Does anyone use an HP scanner for coin pics?

I had to buy a new printer recently. Previously I had a Kodak printer/scanner combo that I also used for all my coin pictures. I was happy with the scans it took for the most part. With this new HP, it's early but I so far I don't like the pictures. They all seem to have a blue tone to them and something is just weird about the color. The images also don't seem to be as clear. This is especially important because I sell coins on eBay and I need to have good pictures. I'm attaching photos to show the difference. the 2011 coin is with the Kodak, while the 2009 is the HP. It's the same type of metal.

 

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I see what you mean.

I use an HP scanner for paper money and it does a great job. I thought of using it for coins, though, but I was never happy with the outcome in the few times I tried it. Yours actually came out better than mine.

Someone once wrote here that you should tip your coins slightly when using a scanner. I don't know if it works, though.

 

Before I was forced to upgrade to Windows Vista (on a new laptop) and then Windows 7, I had an HP scanner which worked great. However, the new Operating Systems simply did not support nor recognize the device.

Since the upgrade (due to a motherboard failure) I've been using an Epson V33 which simply sucks for coins!

I still have the scanner hooked up to an old IBM ThinkPad that has Windows XP on it then the network card is shot in that laptop. As a result, any scanning I do has to be copied to a CD for loading on my fully functional (but useless for an HP Scanner) laptop!

 

Don't tip your coins, you will get shadows and bands of light and dark.

I use a OneTouch 7300 for all my coin (and stamp) images; it's at least 7 or 8 years old, and does well, but very SLOW. I bought a Canon LiDE 100, but it's so complicated to use, it's just sitting there until my repairman comes over with some practical advice.

ALL of my sales ads are illustrated with scans from the OneTouch. Take a look (and buy something).

edit//
My opinion is that ANYTHING H-P is JUNK. I had an H-P printer once, I was going to back the car over it to see if it would work better, it certainly could not have worked any worse...

 

Probably has to do with the lamp used in the scanner. Probably has a cooler (more blue light) bulb. Scanners, not being point sources are good for hiding contact marks, but they wash out luster and leave coins looking flat and dead. Tipping the coin slightly can help some but scanners have another problem. They are designed for imaging two dimensional objects not three dimensional ones. They are set to focus on or ever so slightly past the surface of the glass plate. The more expensive the scanner the sharper that focus tends to be, and the sharper the focus the smaller the depth of field that is in focus. So the further you get from the surface of the glass the more out of focus the image. For this reason cheaper scanners often do better than expensive ones. On cheaper ones the depth of field is greater and the coin remains in focus.

 

What if the output resolution is increased? Would that give better results?

 

Might help, but be careful, some scanners boast of resolution beyond what they can actually deliver optically and rely on digital manipulation of the data to "create" information that isn't really there higher resolution will give you larger files and potentially larger images. You can always reduce resolution, and throw data away to get smaller sizes, but if you start too small and increase the size you lose image quality.

 

I got the same results from my scanner. I changed all of the settings up to try for a better picture, but nothing ever seemed to improve the picture quality enough to justify using it. What it did do was force me to get better with my camera, although sadly, that is still hit and miss with me.

 

Here's a free solution. Download Paint.NET here. It's a free, open-source image editing software.

http://www.getpaint.net/

Open your image with Paint.NET. In the Adjustments drop-down menu, select Curves. In the Curves dialogue box, select RGB in the Transfer Map drop-down menu. Now deselect Red and Green, and pull the Blue curve down until you get the desired color by drag-clicking the diagonal line in the center of the map.

 

Hmmm, not too encouraging. I still have the Kodak because it was the printing part that stopped working, but I don't really want to have two printers in the office because they take up a lot of room. And the whole point of buying a combination printer/scanner is so you can use both functions. These pictures are both at 600 dpi, which is what I've always used. I haven't tried the other settings but will before I give up on it. I can try the image editing software, but sometimes I am scanning 100 coins, and that adds a lot of extra work. For the same reason I don't think I can use a camera. I have two cameras and neither is really appropriate for coins, since I bought them with the intention of taking far away photos, not closeups.

 

I use a Epson V330

 

For the color balance issue, you might check in your scanner software to see if it allows that adjustment. My software (VueScan) does have such an option, and you can set it once for all subsequent scans.

No help on the focus issue though, I didn't realize people were scanning coins successfully at all.

 

Why do you keep broken printers/scanners or 7/8year old devices? I guess you spend all your money on coins

 

My scanner is not broken, but it is old. I keep it around because it scans paper money. Try doing that with a new scanner.

 

Yes. This is what I have and those phoney luster lines is what makes the unit worthless.

 

I kept mine because I like it. It's currently hooked up to a Windows XP OS IBM ThinkPad T40 with a burned out network card.

 

I use a point and shoot (same model as JA actually) and the photo editor GIMP. It's free, and comes with a sharp learning curve.



Boom...

 

Shoot guys. Dump the printer for a cheap point and shoot camera with macro capabilities.

 

the luster lines are more of the way the coin was struck

 

I use hp scanner but as you can see http://www.cointalk.com/threads/goodies-from-baltimore.244833/ the pictures are terrible