Staples and see if I can scan them there. Of course there is a security risk doing that. 

[WolverineX]

On 9/9/2019 at 12:45 PM, telerites said:

I have to admit I was skeptical of these apps but tried a few including Microsoft Lens, Google Photoscan and one called Camera Scanner.  All did very well.  The Camera Scanner and Microsoft Lens seemed to deliver the best and that was without any effort to mess with the lighting on the comic.

It doesn't replace a scanner but it certainly is quicker and for many things would be work great.  I would use it on Ebay listings for sure.  And a smartphone sure takes up a lot less space than a scanner.

Just my and not even worth that much but glad I saw the thread and tried these.

Yes, I love Microsoft Lens.  Gold Standard.