Scanning my MTG cards

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ende73
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Scanning my MTG cards

Post by ende73 » Sat Feb 09, 2013 9:02 pm

Hi everybody,

I'm planning to sell a significant part of my collection, but what's slowing me down is my ultra-slow scanner, which makes every single listing a real pain.

Do any of you have some good advice on an MTG-card-efficient scanner that might make the whole process a lot quicker? I'd even be willing to spend the right amount of money if the device is really fast.

Thanks
ende73

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Ertai's Familiar
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Post by Ertai's Familiar » Sat Feb 09, 2013 9:39 pm

From my limited knowledge there's no huge difference between a high price point and low price point scanner for the application of scanning cards. The biggest advantage when using an expensive scanner to scan cards compared to using a cheap one is the light source, most LED scanners (typically the cheap ones) tend to handle the scanning of foils poorly i.e. you will see a purplish ribbon banding as the light is reflected off of the foils as they are scanned.

As far as time constraints I believe this is mostly due to the resolution you are scanning at and the quality of the software associated with the scanner. IIRC there are a few third party scanning drivers that offer superior options/quality compared to the proprietary drivers.

FWIW I bought an 80 dollar Epson Perfection V30 and it has served my card scanning needs well. I usually scan at 720 and it processes those scans in a timely manner. It doesn't scan foils the best due to the aforementioned issue but I've never had a buyer complain about the quality of the foil scans (its also worth noting that settings can be tweaked to improve foil scan quality).

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Alifromcairo
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Post by Alifromcairo » Sun Feb 10, 2013 12:51 pm

I scan all my cards with an Epson SX600FW (printer + scanner). I'm totally satisfied with it, although it has nearly 5 yo now. Scanning at 300dpi is fast and images are beautiful with high details. Perfect for grading cards. You should be able to find one second hand for a cheap price on the web.
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Post by mystical_tutor » Sat Feb 16, 2013 6:31 pm

I too am using an "all-in-one" type scanner and have checked with serveral computer users when disgruntled over the speed of scanning.

The DPI is the only thing that seems to make a significant difference. I used to do it all at 600 and now have dropped to 300 to make life easier.

If you are proficient with Photoshop or something like it, you might find shooting a whole page at one time and then cutting them up is quicker than shooting one at a time. This works in my case because my Lexmark scanner software is so old that the instructions are written in hieroglyphics and takes forever to save pictures etc.

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ende73
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Post by ende73 » Mon Feb 18, 2013 3:22 pm

Thanks for the useful input, everybody, I'll look into the things you advised.

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Magic61983
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Post by Magic61983 » Mon Feb 18, 2013 5:10 pm

I have a Canon PIXMA MG5320 I think. It's a good printer/scanner and does nice scans for cards. I usually do 9 per scan and it doesn't have issues although my scanner hates graded cards they always seem to come out blurry.
BGS 9+ Alpha set 282/295 (97.29%) Avg 9.41
BGS 9.5+ Beta set 283/302 (93.71%) Avg 9.58
BGS 9.5+ Arabian set 35/92 (38.04%) Avg 9.62
BGS 9.5+ Antiquities set 82/100 (82%) Avg 9.64
BGS 9.5+ Legends set 279/310 (90.00%) Avg 9.61

Hayden
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Post by Hayden » Tue Feb 19, 2013 2:10 pm

Magic61983 wrote:I have a Canon PIXMA MG5320 I think. It's a good printer/scanner and does nice scans for cards. I usually do 9 per scan and it doesn't have issues although my scanner hates graded cards they always seem to come out blurry.
Brian, you must have a CIS (Contact Image Sensor) scanner - the typical kind. This is fine for scanning flat items but thicker things like encapsulated cards with depth of field need a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) scanner that keeps focus for several mm beyond glass surface.

I used to have an A-I-O scanner (almost all are CIS) but needed to get a CCD to scan my graded cards and comics. I found a used HP Scanjet 8250 and love it.

See here for more info:

http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/art ... -type.html

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Post by l0qii » Fri Feb 22, 2013 11:49 pm

Hayden, thanks for the good technical opinion and using magic words like CIS vs CCD, so we know what to look for.

I have an Epson Artisan 730. It's an All-in-On with CIS scanner. I got it for 4 reasons:
1. I like Epson's TWAIN software better than HP or Canon. This is a personal preference.
2. I needed a printer more than a scanner
3. It scans flat things, like single cards very well!
4. I don't have room on my desk for both a scanner and a printer separately

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