Best Scanner for high production scanning/imaging for ebay?

ambro51

A friend, who is a dealer, is wanting to provide nice images for his coins for ebay sales. His camera flusters him...and for the kind of volume he is talking...a scanner makes much more sense...for him.

does anyone have any they would suggest?

AUandAG

yeah, get a camera.

bob

PS: they work great on paper money.

kryptonitecomics

I don't recommend a scanner at all regardless of the volume of coins we are talking about unless he wants to leave money on the table?

comma

You can get some great shots with a cheap camera. A camera/tripod will be cheaper and make better images than even a high-end scanner.
Might take a few more minutes, but worth it in the end

PinkFloyd

The extra frustration is worth it. It's all in the lighting and tripod/copy stand.

coinsarefun

Send them out to one of the members here.
If he has a considerable amount on a constant level maybe he will get a better price?


I take mine and if I am not happy I send them out.
So my auctions may consist of Trueviews, mine and another members images.
In higher end coins its a must.

Now if they are lower end whatnot's....I would by all means buy a scanner

airplanenut

As frustrating as a camera may be, it's probably still worth it. Scanners lose lustre, color, and sharpness. With a bit of work, your friend should at least be able to get a picture that proves a coin is lustrous, shows some of its color, and is reasonably in focus.

As far as volume, I put up some 190 auctions last week. Other than writing 13 descriptions on Saturday night, I did everything--write-ups, photos, editing, listing--on Sunday. I was working like mad, but it's do-able.

keets

a scanner makes much more sense...for him.

does anyone have any they would suggest?

mrpotatoheadd

<< <i>a scanner makes much more sense...for him.

does anyone have any they would suggest? >>

Don't know the model off the top of my head, but Epson makes one that works for coins, slabbed or raw.

LindeDad

A camera and the use of Turbo lister lets you build and store listings and then upload a bunch at one time. As mentioned scanned listings lead to cherry picks for dealers by not bringing in the bids.
As a example I got a slabbed coin last week for 60% of price guide and listed it on eBay yesterday for 90% of guide it is sold and will be in the mail Monday.

mrpotatoheadd

I'm not saying a scanner is better (or even equal) to a camera. The OP asked about scanners, not cameras.

airplanenut

<< <i>a scanner makes much more sense...for him.

does anyone have any they would suggest? >>



<< <i>wanting to provide nice images for his coins >>

The problem here is that the quality attainable with a digital camera now is so high that even the best scanners will, in just about all circumstances, produce images that would not qualify as "nice." I think the commentary here pushing cameras is indicative of the fact that even if he gets an easy camera and a basic setup, the results will be far superior. The only advantage a scanner has is that it requires no user input--you just it a button and you get what you get. If that's the case, you could rig up something similar with a camera where the coin always goes in the same place and you just press the shutter. The results won't be as good as if the lighting is optimized for each coin, but the results will certainly beat what you'd get from a scanner. It may be that the scanner makes more sense in his mind, but I think, if thought it, that is not likely the case.

keets

i suspect that the "friend" of the OP has tried a camera(s) and just doesn't want to deal with it any more. in that regard, all the well-intentioned suggestions about cameras aren't very helpful, but perhaps i'm dense and missed something.

stman

I found the Epson Photo is a good scanner. True a camera is best. But for circulated coins I could flat out nail the look of the coin up to AU or so.
And I sold many from my collection on the BST and everyone said it did indeed look like the coin because I asked them. I also disagree you just hit a button and you get what you get. I took a lot of time trying to get it right. I also used a piece of black velvet and put it over the slab and glass. This seemed to keep the light from going everywhere. And before someone says if I took all that time I could have used a camera? I agree, I just didn't want to dedicate a room in the house, the lights, the frustration etc. I'm not a photographer, and don't need that as a hobby.

ctf_error_coins

Bottom line is if you use a camera then you WILL get Better Images resulting in higher sales.

ScarsdaleCoin

I have done thousands of listings on ebay using Epson scanner...quick easy and the coins look ok...maybe not as good as a camera but very quick and easy

keets

I just didn't want to dedicate a room in the house, the lights, the frustration etc. I'm not a photographer, and don't need that as a hobby.

that's a good point and may well be the mindset of the dealer in question. i know before high quality/high pixel count cameras were cheap and abundant i used a scanner, about 10 years ago, and could get decent images. i suppose the ones today are better and more flexible. i haven't tried my current HP on coins but the results are far superior to what i'd get 10 years ago on everything else.

messydesk

What is the nature of what he is selling? The only viable application for a scanner is lower grade circulated silver. Anything else will make the coin look less than nice.

Twobitcollector

I use an Epson V330 when I just want a quick photo of a coin. I also have taken a piece of foam board and cut a hole the size of a PCGS slab, I find this helps and I get better results. If I want really good photos I'll use my Canon SX120.

ambro51

thanks for the suggestions on the epson photo scanner. Ill pass that info along. He has about a half million coins. yup.

messydesk

<< <i>thanks for the suggestions on the epson photo scanner. Ill pass that info along. He has about a half million coins. yup. >>


Whoa. I would offer a discounted bulk rate for a photo shoot that size.

Twobitcollector

<< <i>I use an Epson V330 when I just want a quick photo of a coin. I also have taken a piece of foam board and cut a hole the size of a PCGS slab, I find this helps and I get better results. If I want really good photos I'll use my Canon SX120. >>



2-Scanned coins then I cropped them in Photoscape nothing else done to them.

PinkFloyd

That looks OK... Problem with scanners is that you're at their mercy for your lighting, etc. You certainly don't need to dedicate a whole room to a rudimentary lighting setup that will get better results if using a camera.

Also, the V330 runs $70. Not too bad. Not knowing what coins the OP's friend has.....he/she might run the lowball stuff through the scanner but any higher end stuff I'd recommend either taking a camera class (or finding a camera savvy friend) or purchasing better equipment to alleviate some frustrations. It'll be worth it!

jzbrown

Well I am going to try and post a photo here that I just took. I have had the camera one week and never took more than occasional shots of friends and family.
I read this article
http://www.coinimaging.com/photography.html - written by Mark Goodman whose name I saw mentioned in a thread about who to use for photos. Article was short and informative.

camera is a $330.00 Nikon coolpix 12mp
lighting consists of 2 $20 halogen gooseneck lamps.
1 black cotton towel.
Just have the towel on the desk with 2 lamps lighting. Not hard to set up at all.


Well my photo is 900k and it says the limit is 50k how do you guys get those large hi rez photos up here?

But my photo's at this time are much better than most on ebay. Once I get a tripod and learn more about the camera, I am sure they will better still.

I think that photo's are the way to go. Given that most ebay items are not unique, all other things being equal it should help with the sale.

Eagleguy

I have an HP scanner that I tried scanning a slabbed coin with once. The slab kept the coin sufficiently far enough away from the scanner glass that the image just came out as a black blob. My old scanner didn't have that problem. I'm not sure how you could evaluate ahead of time whether that would be a potential problem or not on any particular scanner model. Something to consider if you are scanning slabbed coins. Also, you may want to suggest a scanner that has a lid which can be lifted to fit a thick item (i.e. a slab) underneath it. Some scanners only have a fixed hinge.

JH