How does this guy make all of his scans look so crisp?

acowa · November 5, 2002 5:41AM

The PSA 6's look GEM MINT.

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Regards,

Alan

anjcollection · November 5, 2002 6:05AM

scanning onto a black background usually helps. (ejn09 does the same and gets great results on his auctions b/c of it too)

doc · November 5, 2002 7:41AM

Thats a trick I just learned...if you use a scanner, just leave the lid open on white bordered cards....it makes the holders almost see through and it really brings out the cards.

Steve

qualitycards · November 5, 2002 8:05AM

Its more then that! I too leave the lid open for the black backround, but my cards look OK, not fantastic. Some users can enhance the scan w/ more depth and clarity. So much so, that the scan looks nicer then the card. I just sent a scan to a buyer on a '65 Maris PSA-8, the card is vibrant and beautiful, my scan took out the crispness. The buyer still took the card, and will be surprised how much nicer it actually is then the scan...jay

Edited for spelling error!

mrichards · November 5, 2002 8:18AM

Owning a computer company has it's advantages. Use (if you have one or you can buy one on Ebay) an HP ScanJet 6250CXI or Higher 600 DPI (Native) Scanner. Scan image at 600 DPI. Keep cover open so you get the nice black background and depending upon how you are inserting the picture, cut the size to 60% and you will have a crisp clear scan. Do not use Ebay's picture services. They destroy the great scans. I know the example below is a GAI card, but it is much harder to scan then a PSA and it is scanned at 600 DPI and reduced 45%. Note the little green tint which you can not help if you want a black background on GAI cards unless you play with the settings in your scanning software. The green tint is light bouncing off the curves of the case like a pyramid. I hope this helps.

1954 Topps Hank Aaron Rookie GAI 8 Scan Example From My Last Ebay Auction

murcerfan · November 5, 2002 8:18AM

bleach and a little doctoring along the edges probably helps too!

murcerfan · November 5, 2002 8:37AM

Just kidding! His cards are real nice I just bought some '52's off him.

Mrichards........you get "post of the year" award. just call Gayle for your 5 free grades .
finally some real info.
I have a cheapo scanner that is 4 years old and I keep the black cover down on psa cards unless they are black borders and then I put a sheet of white paper over them. I get pretty good results. I have a question though, I was once told that having a resolution of greater than 64 dpi was meaningless on the internet and that all you would be doing at res above that was making the files and download time larger. Is This not true, was it once. I use the optional enlargement feature on e-bay for cards over $100. I will try your ideas on my little "rice burner" here.
also, do you kinow of any shareware (tucows available) image editors that have a function for splicing 2 image files into one (ie, back and front scans of a card for posting on the registry)?? I know this is incredibly easy to do and had a program with a "stitch comand" on an old computer.

murcerfan · November 5, 2002 8:40AM

MRichards
I didn't mean your beautiful Aaron card either by my jest.
also, PM me (terwilliger@charter.net) if you know where that nice '53 Johnston's set hoard is.
or if your are building '54's too.

mcastaldi · November 5, 2002 8:43AM

Mike> I just use a basic Umax scanner with my PowerBook G4. I scan from Photoshop at 100dpi with a "magazine" descreen. I use a black background and have found a $0.25 piece of black construction paper works fine. I've found that leaving the lid raised to create your black doesn't reflect properly and the colors can seem washed.
Once I've done the scan, I use Photoshop's "Auto Contrast" feature and then crop the image.
Results -
75 Rojas
68T Game Kaline

A lot of it is learning enough about your equipment to get the most out of it.

Murcerfan> If you're using a Mac, I belive Graphic Converter will do what you are looking for.

Mike

mrichards · November 5, 2002 10:32AM

An Apple! This is a PC only board (just kidding). I sell both and I think the Apple is much
easier to use, but I have a love-hate relationship with Windows and my PC. Heck, I go all the way back to DOS.

Mike, it has alot to do with the lighting. If you have a very reflective light such as a fluorescent above the scanner, you aren't going to get that nice of a scan.

Auto Contrast or Auto Color is actually altering the scan to clean it up. The scan (in my opinion should be raw). That is the way I have always scanned and sold my cards.

Cropping is cool (for all of the non computer guys, that means getting rid of the not needed background when doing a scan so you see the image scanned only)

I actually use the scanning program that came with my HP's (I have 3 of them) and Microsoft's Photo Editor software which comes with MS Office to cut and shrink my scan.

Depending upon your software used will also depend upon your scan size. For example, if you have 2 of the same HP scanners and are using HP's Scanjet 1 software on 1 machine and PhotoShop on another.
If you scan at 600 DPI, one program, the scan may come normal on the second it may be very big with dots in it if you try to shrink it. It depends upon the software. Many people shoot their scans at 200 DPI and that seems to work fine.

Hosting your pictures is an entirely different animal. I used to use Ebay's picture service and it's free providing you use only 1 photo normal size. I found hosting the pictures myself using my company's Website let's me put as many pictures as I want with different resolutions. Scanning is not an exact science. Many people do it differently. I am not suggesting in any way that my way of doing it is the best, but I have had much success with it.

It's tough because when you are selling high dollar cards, you want them to look the same way they appear when you are holding them in your hand on Ebay or any other auction service for that matter.

I would suggest to scan the same card (any card) with different resolutions and load them up on AOL's free picture service or Yahoo's picture service and load them up on your web browser and see how they look. That is the best way. I hope this post was helpful and if anyone has any questions, you can email me directly at madmike@akula.com. I may not answer right away, but I will get back to you within a day or two.

Have a nice night everyone.

Mike

mcastaldi · November 5, 2002 11:28AM

Mike> Well, I am using a Unix OS - OSX

While it is true that using Auto Contrast will slightly alter the scan, I've found that the end result is closer to what I actually have in my hand than is a raw unaltered scan. As I said, it's a matter of knowing and understanding the equipment you're using. And I don't know how PC's handle scanning, but with a Mac using Photoshop and the manufacturer's software is essentially one in the same. The scanner software installs a Photoshop plugin and the manufacturer's software is what's running and controlling the scan. It just runs within Photoshop so it can drop the resulting scan into Photoshop saving a few steps.

And hosting your own pics is definitely the way to go - be it from your ISP's web space, a domain you are running, or a different internet service such as Apple's iTools, AOL or Yahoo's service, etc.

Mike

gemint · November 5, 2002 5:12PM

Wow Mike. That card looks miscut on the back! Don't mean to slam your card but it's surprising it received an 8.

gaspipe26 · November 5, 2002 10:13PM

It all sounds very Greek to me. I wish I understood it so I could get better scans up.

Bob

pc · November 5, 2002 10:33PM

great example of a psa 8 o/c
turned gai 8 nq.

mcastaldi · November 5, 2002 10:54PM

gemint> I mean I'm not picky about the back, but I do expect a PSA8 NQ to be at least 90/10 on the back. The Rojas is closer to 98/2 - and that's being generous. How it missed a MC qualifier is beyond me. Because it's so far off, I couldn't add it to my set. PSA will be looking at that one at the Sun-Times show later this month.

Mike

curmudgeon · November 6, 2002 1:45AM

Great info!!!! Back to Acowa's observation, though. Those PSA6s do look damn good. The corners look way too sharp for 6s. IS there any type of scanner or software enhancement that could "sharpen" corners?
regards..............todd

mcastaldi · November 6, 2002 2:26AM

Not unless you're really good at Photoshop. You can enhance what's there, but 98% of the people out there can't "create sharp corners".

My guess is they're 6s because of a small surface wrinkle.

Mike

GATOR5 · November 6, 2002 2:45AM

Mike,

I hear ya, could also be a surface indent and so on...

Still a really great appealing card for the cash...

Matt

BOTN · November 6, 2002 6:38AM

George, Greenhornet on ebay, has been accused of many unethical things on other hobby message boards. I do not know him and have never purchased a card from him. Be that as it may, anyone with a basic knowledge of Photoshop can work miracles.

It is easy to tell if scans of cards have been altered. Not all 6's however that look like 8's are altered scans.

Finally, if it seems too good to be true...

GATOR5 · November 6, 2002 7:31AM

Not only do they doctor cards now people doctor scans. Way to
much time on their hands...I've never heard of such a thing...I guess
anythings possible.

Reminds me of time at a card show I was about 8 I had just purchased
a 75 mini brett for 20$ I was jumpin through the roof only to show it
to pops with the response you spent my 20$ bucks on that. Bottom right
corner had been colored and bad as I still have the card today the colors
don't even come close to matching...Hey man back then a card was a card.

Maybe I should alter my scan and try to get my 20 bucks back...Oh yeah
it wasn't my 20 to start with so I'll just keep it for the memory. It sits in the
safe first thing I see...

Matt

mrichards · November 6, 2002 1:50PM

A trick which a dishonest seller may use. You can sharpen a corner buy cutting and pasting a PSA 9 corner (tip) to a card with a somewhat straight and pointed corner and do a blend on one specific software program. I am not going to name the program because I do not want to give away my trade secrets (just kidding !!!). You can do it with a bunch of professional editing programs. I can make a 5 look like a 10. But if it is for a common or semi star, who would waste their time and risk it like Gator 5 said. Besides, if you look at a guy's feedback and there is a negative of someone accusing him or her of doctoring a scan, even if the user has low feedback, that is the kiss of death (at least for me). All though PSA does guarantee the grade (just in case the card is a real dog). I think most people who doctor scans are Mac owners (Just kidding Mike).
Have a great night everyone.

Mike

mcastaldi · November 6, 2002 2:10PM

Mike> " I think most people who doctor scans are Mac owners"

Just because we have more powerful and fluid image editing tools. . .
*laughs*

Mike

mrichards · November 6, 2002 2:23PM

I know you are jealous because your machine doesn't get the blue screen of death and freeze, Come on, you know you are jealous. Besides, who can take a baseball card collector serious who had a soft pink or lime green looking computer? Half of the times, I see the new Macs; I do not know if it is a computer of a piece of furniture. The snow-white model has a better paint finish than my card. Thanks Mike. Just remember, a Mac may be king, but only because Microsoft owns 18% of the shares of stock on Apple. It's very smart by Bill. Why get sued by the government for more anti trust garbage when you can keep the competition, which equates to about 10% of the total PC sales alive. I have nothing against the Mac. It has its place. I still love Windows (I am a glutton for punishment). XP by the way stands for Xtra Piece of SH_T.

Mike

How does this guy make all of his scans look so crisp?

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