We will let the EU have them...... maybe we should out source our coinage needs. Sorry Dwhiz but our mint is on a high speed elevator going down!
HP - looks blurry, flat, but bright. Epson- not blurry, shows luster, and seems more like what they look like in hand. I vote Epson.
I would of chose the " Steak " from a diner . But I don't like the " stake " their serving ... Lol .....
Hard to tell from those pictures. These are in a holder and so the scanning head is going to focus on the case on the coin. This means the coins are never going to be completely in focus. Also, images are easily edited afterwards so your editing software is probably as important as your scanner. As presented I don't have a preference, but I use an Epson myself and get better images than that, but not through holders. I am happy with it.
I'll bet there's configuration that can be done to fix the exposure and color of the Epson scan. Much better than the HP. Here's a scan off my Canon 9000F scanner. I bought this a few years ago to scan film, and it does a great job at it. Respectable scan (as scans go) of this set, too, at 150 DPI.
Never, never employ a scanner when you have a decent digital camera........and I know you do 'D'...........
I scan on my Epson at 3200 DPI. That way I can zoom in on details if I need it later. I then resize to 100 dots per mm for my final images. When presenting images for presentation here I reduce each image to 400 pixels square unless the coin is bigger than 30mm, in which case I reduce it down to 600 pixels. You can see the effect by looking at one of the many side-by-side images I have posted in many threads. Here is an example:
I sure do a have a decent digital camera, I just wanted to see the difference between the 2 scanners.
WHICH HP Scanner? BTW, I have an Epson V33 and I literally HATE it for scanning coins. Regardless of what you do, coin scans ALWAYS have those little points of light which totally screws up the image. The HP Scanner I have has produced some incredible images but it's 13 years old and isn't supported by any operating system past XP! It's a ScanJet 3970 and I love it! I'll have to fire it up and see how it images these EU Sets!
I would prefer to rephrase that as "never employ a scanner for a valuable coin". But when wanting image large numbers of relatively insignificant coins I think it is just fine and is much easier as multiple coins can be done on one pass.
If I were imaging a bunch of < $10 circulated silver coins in low circulated grades (G-F), I'd be tempted to do it this way, since it's quick, especially with a dedicated scanner. The light would be more even across all the coins that I would get using a camera for a large group, even if I used a soft box. One needs to be careful, however, not to do anything that would scratch or chip the glass.