Imaging PSA Graded Cards

halfcentman

I am a full-time coin dealer who often comes across vintage sportscards.

How do you well-versed hobbyists image your cards?

If you scan them, do you use a background to accentuate the corners, and if so, what DPI do you use?

Taking pictures of them is bit easier, but you still have the question about the background.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Greg

hankcaddy

with white border cards, use a dark backround, black would work best
with no border cards try for white.
i have started using 300 or 600, stated flaws might bring your ultimate winng bid down, but a happier client.





BOTH SCANNED AT 600 DPI

I FEEL THE BLACK GIVES A MUCH BETTER CONTRAST

otwcards

I've found that 100dpi is fine for most images. It provides plenty of detail without using up a ton of space and taking longer to load. Here is an example of a scan at 100dpi:



If you want a little larger image, 150 dpi should suffice as it nearly doubles the size of the image. Anything larger tends to take longer to load and doesn't add much to the clarity as the montitor screens are limited in the pixels and resolution they can render.

Tvac897

white border on white background is a must.

onefasttalon

While my process is very cumbersome, it works well.

I use an old Visioneer 7100 scanner... I use Adobe Photoshop to scan each card in at 600dpi...
... then resize each card down to 550 pixels wide, then copy/paste each scan into Paintbrush, YES that free junk that comes with windows...
I then save the resultant file as a .JPG.

This one.... for example is scanned in at 600dpi, it's 550 x 913 pixels... and a whopping 88kb in size... VERY small!

I prefer to use cardboard for a background, but that's just my preference....

InMySock

<< <i>While my process is very cumbersome, it works well.

I use an old Visioneer 7100 scanner... I use Adobe Photoshop to scan each card in at 600dpi...
... then resize each card down to 550 pixels wide, then copy/paste each scan into Paintbrush, YES that free junk that comes with windows...
I then save the resultant file as a .JPG.

This one.... for example is scanned in at 600dpi, it's 550 x 913 pixels... and a whopping 88kb in size... VERY small!

I prefer to use cardboard for a background, but that's just my preference.... >>



You can use Photoshop to save a compressed JPG file. The option is called "Save for Web..." under the File menu.
From there, you have a slider that will change the quality of the image, and display the file size.

nearmint

Rather than using a background, I just leave my scanner lid open. The background comes out black.

bman90278

You really do not need to go over 100dpi and realistically 72dpi is all you really need as you are only scanning for the internet viewing. If you were going to print the images, that's another story, then you will need higher res. images to get the quality prints. As far as the image sizes, that's up to you. You can always scan at a higher resolution and resize and downsize the dpi to 72 to 100dpi. The examples in this thread are very good examples of sizing.

lawnmowerman

Just get an Epson Perfection 4490 Photo. Best scanner I have ever owned. I scan at 300 dpi and use Adobe to do the cropping and resizing. Here are a few quick examples:

SidePocket

All good advice - just don't use a camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Goot

<< <i>Just get an Epson Perfection 4490 Photo. Best scanner I have ever owned. I scan at 300 dpi and use Adobe to do the cropping and resizing. Here are a few quick examples:

>>



Matt, why do you have baseball cards in your possession?

lawnmowerman

<< <i>

<< <i>Just get an Epson Perfection 4490 Photo. Best scanner I have ever owned. I scan at 300 dpi and use Adobe to do the cropping and resizing. Here are a few quick examples:

>>



Matt, why do you have baseball cards in your possession? >>





Before I got focused on my Cowboys sets, I graded tons of baseball cards I accumulated over the years (mostly 90's stuff). I'm dumping most of them on Ebay now just to fund my current sets.

Goot

<< <i>

<< <i>

<< <i>Just get an Epson Perfection 4490 Photo. Best scanner I have ever owned. I scan at 300 dpi and use Adobe to do the cropping and resizing. Here are a few quick examples:

>>



Matt, why do you have baseball cards in your possession? >>





Before I got focused on my Cowboys sets, I graded tons of baseball cards I accumulated over the years (mostly 90's stuff). I'm dumping most of them on Ebay now just to fund my current sets. >>



Yeah sure. I wonder how Emmitt would feel if he knew that you're cheating on him with another 1990s superstar.