Scanner Recommendations

[medalklector]

Hello Everyone,

I notice that most people talk about "scans" rather than a digital picture. Is there a reason for using scans instead of what I would expect is better quality digital photo. Is it to do with the forum pic limit or just that everyone has scanners instead of digital cameras :-)

Just interested...

[Alex.S]

hi

in my opinion you getter better quality image with scanner

alex

[Nack]

I can get ridiculously detailed images with my camera, but they are way too big to post on the forum. On the other hand, I don’t have a scanner so I just shoot pics and then shrink them using paint. Seems to work.

W/r/t everyone's preference for scanners, maybe it's because a scanner gets better colors since it is self-lit, whereas with a camera you have to worry about lighting? I don't know.

[Dolf]

Medalklector,

Just like Alex I also think that (at least for the purpose of posting pics here) scanners produce better results than digital cameras.
I have a Canon Power Shot A80 that makes great pictures, but in order to get a good, clear, detailed pic of a Medal, my old UMAX Astra 1220P scanner works much better!
I guess the reason could be the quality of the pics for small size items as our beloved Medals, Badges, etc.
I'm no expert but I suppose that in order to obtain a digital camera pic of similar quality of a scan, one would have to have probably the best macro digital camera, which is not the case with average cameras.
You just have to compare most pics shown on the Forum, those taken with a digital camera and those made with a scanner to realise the difference! And I guess it has nothing to do with the 50Kb limit, as anyway either for a digital picture or a scan it's almost always necessary to do some resizing work before posting the pics.

Just my two cents...

Hope it helps,

Dolf

[Christophe]

I also think you get more precise and detailed pics with a scanner. Moreover, if you use a professional one, with 3600x3600 resolution (or more), you can get real detailed pics on specific and small zones, far better than what you will get with a digital camera (even a 5 million pixels). This is very useful for details of medals. Last point, already stressed, the lighting is more regular.

Ch.

[Christophe]

Originally Posted by Christophe

I also think you get more precise and detailed pics with a scanner. Moreover, if you use a professional one, with 3600x3600 resolution (or more), you can get real detailed pics on specific and small zones, far better than what you will get with a digital camera (even a 5 million pixels). This is very useful for details of medals. Last point, already stressed, the lighting is more regular.

Ch.

Here is an example of what you can get with a good scan... and, I believe, difficult to get with a digital camera.

Ch.

[Simon]

What is a good way to scan a reverse of a screwback order? If the order is simply place on the scanner, will the image be distorted due to the angle between the order and the scanner surface?

Thanks.

Simon

[redmedals]

I have a Canon MP360 that if called upon can make scans at 1200dpi which will rival my Olympus 4 megapixel camera in TIFF. This would yield a terrific medal at about 16 x 20 enlargement size. But I can't post anything high grade on the site with a 50 KB limit, so I scan at 75dpi and even then have to reduce the size in my PhotoshopCS.
I use the scanner for all my medals because the results are great and it is much easier to do this way.
Ron

[Dave]

I was wondering: Does anyone have a scanner that they recommend that is adept at scanning the reverse of Soviet screwback awards?

I used to own a Canon CanoScan that did a beautiful job of scanning, but the platen was broken during a move. A similar fate (the platen clouded) befell my replacement Canon. I then moved on to an HP which did a horrific job of scanning screwback awards, so I replaced that with an Epson Perfection 4180 Photo. Unfortunately, this latter scanner also does a pretty terrible job of scanning screwback awards. Not being made of money, I can't waste too much more money buying random scanners and trying them out.

For all of you with scanners, who out there has one that is usable for scanning the reverses of screwback awards, without blurring out anything but the end of the screw?

Thanks in advance for your recommendations...

Dave

[EricFG]

I've got an Epson Stylus CX3200 that I've had for a couple years and it does everything quite well (or at least it used to, it's getting old and tired now).
I've attached 2 scans I just did as a test with an ORS.
The first scan is untouched, the second is brightened in Photoshop. I think I can also brighten it using the scanner's software but haven't tried that in a while (since Photoshop does it all at one time).
BTW, I use a yellow Tshirt as a background for two reasons. First, it seems to add contrast and second I can get the screwback to stand up straight instead of leaning to one side.