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Author Topic: Scanners, please tell us about your scanner  (Read 34842 times)

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Offline Yoc

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Re: Scanners, please tell us about your scanner
« Reply #30 on: February 19, 2011, 08:32:20 PM »
Thanks Snard, I wasn't aware of a newer version of Irfan or the plugin
:)

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Re: Scanners, please tell us about your scanner
« Reply #30 on: February 19, 2011, 08:32:20 PM »

Offline rangerhouse

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Re: Scanners, please tell us about your scanner
« Reply #31 on: February 21, 2011, 03:20:45 PM »
I'm using a HP Scanjet 8300 Professional and I use Corel Photo Paint x4 to edit the images.
The scanner is very fast at 300 - 600 dpi but is very large.   Works with Windows 7.   
Somtimes I have issues with darkness on page curl (when I cannot get issue totaly flat)
Corel can correct some of it but it those entire image off when doing color / light corrections.

I was wondering (I may have missed) how you long time scanners deal with page curl.  That 1/2in that is much darker than the rest of the page (when you just cannot lay it flat without damage).   

I tend to go overboard if its a pretty rare issue and find myself working on one page for a day.   The cause is that 1/2 in where it changes the color / darkness so much from the rest of the page.??

Thanks RH

Offline Geo (RIP)

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Re: Scanners, please tell us about your scanner
« Reply #32 on: February 21, 2011, 03:42:20 PM »
RH I use a flat piece of white cardboard with a heavy book to hold it flat (I sometimes only have one page is why the white cardboard piece is used as a background). Also I sometimes hold my hand on it if it's not all the way flat too.
Just don't use to heavy a book or press to hard down is all.
See if that helps you out on this problem.

http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/5247/scanss.jpg


Geo
« Last Edit: February 21, 2011, 06:27:15 PM by Geo »
Filling holes, by ONE book at a time

Offline JVJ (RIP)

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Re: Scanners, please tell us about your scanner
« Reply #33 on: February 21, 2011, 11:33:48 PM »
I'm not certain just how it would work on your scanner, RH,
but I use the scanner lid as a "weight", but insert a pencil between the lid and the bed so the pressure is minimized to only ¼" or less. I have an 11"x17" scanner with the hinge along the back (long edge). When laying the comic open (picture Geo's scanner with a half-sized comic rotated 90 degrees), the lid would come down from the left of picture and the pencil would be inserted right at the spine of the comic. Sometimes I have to use two pencils, one on each side, but usually the one keeps just a soft pressure on the spine and doesn't do any harm. Or, you can use something thicker than a pencil as the situation requires.

Some books, of course, are even too fragile for that, and, like Geo, I either lay a piece of white paper over them and hold them manually or I don't scan them. The ½" of discoloration CAN be fixed in Photoshop using a levels adjustment layer with a clipped-to-layer gradient mask. That's just one way. I often mirror the page border from the clean side and meld it with the darkened side and use gradient mask to blend them. I've never used Corel Photo Paint, so I have no suggestions for that product.

And I simply have no clue as to why people get fixated on the color of the paper. When you think of how many years comic fans DREAMED of getting their comics printed on good white paper instead of pulp... And now everybody is longing for the "good old days" of yellowed backgrounds. Sigh. Comics are almost dead because of the cost. Getting them onto bright white paper has put their price range so high that they've become a luxury item. How come I don't hear anyone complaining about the paper on modern comics? Guys? Why is it okay for new stuff and yet not for scans and reprints of the old stuff? Sorry, but they are SUPPOSED to bright, garishly colored pictures - just read all of the parental and sociological complaints from the '40s and '50s.

I know, I'm just a an old fart and I'm never going to understand this.

Peace, Jim (|:{>
Peace, Jim (|:{>

JVJ Publishing and VW inc.

Offline narfstar

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Re: Scanners, please tell us about your scanner
« Reply #34 on: February 22, 2011, 05:46:59 AM »
Jim compare that to people buying antique furniture. They want PATINA. Which means if it is old it should look old. The value of some pieces of furniture go down tens of thousands of dollars even though they look a thousand times better. Now that does not quite apply to scans but in a way it does. The scans are the closest thing we get to the real thing.

Offline builderboy

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Re: Scanners, please tell us about your scanner
« Reply #35 on: February 22, 2011, 09:38:02 AM »
The interesting thing is that, arguably, the most valued part of the books has always been the cover...most times illustrated by a more highly-valued artist than was used for the interior pages...AND it has always been printed on quality stock.  So it is still shocking for me to look first at a cover image that has held up well in terms of brightness, and then open the book to see the dull, darkened images inside.  I guess I don't see why anyone would want that.

I think that doing the color correction on the interior pages brings those images back closer to what the newsprint originally looked like before the pulp yellowed, turning blues to greens and so-forth.  Sure, color-correction can be over-done. I've tried to avoid that myself, but I may be guilty on occasion (probably so, in the eyes of some reading this).
« Last Edit: February 24, 2011, 06:32:45 AM by builderboy »

Offline josemas

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Re: Scanners, please tell us about your scanner
« Reply #36 on: February 22, 2011, 09:59:04 AM »
One thing I do love about the old comics printed on pulp is getting my sniffer inside them.  Love that smell!  Had my nose inside a vintage Battle Action yesterday enjoying both the merits of Syd Shores' artistic stylings and the aroma of 1950s newsprint.

Best

Joe

Offline John C

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Re: Scanners, please tell us about your scanner
« Reply #37 on: February 22, 2011, 03:46:28 PM »
How come I don't hear anyone complaining about the paper on modern comics?

Wait.  I've never ranted about that?  I must be mellowing in my old age.

I actually would prefer newsprint, but I also think there's a strong inverse correlation in the industry between the quality of the paper and the quality of the work, for a variety of reasons.

I'm also an office supply nerd and come from a long lineage of them.  With only mild exaggeration, I treasure (and use) the three rolls of yellowed teletype paper I rescued from the dumpster (I had just missed the teletype itself!) and was probably on the verge of being a novice collector, when Staples and their ilk first started popping up...

Offline rangerhouse

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Re: Scanners, please tell us about your scanner
« Reply #38 on: February 22, 2011, 05:10:10 PM »
I will say as I just found out that its a HELL of allot easier scanning a issue when issue has great paper (off white) Nickel Comics 2 took me about 2 hours to scan and edit...   all do to great paper.   I will say when trying to make all uniform you need a base color...   and in a comic book it will be WHITE..


Thanks for all the tips I applied them in Nickel Comics 2,  now the Catman issue I'm posting soon..  that's another story

Thanks I hope some day we have every public domain comic available.

Offline JVJ (RIP)

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Re: Scanners, please tell us about your scanner
« Reply #39 on: February 22, 2011, 05:45:37 PM »
Jim compare that to people buying antique furniture. They want PATINA. Which means if it is old it should look old. The value of some pieces of furniture go down tens of thousands of dollars even though they look a thousand times better.

You'll have to show me a real world example of this, narf. Condition is ALWAYS the key to the highest prices. Can you point me to two similar (preferably identical) sales that reflect this valuation of PATINA?

Peace, Jim (|:{>
Peace, Jim (|:{>

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Offline narfstar

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Re: Scanners, please tell us about your scanner
« Reply #40 on: February 22, 2011, 05:53:14 PM »
Antiques Road Show has something along those line every show. Also there is furniture sold now with faux wormholes and other signs of wear. Have you ever been to a place that sells weather vanes? They age them all green and ugly even though they are brand new.

Offline JVJ (RIP)

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Re: Scanners, please tell us about your scanner
« Reply #41 on: February 22, 2011, 05:59:19 PM »
How come I don't hear anyone complaining about the paper on modern comics?

Wait.  I've never ranted about that?  I must be mellowing in my old age.

I actually would prefer newsprint, but I also think there's a strong inverse correlation in the industry between the quality of the paper and the quality of the work, for a variety of reasons.


I totally agree with your "inverse correlation" observation, and I have nothing against newsprint, John, despite my comments above. It serves a variety of purposes - one of which was to make comic books a viable medium because of the cost. Nowadays, the cost is so high that the break-even point is so low that ANYTHING gets printed.

Without newsprint, there would have been no Spirit, no Superman, no Fiction House, no Marvel Comics, no EC, no Jack Kirby, etc... forever. It was the combination of cheap paper and cheap printing that got the medium going and kept it going for so long. So I am a big fan of newsprint, but I have NEVER thought that it ADDED to the enjoyment of the comic book stories.

It was a necessary evil, not an aspect to be savored and treasured in any way that I can imagine (although the smell is certainly nostalgic - but you can't smell the scans...). I know I'm in a small minority here, but I remain obstinate in my objections. It's a small privilege, but it's mine (to paraphrase Ann Elk).

Peace, Jim (|:{>
Peace, Jim (|:{>

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Offline JVJ (RIP)

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Re: Scanners, please tell us about your scanner
« Reply #42 on: February 22, 2011, 06:07:48 PM »
Antiques Road Show has something along those line every show. Also there is furniture sold now with faux wormholes and other signs of wear. Have you ever been to a place that sells weather vanes? They age them all green and ugly even though they are brand new.
I don't own a TV nor have I ever seen Antiques Road Show, narf, and the other references are to marketing techniques, not value. I can understand to some degree someone desirous of a "look" to complement their home design, or decoration scheme, but neither the furniture nor the weathervane doctoring examples has much effect on their functionality. And since they're new products, everyone knows that it's all pretend aging.

I still am interested in an example of a true antique being worth more money because it is discolored more than a comparable counterpart.

In comic books, the reality is that the whiter the pages the higher the price, so artificially maintaining a yellowed look to the scanned pages is the exact opposite of what you're trying to convince me.

Peace, Jim (|:{>
Peace, Jim (|:{>

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Offline JVJ (RIP)

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Re: Scanners, please tell us about your scanner
« Reply #43 on: February 22, 2011, 06:09:37 PM »
I will say as I just found out that its a HELL of allot easier scanning a issue when issue has great paper (off white) Nickel Comics 2 took me about 2 hours to scan and edit...   all do to great paper.   I will say when trying to make all uniform you need a base color...   and in a comic book it will be WHITE..


Thanks for all the tips I applied them in Nickel Comics 2,  now the Catman issue I'm posting soon..  that's another story

Thanks I hope some day we have every public domain comic available.


And were you at all tempted to make those pages yellower, RH? I mean, just for the nostalgia value? I'll bet not...

Peace, Jim (|:{>
Peace, Jim (|:{>

JVJ Publishing and VW inc.

Offline narfstar

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Re: Scanners, please tell us about your scanner
« Reply #44 on: February 22, 2011, 08:45:18 PM »
You are right Jim. An antique dresser that is pristine would be worth more than one looking old. But with some very valuable antiques restoration reduces the value tremendously. A hundred thousand dollar old looking dresser could be only worth 10K if refinished to look like new. I assume however if it looked like new with no restoration it would really be worth a lot. No one wants to yellow already white pages. Some just would rather not restore yellowed pages to white.