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What type of scanner is recommended for scanning in PSA cards?

wufdudewufdude Posts: 356 ✭
in Trading Cards & Memorabilia Forum
I just recently bought one and I'm having a real problem getting a clear pciture of my PSA cards. Any suggestions?

Comments

  • helionauthelionaut Posts: 1,555 ✭✭
    Sounds like you have a crappy scanner or it's just not set up properly. There should be settings in the control panel for the scanner that tell it what type of item it's scanning. Some handle photos differently than, say, text documents. I had an old HP scanner that did everything beautifully. A friend has a Dell piece of junk that does nothing beautifully. Read the manual, play with whatever settings you have access to, and keep trying till it produces what you want.
    WANTED:
    2005 Origins Old Judge Brown #/20 and Black 1/1s, 2000 Ultimate Victory Gold #/25
    2004 UD Legends Bake McBride autos & parallels, and 1974 Topps #601 PSA 9
    Rare Grady Sizemore parallels, printing plates, autographs

    Nothing on ebay
  • phreakydancinphreakydancin Posts: 1,691 ✭✭
    I got an HP last year and it worked perfectly straight out of the box. By "clear picture" do you mean the images are out of focus, or are they chunky looking? If the former, I would exchange the scanner where you bought it, as there could be a physical problem with it. If the latter, try increasing the resolution - 200 dpi usually works pretty well for me.
  • KnucklesKnuckles Posts: 2,512 ✭✭✭
    I have a cheapo Canon lid20. It works really well when scanning raw cards however slabbed cards come out somewhat blurry. (Don't exchange yours for a Canon)
    image
  • wufdudewufdude Posts: 356 ✭
    ^I have a Canon and that sounds just like my problem. It looks kinda like due to the thickness of the slabbed card, the scanned image is partially shadowed?
  • estangestang Posts: 1,322 ✭✭✭
    HP is THE ONLY way to go!
    Enjoy your collection!
    Erik
  • ldfergldferg Posts: 6,742 ✭✭✭
    i think mass35nyc has some of the best scans. i use a dell a960 and it seems to work very well (except for foil cards). i can't get the foils to do justice to the cards.


    Thanks,

    David (LD_Ferg)



    1985 Topps Football (starting in psa 8) - #9 - started 05/21/06
  • sagardsagard Posts: 1,899 ✭✭✭
    Try scanning with the lid up and no light source directly above the scanner. Use 300x300 dpi and it should look great with any scanner.
  • CADILLACN97CADILLACN97 Posts: 184
    I agree with SAGARD. Use 300 dpi or above and it should be fine. I have a Lexmark now, and had an HP, and both worked great. It is more less just the settings, or try maybe a different way of scanning (i.e. the lid up with colored paper as a backdrop). Sometimes the lids are very reflective themselves, then add the surface of the slab and it can come out terrible.

    ERIC
  • TheNaturalTheNatural Posts: 17
    Your problem is not so much the scanner itself but the scanning element. The Canon Lide20 uses a CIS (contact image sensor) as its scanning element. This means that it scans the surface, but will not scan in depth. This means it will work fine on thin cards and photos, but will be blurry when it tries to scan through slabs. What you need is a scanner with a CCD (charge-coupled device) scanning element. You can get a good one for around $50. I doubt you will need anything that scans at greater than 300dpi, but most scanners today scan to at least 600dpi. Do not get sold because a scanner scans at 2400dpi or 4800dpi: you will never need it.
    "My mom told me I shoulda been a farmer."

    "My dad wanted me to be a baseball player."
  • AxtellAxtell Posts: 10,037 ✭✭
    I have a dell A960 combination printer/scanner/copier and it works great...

    If you are getting bad scans on something recently purchased, you may not have the settings right. Get it up to 600 dpi (that should be a great looking scan of a card), and if that fails, give the vendor a call. You may have a bad scanner.
  • wufdudewufdude Posts: 356 ✭
    Thanks for the all the info!
  • KnucklesKnuckles Posts: 2,512 ✭✭✭
    Thanks for the info TheNatural
    image
  • UllrUllr Posts: 185 ✭✭✭
    I have used a Canon N1220U flatbed scanner for 3 years and could never get a clear scan of a slabbed card. Raw cards scanned fine.

    Last month my parents upgraded their HP "all in one" scanner, and offered me their old (1.5 years) HP PSC 750. I said no thanks, that I already had a scanner and printer. After reading this thread I called Mom and said I was interested in the HP.

    WOW what a difference!!!
    Old Canon scan is on the left. New HP is on the right

    imageimage

    Now I am stuck with 100+ scans in the Registry that need to be redone.
    CANON SCANNERS SUCKimage
    collecting '67 & '75 red sox + baseball HOF autographs
  • EagleEyeKidEagleEyeKid Posts: 4,496 ✭✭
    I bought a Visioneer One Touch 5800 USB for $50 3 years ago.
    Best $50 I've ever spent. It was the cheapest scanner at Best Buy
    and does a job great. Crystal clear high resolution scans. If you're super lazy, it'll
    even crop and size the image for you too. Don't mind the lines across the cards... they're
    from the team bags I use to protect from scratches. I hate the large ultra pro sleeves. Too big and
    the sleeves just crumple up.
    imageimage
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