View Full Version : Scanning original photos
kevin
10-20-2006, 09:41 PM
I am about to purchase a scanner/copier, to post some original vintage photos. Could a member point me in the right direction, with regards what to look for--remembering of course it must be idiot proof. :D
Thanks in advance.
GoinBlind
10-21-2006, 03:56 AM
Great question Kevin. Am looking into getting a scanner myself. I have a Dell AIO (All-In-One) printer 922. As far as printing and copying it does a good job, but the scanner leaves much to be desired. Would like to hear some opinions myself.
Tony T
10-21-2006, 08:21 AM
I use an HP all-in-one (HP PSC1510) which is very good and can scan/print to photographic quality. However, I believe it has now been replaced with a later model.
I have used HP all-in-ones for a number of years and have been pleased with all of them. Canon are also good particularly for stand alone scanners as are Epson.
TT
Rabbit1
10-22-2006, 05:27 AM
I too have a HP all in one and have had great results with the scanner and copier quality ----
The only thing I would check about the scanner is if it is able to scan at 600 dpi without interpolating, but I think most new scanners can do this today.
It is more important to check the software that comes with the scanner. Can it flip or rotate the image during the scan process? Can you adjust the gamma (lighten the picture) during the scanning? Things like that.
And the most important thing is to have a good quality image editing program, as most of the work with the image has to be done after the scanning. I myself use Photoshop but that would probably be to expensive. An alternative could be the freeware programe The Gimp (first developed for Linux - and called the Photoshop for linux, but is available for Windows too).
And if you can find some good easy literature about scanning and editing, then you should be on your way.
Unfortunately there are no idiot proof scanners - but we have an old saying here in DK. You have to learn to crawl before you can learn to walk. So in the beginning you will make mistakes until you are confident with the hard- and software.
Good luck.
kevin
10-29-2006, 10:18 PM
Thanks JNG,all sound advice, and coming from the pro's is much appreciated.
I've been waiting for HP to send me one for the free plug--but i had to go and buy one in the end : ) The free photoshops i am familiar with,especially irfanview, which i use to resize etc. Thanks.
jugzluva
01-25-2007, 01:33 PM
1. When scanning from a magazine, ALWAYS place a black book or similar on top of the page you are scanning. If your scanner is white-coated plastic and you just close the lid, I guarantee you will get a ghost image of the reverse side of the page you are scanning, unless you put a dark, non-reflective heavy object over the picture. This is a simple trick that produces fantastic results and should be in every scanner manual. Some manufacturers have caught up, and the lids of their scanners are black inside.
2. Scan at a high resolution and shrink the image down to something more manageable with software - you will get a better, clearer, sharper end result.
3. If you get moire patterns on the scanned image, try rotating the source page slightly and re-scanning. Changing scanner res will also help.
4. Play around with automated and manual settings in the scanner driver software until you get one that suits you in terms of speed and quality.
kevin
01-29-2007, 11:24 PM
1. When scanning from a magazine, ALWAYS place a black book or similar on top of the page you are scanning. If your scanner is white-coated plastic and you just close the lid, I guarantee you will get a ghost image of the reverse side of the page you are scanning, unless you put a dark, non-reflective heavy object over the picture. This is a simple trick that produces fantastic results and should be in every scanner manual. Some manufacturers have caught up, and the lids of their scanners are black inside.
2. Scan at a high resolution and shrink the image down to something more manageable with software - you will get a better, clearer, sharper end result.
3. If you get moire patterns on the scanned image, try rotating the source page slightly and re-scanning. Changing scanner res will also help.
4. Play around with automated and manual settings in the scanner driver software until you get one that suits you in terms of speed and quality.
Thanks jugzluva for your good advice, ghost imaging i think, would be a problem more with the thinner pages of the later mags and not so much the early 60's.
Moire pattern on the other hand can be a real pain, literally!
I have tried shifting the source slightly -- with reasonable results.
2. Scan at a high resolution and shrink the image down to something more manageable with software - you will get a better, clearer, sharper end result.
Actually that's not good, if you ask me. Downsizing images takes away sharpness.
Actually that's not good, if you ask me. Downsizing images takes away sharpness.
Not at all. If you scan a small picture in high resolution it will be blury in the edges, and downscaling the image will not help, but if you scan a - let's say - A4 picture and downscale it to 4" it will be very sharp.
But do not scan at a higher resolution than 600 dpi unless you are scanning dias or negatives. Higher resolution will only produce bigger files.
And you do not have to use a black book - a piece of black paper or similar can do the same trick.
All I can say is: if you make an image small enough you'll see how blurry it gets and you'll need to adjust the sharpnesss to get it to look decent (I've notoced this when resizing images for avatars on forums). Also: if you take a basic 2D image like a screencapture and you make it even just a little smaller you'll notice an immediate blurriness.
Do you downscale the picture during the scanning process? Because that have given me problems in the past, but today I scan a picture at 600 dpi and at the original size. Afterwards I process the picture in my photo editing software doing the minor corrections needed and then change the resolution (normally 300 dpi for printing - 100 dpi for this site) and then downscale the picture to the size needed. And I have had no problems at all.
Actually you can check my folder (JNG's scanned images) and judge for yourself.
Anytime you make an image smaller digitally, you lose sharpness; it's just a question of whether or not the loss is significant enough to where you'll notice. It depends on how much your reducing the image.
Dear q751.
Obviously we cannot agree upon this matter, so I will end this discution. :wink:
Here's an article on the issue of resizing and how to properly do it:
http://www.photoshopsupport.com/tutorials/jennifer/bicubic.html