Does your scanner capture the luster of a coin?

mdwoods

Maybe it is the way I am using the software, but my scanner just does not seem to capture the luster of a coin. Most of the nice coin photos that I have inquired about were taken with a camera. Does anyone here have any techniques for capturing coin luster with a scanner? Thanks, Mark

Dog97

No luster in mine. Prop the end of the slab or 2x2 on a pencil on your scanner bed and it helps get rid of the Hersey Bar Planchet Effect somewhat.

RotatedRainbows

I find the higher resolution you scan at the better the luster shows up (true optical res. not software enhanced) but I have never really seen a scanner that can truly capture a coins luster.

airplanenut

I try propping the coin up with a pencil and it gets better... depending on the coin, I might lighten/contrast it so the scan looks better... I would say if I did that in a sale... to get my ASE scans to look as they did (very accurate) I had to play slightly with some settings and BOOM! the brown turned blue and all was nice

jom

No luster since scanners use florecent light. You need an incandecent or halogen for luster.

jom

CalGold

Does IPIX hosting the image also make the coin look brown? It seems that all IPIX scans on ebay have a dull brown look to them. Maybe what Dog was referring to as the Hershey bar effect.

its4real

It has seemed to me that a cmaera is harder to use but makes it easier to capture different lighting effects. One of these effects is the reflectivity of the coin. A high luster/reflective coin should, IMO, be photogrtaphed at a slight angle in FULL sunlight. This captures more of the natural FULL spectrum and will show more in any photograph. Using different slight angles and trying several things, you can really get a great full luster shot.

RotatedRainbows

Does IPIX hosting the image also make the coin look brown? It seems that all IPIX scans on ebay have a dull brown look to them. Maybe what Dog was referring to as the Hershey bar effect.

Yes IPIX hosting does reduce the image quality/resolution and generally will make pictures look a little darker especially with copper.

MastaHanky

My scanner (HP 2200c, free after coupon and mail-in rebate!) captures it too well...I can't seem to turn down the contrast enough to dim down the luster!





That California was scanned with the contrast at its lowest possible setting. Anything above that just made it even more of a blur of white. Tilting the coin didn't help either. I'm still experimenting...

telecoin

I just scanned this dollar with my flatbed scanner: dollar It is a very accurate image of the luster (although, I always try to make it look not quite as nice as the actual coin, so the buyer will be happier with the coin when he sees it in person). I had to hold the coin by the rim and tilt it at a very slight angle from the scanner (I edited out the background). This seems to work well with cents also. It's a little more work but it cheaper than buying a digital camera.

berylcoin

I use a Visioneer 8100 and it will pick up some luster on white coins but none on toned. Also, on any coin bright enough that the scan shows any luster I also get some nasty neon reflections. Tilting the coin helps, but only so much.

Example: Ike's Roostertail

Anyone know how to eliminate this?

BC

JD

Agree with most of the above...can't get my Cannon scanner to show any luster either. In fact, I can't can an accurate picture using any DPI less than 600. In which case the pictures are too large to post (>50K). I find my Cannon powershot S40 digital camera takes better pictures but those are also too large to post.

Dog97

On something like a coin more DPI only makes a bigger picture, it doesn't affect pict quality. I use a HP4200 at 100 DPI but it has an enlargement menu that I set at 300% to make these scans for a file size of about 30 kb for Morgans & about 10kb for cents. Here's some gold, copper, DMPL regular ms and toned coins for compararison. As you can see the copper picts are poor. These are the best I can do.