Method of scanning coins in a graded holder?

Discussion in 'US Coins Forum' started by airedale, Mar 23, 2006.

  1. airedale

    airedale New Member

    I am having great difficulty in scanning coins in a grading company holder although I have had good fortune for years with my militaria. The coins seem to suffer a depth of field issue as the scanner seems to concentrate on the plastic outer layer and not the coin 1/16 of an inch or so farther removed. I even purchased the latest edition of Adobe Photoshop CS2 and a more expensive scanner but get the same out of focus results. Is anyone willing to offer the solution or should I be asking this question on another forum.
    Thanks for any input.
     
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  3. zaneman

    zaneman Former Moderator

    I've never ever been able to scan coins successfully. I think if it can be done, someone here knows how to do it.
     
  4. satootoko

    satootoko Retired

    I think you have answered your own question. I've scanned a coin in a TPG slab, one in a cointainer, one in a 2x2 and one bare all at the same time. The bare one and the one in a 2x2 were in focus, the cointainer was slightly out of focus and the slabbed coin was a blur.:(
     
  5. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    Hmmmm, I've heard that before. I never really understood it though. I've scanned many coins and never had a problem with focus or depth of field. Now capturing luster or color - yeah, that I've had a problem with. But eventually I even figured out a way around that.

    Take this coin for example, I scanned it - didn't even go to any extra trouble. I just threw it on the scanner and clicked the button. No, the coin is not in a slab. But it is in an Air-Tite holder, which is much the same as a slab. See what ya think.

    [​IMG]
     
  6. airedale

    airedale New Member

    A fellow I know who does scan well attributes it to having a Hewlett Packard ( HP )scanner. Is that what you have?
     
  7. medalcon

    medalcon New Member

    Most scanners default to 100dpi when they scan you can try get a better scan by uping the dpi to max 1200dpi but the higher the dpi the slower the scan will take the most important part is to make sure if you are scanning on the flatbed and putting the cover over that there is no light getting in as that will ruin the scan try put a dark piece of cloth over the coin in whatever container and then scan. I havent tried but a few tips that may help.
     
  8. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator


    Yes, it is an HP. I will also go along with the idea of scan large and the reduce the image size. If you scan small and then enlarge - you will lose detail and focus.
     
  9. airedale

    airedale New Member

    It might just be an HP thing. Anyone else have good fortune without an HP scanner?
     
  10. nesvt

    nesvt Coin Hoarder

    I don't have any problem with slabbed coins. Have only tried the older ANACS style and PCGS slabs. I'm using a Microtek scanner. I scan large and reduce. For a full-coin view, I usually use 2400 DPI and reduce the image. For the whole slab, I usually drop it to 1200 or 600 DPI.
     
  11. Bedford

    Bedford Lackey For Coin Junkies

    I have the same problem with NGC & PCGS slabbed coins . I just can get them to focus. I have a lexmark scanner & I usually scan on 600 dpi & still have the same outcome. This is a really good question. I hope someone has some more advice to add. There has got to be another way.
     
  12. SuperDave

    SuperDave Free the Cartwheels!

    These are straight off my Epson 1670, just thrown in and scanned at 1200dpi - the bottom one is the actual scanned resolution:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  13. samjimmy

    samjimmy New Member

    The bottom one shows that it's not in focus, however when reduced it's close enough that it looks pretty good IMHO. Scanners aren't meant to scan things off the glass (and I've never thought about it, but I'd guess there is little to no depth of field involved, at least not how you'd think of it in lens photography terms).
     
  14. airedale

    airedale New Member

    Here is why some of us have a problem scanning and others do not.

    " A scanner that uses a Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) sensor is preferable to one that uses a Contact Image Sensor (CIS). CCD scanners are better able to capture objects that are not directly on the scanner surface, such as coins in slabs.

    Here is a link that tells the whole story.

    http://www.telesphere.com/scanning.html#PHOTO

    I went to 3 computer stores today, two told me they carry no scanners and Office Max only had some floor model CIS units.
     
  15. The_Cave_Troll

    The_Cave_Troll The Coin Troll

    I think I want it!
     
  16. Kwilk6

    Kwilk6 New Member

    Try an Epson Perfetion V600 Photo scanner. Works flawlessly for graded coin slabs
     
  17. Conder101

    Conder101 Numismatist

    8 year old thread.


    But maybe worth revisiting. I have found that cheap low end scaners do a better job than the high end ones. Possible because the scanners are intended to scan 2 dimensional object that are right on the glass and the high end models are more tightly focused on that plane. That gives them a depth of fied problem with coins that are above the surface of the plane. The low end scanners have a sloppier focus which puts the coin within the depth of field the scanner is focusing on. Just a theory but it seems to explain the results.
     
  18. Tom B

    Tom B TomB Everywhere Else

    Actually, a nine-year old thread.;)
     
  19. paddyman98

    paddyman98 I'm a professional expert in specializing! Supporter

    Also..Scanners might scan better now than 9 years ago! :rolleyes:
    I like that NGC shows a picture of almost all of the coins I submit or purchase.. about 95% of the time they have the picture. I just enlarge the picture, use my Windows Snipping Tool then save the image as the NGC Slab #
     
  20. 19Lyds

    19Lyds Member of the United States of Confusion

    Ugh!

    I have two scanners. A pre-Windows Vista HP Scanner and a Epson Perfection V33 scanner.

    The ONLY reason I have the Epson is because the HP scanner was not supported by Windows Vista and later operating systems. The drivers simply would NOT load.

    However, since it wasn't broken and I still loved what it could do, I loaded a copy of Windows XP onto an older laptop and continue to use the scanner on the system

    When shopping for scanners, I was told to get one that had 3-D capability because if it did not have that ability, then it would focus only on the "bet" of the scanner. Not "beyond the bed" which is where graded coins reside. Perhaps 3/16" above the bed of the scanner?

    At any rate, the Epson worked well except that I did not care for what it did to the coins and the software it uses is not intuitive to my abilities.

    HPSCAN - (No scanner adjustments other than 1200 DPI)

    IKE 1971-S DDO-004 DDR-021 12270566 PCGS MS67 Coin Obv.jpg

    Epson V33 Scan (IMG adjusted to lighten)

    img036c.jpg

    The 1st thing which struck me with the V33, were the reflective artifacts of the scanning bar. It creates what appears to be an artificial cartwheel effect on virtually every coin that gets scanned. I have no idea how to eliminate these artifacts.

    The very 1st time, I saw a coin scanned on a V33 and presented for sale on eBay, I registered a complaint for artificial luster. Only later did I find that its a by product of the "Perfection" scanner.

    The HP scan, on the other hand, does not have this and I expect it is directly related to the scanning bar.

    The HP has a solid bar which lights up during the scan while the V33 has a series of individual lights which run across the bar.

    The HP is slowing losing its capabilities as scans have been coming out with what appears to be vertical lines but all in all, it still does a better job than the Epson for obvious reasons.

    I hesitate to invest money into a larger Epson scanner such as a V500, V600, V550, or V800 simply because, for me, they are difficult to work with and, even though they do have 3D capability, they add artificial artifacts to the scans.

    Now, if anybody out there has any pointers or can present unretouched scans for some other scanner, I'd appreciate it.
     
  21. Duncan Doenitz

    Duncan Doenitz New Member

    One simple scanning tip that some users miss when doing coins - there tends to be an obvious direction of the light source, which on a couple of my scanners requires that the coin needs to be scanned "upside down", meaning that the top of the coin would be spun 180 degrees from the direction a paper document would be placed.

    We expect to see peoples' faces lit from above, not below, or they don't look right. The HP-scanned 1971 Ike has that scary Halloween face a person gets by holding a flashlight under the chin, so by rotating the coin in the HP scanner it will yield an upside-down image but when the digital image is rotated 180 degrees the direction of the light source will look much more natural.

    -Dunc
     
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