Postage Stamp Chat Board & Stamp Bulletin Board Forum
 

Actually i will just scan the whole collection and pop the scanner on ebay, win win.

Martin .. hook it up to the free google Picasa and you'll never look back.

Glen, thanks again, ill check it out.

At the moment a thingamygig on the scanner is not getting on well with a whatycallit on the hard drive so im buying a dooda to upgrade it, hopefully then i wont look back.

Martin

Test


Well, I've proved that the Canon LIDE 100 series isn't completely idiot-proof. I managed to scan this item (which I only chose because it was handy) upside-down. Went into Picassa to rotate and crop, but never figured out to to get from Picassa to this board.

Found I could do the rotate and crop in Photobucket (so what's the advantage of Picassa?) and after several aborted attempts at least got this to show up...so I suppose that's a "limited" success. (It helps if you don't click on the Add Photo button above before pasting the IMG code )

Will try to experiment more before posting any more scans.

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Larry in Tucson
APS#122570

Well done Larry.

For my 2 cents worth ... I purchased a second hand Canon Lide 70 a year or 2 back after Glens recommendations for them and after seeing his scans. Cost me NZ$46 off TradeMe (about US$23 in todays money!!). Works very well and I have no complaints at all with it. I recommend them now too.

Dave

PS ... It runs beautifully with Vista or XP (with the latest drivers!)

Can't a digital camera do this job as well?

Yes I tried myself with a Cybershot T series DC but the results were usually very poor... I just thought it's the problem of my skill or the DC is not good enough.

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Please visit my blog at Stampsland

You ARE kidding right?

Alright, so after the first mistake of my first topic at http://stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=15869, I've come to realize how important it is for me to get advice on how to take a photograph/scan of a stamp properly so the colour shows up properly.

What methods have others here found suitable? Scanning the stamp against a black background? Photographing the stamp against a black background?

Anyway, my mistake was that I photographed the stamp against a red stock book. I then rescanned it against a black holder so it showed the colour more accurately. Just want more advice and guidance

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Lover of all things KGVI.

Buy a Canon lide90 scanner for 50 quid as most here seem to use, and scan on a hagner, and you get this result I did 2 mins ago, to list for sale -

Sounds like a good idea. I kind of knew the onboard scanner in my Dell 810 wasn't the best. However, it was free as it was my reward for helping my dad order a laptop from Dell...sitting with him on the phone isn't the funnest thing

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Lover of all things KGVI.

I don't see why you shouldn't be able to use your Dell scanner if that's what you have.

Scan the stamp on a hagner as Glen said and then you need to crop it. Save to your computer then do all the Photobucket stuff....easy peasy

Here's a practice thread where you might like to test your new skills
http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=284

I always scan on black. If I'm scanning a range of stamps, I use a button in Picasa called "I'm feeling lucky" or some-such, which applies a minor colour and contrast adjustment.

I never do this on a single stamp unless the postmark is more important than the stamp, in which case, any trick is used to emphasise the postmark

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Always looking for KGV British Commonwealth, mint, used, covers, anything

Thanks both...the more advice to make use of my student budget resources the better!!

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Lover of all things KGVI.

Come on luvthecmonwealth, lets see what that scanner can do. I want to see something in that practice area in 30 minutes

Now now, keep in mind it's late here...and I have five more Shakespeare plays to read before Saturday's final...will later today due?

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Lover of all things KGVI.

OK

Never mind, I decided to just try it now since I'm up anyway, lol.

_________________
Lover of all things KGVI.

Certainly, a scanner is the best thing when it comes to this. Having said that, I don't actually have one myself and have to use the digital camera. This also works, but often the colours aren't the same as in real life. Lighting is sometimes a real both to work out, especially if your shadow appears at every angle!

Or your reflection on nice black glossy stock sheets... So, in short, while I don't have one (yet) I would still recommend you use a scanner if you can get one. These days one can buy scanner/fax/printer all in one for a relatively decent price.

I'll probably buy a better scanner in the new year...seems like mine is finally doing what it should be!

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Lover of all things KGVI.

Another Question

If I have multiple Stamps to Scan, Can I scan them once & then have some software go through this one scan and extract different images/Files for Each Stamp alone.

Is this possible . I have read over the interent that there was a Software to Do it ... but really don't know what it is or where to buy it from

Thanks

Nasr

Nasr, when you have scanned your stamp doesn't it come up so you can view what you have scanned? At the side of the screen are there icons and whichever you select ie crop, can you crop that image? This is part of the scanner on mine.

I sometimes scan many stamps then crop one at a time to save each image but this is possible through my scanner.

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If it erupts, don't blame me!!

Or you can just open it in paint, or another similar program, and cut out the stamp. Cope it. Then open a new file, and paste the image. Only the stamp should appear, which you can then save as an image.

Well, I know on my scanner in preview, I can focus the scan to one area, so maybe after you do a general scan you could "focus" the scanner in on a particular stamp?

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Lover of all things KGVI.

Irfanview is a good freeware you can use to cut / enhance colors / use negative ... and really easy to use.

My main collection is the early British India postmark and I use this software every time when I have to read / decipher bad markings like these :



Matt

_________________
If it erupts, don't blame me!!

Hi Nasr,
I think catweazle touched on this...

If you use Windows as your software system then you already have a program called Paint that you can select sections that you have scanned and then copy and paste just the bit you want - so you end up with lots of smaller sized pictures of just each individual stamp. If you save them as JPG files then it keeps the size small and easy to upload to the net.

If not there are heaps of software programs that will do this as well
I have Adobe Photoshop, Photoimpact, photoExpress, Photomatix, to name a few; some are bought some were free.

If you want a version of paint for windows - I should be able to extract just that program and email it to you - -or another freeby off the web. (My computer magazines come with a DVD each month that is usually full of all sorts of these bits of software) But let me know what version of windows you have.

If you have a scanner? Didnt it come with editing software? If it didnt let me know what the make and model is and Ill try and find you some.

_________________
Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

Also to anyone who uses a digital camera to take shots of their stamps...

I take my shots on a desk with a small tripod near my window for daylight and I also have a desklamp with a traditional globe (incandescant - not fluro!) turned on at the same time.

When I set up my camera on macro - as its a close shot of a stamp I need, the combination lighting works quite well and I get a very evenly lit close to original colour shot.

It tends to avoid my "overshadowing" the stamp with either my hand or other reflections.

It might seem a bit fiddly - but I prefer the extra clarity from a good camera and the lack of exposure to the intense light of a scanner.

_________________
Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

Hi everyone,
I use an old cx3900 epson scanner / printer.

Best results for me is to scan at 600 dpi on a full hagner which gives you this..,



Then I use microsoft office "picture manager" to crop, rotate, adjust or edit in any way that allows you to get this....,



The office programme is fairly basic but it works for me. I have photoshop installed on my computer but i`m still learning how to drive it

Also with a higher dpi setting you are able to get a warts and all closeup like this. Good for highlighting varieties of those tricky Aussie Roo and KGV stamps



Hope that helps someone.

Regards Bill.

I was hopping that there is a Program which a Scan like the original one .. will sense the different Stamps within this Scan and automatically crop all the Stamp images out of it.

Otherwise .... it is somehow a manula labor of we are talking about 2000+ stamps that I want to have images for

NAsr

Hi NAsr,

The only programme that I know of is called......
"get the kids to do it"

If you find such a programme be sure to post it here because I could sure use it.

Regards Bill.

Hi Nasr,
Ah, the lights turned on between my ears - I understand what your asking!!!
Sorry but Ive never heard of software that will do this - a bit like "Stamp Recognition Software!" If I ever find it I will buy the license and make a million!

I have 2 solutions and a possible solution...

1 - With your scanner - can you check in its setup and change from scanning whole page to something smaller? Mine can be set to scan just a Business Card (about 3*2 inch only)
So I can scan 1 stamp at time and this file when scanned at 300dpi and saved as a JPG is just 230kb in size. Its also a good size for posting to Stampboards as it is 1063*638 pixels.

Yes it might be slow this way because it is one at a time, but there are some advantages -

A) It will give each single scan a name to save as, so you dont need to think of one.
B) The size is already OK for posting on the web no need to adjust.
C) The scan is really quick just 4 seconds!
D) The dpi is good for closely examing the stamp for details.

or 2- Use a digital camera and if you can set it to a lower megapixel photo and take a Macro low size shot - just 1 mb and save a jpg.
This gives a size of about 500kb but may be too big in pixels for posting to the web.
This is still quick as it will also name each shot.

3- Has anyone tried using a photo negative scanner? They are small and I thought they could be used to scan 1 at a time. So it would be a quality but very small scan?

Hope this helps you,

_________________
Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

I don't scan stamps on any kind of mount or card. I simply lay the stamp face down on the glass and leave the lid up, making sure I don't have any ambient lighting directly above the scanner.

This method avoids interference from background textures or colors. Since the depth of field of flatbed scanners is fairly low, you pick up zero background whatsoever. The background color doesn't end up being perfectly black, but it is perfectly sufficient for display purposes (see below).

By not having that extra of plastic between the stamp and the glass, it also helps the images to be a bit more crisp.

I don't do any image manipulation after the fact other than cropping and sizing. No adjustments to brightness, contrast, hue, or sharpness. All of that is dialed in withing the scanning software.

_________________
www.revenue-collector.com - Member APS, ARA
Click here to see my U.S. revenue wantlist.

Hi Nasr
Ive posted here the results of setting the scanner to only scan an area the size of a business card at 300dpi 24 colour jpg and also the same stamp then phographed at 1mp on my camera. (My camera is adjustable and takes up to an 8mp photo - but the result is bigger that a 42 inch screen!

Both pictures have not been cropped, resized or retouched in any way they are exactly as taken.
The displayed size will give you an idea of how big it can look but still be a small file size.



This is the trial scan. The file size is 165kb


This is the trial photo. The file size is 310kb

If you dont use the plastic fronted storage card like I have, then the clarity would be even better.

It wouldnt take too long to scan them 1 by 1 this way. And its an excellent size to display if your going to sell any on ebay or stampwants etc.

PS Its also makes a good record to identify your stamps for insurance!

_________________
Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

Dear All,

Thanks a lot for your helpful replies ...

I have been searching over the internet and have came across a Software Called rippix
it looks to do exactly what I want ... but it also looks to be old "last updated 2006 , the URL for its publisher is not working" ... so I'm not sure it is still a working software

I have found an evaluation version on multiple shareware site , one of which is

http://wareseeker.com/Graphic-Apps/ripp ... 3b3f497191

Still to experiment with it

Thanks

Nasr



Thanks

NAsr

I think some scanners have "automated multi-image scanning mode", but this kind of functionality is usually left to "image editing" programs such as Photoshop or Ulead PhotoExpress.

Personally I use Photoshop to achieve what you are trying to do... The following instructions/guidelines apply for Photoshop only:

1) When you prepare a stockpage (or similar) you must take two things into account:

a) place the items so that there is enough space (on all sides) between stamps/covers you place on the page.
The official recommendation says that You should leave 2-3cm space between images / objects to be scanned.

b) the background must have a different color than the images/objects to scan. If you have stamps with white edge, then a black stock page / card makes perfect background. But if you scan something with black edge (like German mourning-stamps), then you are best putting stamps on white background/page.

2) Scan entire page as normally - personally I prefer 400-600dpi and output it to jpg or tiff file.

3) Open the scanned file in photoshop and execute command:

File -> Automate -> Crop and straighten photos

It will split individual objects from the scanned file to separate new documents... If you want to make it something more advanced (like batch-processing hundreds of files with single button click), then you must record a "Photoshop action".

And I must warn that it is not perfect... Most of the time the "autosense" works somewhat correctly, but it can (and will) provide somewhat "interesting" results as well.

_________________
See pics of my latest stamp findings at Stamp Collecting Blog.

I have had less than stellar results when trying to use Photoshop's Crop and Straighten option for batch scans. It usually crops far too tight, cutting off the perforations of stamps. I found it to be utterly useless.

As far as using a digital camera instead of a scanner, I find the flatbed scanner to be more suited to a desktop stamp workflow (and I say that as someone who has a full copystand digital camera setup that I use for professional coin photography - see http://www.numismotography.com).

My Epson V500 scanner has an optical (noninterpolated) resolution of 6400x9600 dpi, which is more than adequate. I scan my stamps at 1000dpi for archival purposes, but have scanned portions of stamps at up to 3200dpi to showcase defects and print/paper anomalies. Since I can choose the portion of the stamp to scan down to 1mm x 1mm in the preview, it doesn't really take that long.

_________________
www.revenue-collector.com - Member APS, ARA
Click here to see my U.S. revenue wantlist.

Hi revenuecollector,

I'm curious why you state I simply lay the stamp face down on the glass and leave the lid up

How does this improve the scan ? Will this harm the scanner?
I have an Epson 4490 Photo (similar to your V500 I believe) which I bought mainly for scanning my old negatives from the forties & fifties.
It does quite a good job with stamps also as you can see but not as well as yours. I normaly use Home Mode, 800 dpi.

It does not harm the scanner.

Every layer of material between the optics of the scanner and the stamp is another potential point of (1) distortion, (2) glare, and (3) dust/particles. By not putting the stamp in a mount or card prior to scanning, it removes one of those points, thus ideally creating a cleaner scan.

_________________
www.revenue-collector.com - Member APS, ARA
Click here to see my U.S. revenue wantlist.

But why leave the lid up?

Putting the lid down, you get the background texture and color of whatever the lid is. Furthermore, in my case the lid color is white, and I do not like scanning against a white background. By leaving the lid open, I get a black background with zero texture.

Give it a try.

_________________
www.revenue-collector.com - Member APS, ARA
Click here to see my U.S. revenue wantlist.

Probably so that you get a nice distorted "Fuzzy" background - leaving the stamp clear and crisp. Although youd want a nice flat stamp to start with! Otherwise it to will scan fuzzy at the curls.

Oops - 20 seconds too late!

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Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

Leaving stamps in stockcards or Hagners always gets a lesser quaity scan .... for starters the clear strip holding the stamp ALWAYS remains visible!

This one I scanned with the black stockcard on TOP of the stamp.

Thanks all for the suggestions and now the results.
First scan, stamp directly on glass, lid open
Second, stamp directly on glass, lid closed
Third, stamp in mount






Well it appears that the first is indeed true to the original. Don't know why the second is so " yellowish"

I do, reflected background colour of the "white" backing on the lid alters the scanned colour as light relfects back through from the back of the stamp and exposure is altered by the bright surrounding relfection of the background lid.
In other words - like a photo - its slightly underexposed and therefore darker.

Same thing will happen if you take a photo of the same stamp with a black and then a white background.

_________________
Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

Hi Nasr,
I found and downloaded this software.
At its first trial - IT IS BRILLIANT!!!! :D
But it leaves a trial watermark over every image so without the user licence nice but not usable.
The cost says its only $15 US - a bargain!

I tried a scanned page out of an album with 17 stamps on it and it gave me 17 individual stamp pictures - really good!

But you are right you cannot access the site to pay the fee for the unlock code!!! What a pity

However I have tracked down the owner and the company name to the USA and am attempting to contact him as I have a phone and address for him.
Ill keep in touch as this software seems really good and worth chasing. If he is out of business then Ill try to locate the source code or the programmer and go from there. Or find who might have bought the rights.

_________________
Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

I did some googling as well - and it turns out there is a totally free and open (software) solution. It's a bit geeky but IMHO the results are very good.

Step one
you need to have an image editing program called GIMP installed on your computer.
This is free open source software. It can be downloaded at http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

Step two
After You have installed GIMP, the following file needs to be copied to GIMP's Scripts-folder (on windows this is usually c:/program files/ gimp-2.0/scripts):
http://ffaat.pointclark.net/incoming/sc ... Images.scm
(if you are unable to save it "as is", then copy-paste the content to Notepad and save it with precisely same name).


Step three
Restart gimp and run the "plugin" from menubar

Filters -> Batch tools -> Divide scanned photos

and give it a test spin...


I tested it with a stock card having 10 items. Using the default values the plugin identified only 6 items, but after increasing the "Abort limit" up to value of 20, it identified all stamps correctly. No clipped tooth or nothing similar.

_________________
See pics of my latest stamp findings at Stamp Collecting Blog.

Excellent! Thanks for the research, *and* the little tutorial, kerailija.

GIMP - isn't that a program for Mac? It rings a bell, I think that was one of the paint-like programs I tried recently when I first moved from PC to Mac. It looked a bit confusing so I'm now using Click 2 Crop and Paintbrush. Click 2 Crop does leave a small "overprint" on images if you haven't registered (ie. payed your money), but it's usually very small, and no one has commented on my images here yet!

If you're running a Mac like me, I believe there is also iPaint, another similar program to the Microsoft Paint. I haven't tried it though...