Scanner question
 

Hey all. I'm getting a new all-in-one printer and want to know how far to go.

I currently have 1200dpi, and it's acceptable for PSA cards, but really is not very good for SGC/GAI cards. Is 4800x9600 optical overkill, and will 2400x4800 do the trick?

If anyone has examples of each, that would be awesome!

Thanks

Nate

I'm very hanappy with my MP990 Pixma Canon, got it for $200 or so via Amazon. It is important to have CIS laser technology. Old all-in-one:

http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/q...ntleholder.jpg

New Canon, works great with SGC:

http://i434.photobucket.com/albums/q...56Mantle-1.jpg

Hey Nate,

I'm not sure what else you want in an all-in-one, but if the only other feature you're going to be using is the printing, you might consider getting a cheap black and white printer and then using the extra money to buy a camera (if costs are an issue).

I've never found scanners to be particularly useful for getting clean images of graded cards, but taking nice high res photos is pretty easy...then you can crop them down and make the jpegs compact enough to post on the site and keep the high res copy for future reference. Natural light photos look nice, IMO.

Do a search for posts from me and you'll see some photos I've taken of cards in the monthly pickup threads.

Have a good one,
Steve

Looks like while i was typing my reply that Patrick posted a great example of using a camera instead of a scanner. Nice!

Steve

Thanks Patrick and Steve. I might actually get a scanner. There is a great deal on a Canon PIXMA MP8120 on Amazon right now (173), and it has 4800x9600. I figure I can get a scanner with the same resolution for 60$...I already have an all-in-one that is adequate for my printing needs.

The software for my scanner (Epson perfection2400photo) lets you chose the resolution. I've assumed others do as well.

I usually choose the higher resolution if it's not really expensive. I never thought I'd use 1200, let alone higher, but I'm using it more as my eyes get worse. And I've used some scans at 2400 to look at a few things. Much beyond that is pretty much overkill for printed items. For examining details of photos as much resolution as you can get is better as long as the photo is in focus.

Most of the pictures in my pictures folder were done at around 200 dpi, the ones showing close details were usually at 800 or 1200 then resized.

Steve B

Read this thread:

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...ighlight=pixma

The scanner I got was an all-in-one and is terrific! It's less about resolution, and more about having the ability to adjust the depth to scan the card underlying the plastic.

I use Google's free Picassa software for fine tuning, and voila:

<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/RT_TTyZolRxucQJw0nlwdTiJm_Z5QsNdec5_I7WHZRE?feat=e mbedwebsite"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-LK-r1QnIF7g/RzJyvHBXd8I/AAAAAAAACIo/fXgaqoPavXM/s800/Doyle%252520With%252520Bat%252520Auto%252520SGC%25 252060.JPG" height="800" width="494" /></a>

I believe Minty mis-spoke---You want a CCD scanning element, NOT CIS!

CIS (Contact Image Sensor) is only good for scanning perfectly FLAT items like a sheet of paper or a page.

For objects w/ any THICKNESS at all (slabs or the like) you need a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) or your scans will not be sharp & clear.

Yes, I picked up a Canon CCD for 35.00 based on recommendations in an older thread and it works great. I think I know what you alluding to with the MP; the size of the image does not matter when you have the CCD scanner, assuming you were thinking (like I did) that you have to make and incredibly large image and compress it in order to decrease the blurred areas. Don't know if that is what you meant though.