Scanning raw cards

[Jenx34]

I'm struggling to scan large #'s of raw cards to prepare for sale. Can anyone offer any tips on the quickest/best way to do so. Could include fast/good scanners, general methods,etc. Here is what I am doing now.

Using a flat all-in-one printer/scanner. On my Epson I can do 3 cards at one time and then crop into individual files using Photoshop. I switched today to my wife's Canon Pixma MG7520. With slightly more space around me, I can scan 6 cards at once, but on both I still have trouble getting cards lined up straight. About every 3rd scan at least one or two are slightly askew and I have to re-scan. My eyes aren't sure enough so I use a group of top loaders as a spacer between the cards and the edge so I can get a border around all sides. Even then, I can't keep them straight and have had to live with a certain degree of crooked. I don't know photoshop well enough to straighten the pic once I've cropped it. Any help in that regard would be greatly appreciated. But obviously the goal is to do as many as possible as quickly as possible. Yesterday I scanned 130 cards front and back. Took me 8:30 of actual scanning time. The best I could do is 15-16 per hour.

Also, is 300dpi too high for raw cards? I've found sometimes the scan is picking up things I can't see with my eyes holding the card in front of me or even with a basic magnifying glass. Some scans make the cards look worse than they they look in person.

Lastly, I've read a lot of threads about scanning graded cards and the recommendation of CCD technology. Does this matter with raw cards? I'm attaching a scan of two graded cards I just scanned. Can anyone tell me just by the scan if the Canon MG7520 has CCD?

[irv]

It's tough getting them perfectly straight all the time, especially if the cards aren't perfectly centered in their holders or sleeves.

Are you using the lid open/dark room technique? I found this method much easier as you can see the cards better plus it makes for better looking scans imo.

I have heard CCD scanners are much better as they supposedly just look for the pic/card rather than focus on the holder.

I have tried numerous settings, seen here, but gave up and once I was told out about lid open/dark room technique, I just went with it.
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=224696

This test area is at the bottom of the site and is a great place to practice.

Good luck.

[JollyElm]

I put my cards in the standard 9-slot plastic binder sheets (I forget the specific name of them). Then I flip the page to scan the backs. Very easy and efficient, and you're scanning 9 cards at a time. Most scanners are at least letter size (8.5" x 11"), so this should work for you.

[Jenx34]

I'm scanning 90% raw cards and am scanning to sell. Not sure I want them in sheets when posting to ebay or where ever. I like the idea though, just not sure about the presentation of the cards in sheets. Here is one grouping I just did a few minutes ago. They came out okay because they are all pretty straight to the edge. A few were off a bit, but those were all acceptable.

Irv, I've also noticed that some cards aren't cut straight and some have that slight curve to them and that throws things off a bit.

[OsFan]

A quick suggestion would be to figure out how to adjust/straighten the scans in photoshop. Once you figure that out it only takes a few extra seconds per card to straighten them and there's really nothing to it.

Someone needs to invent/manufacture a plastic template that you place on the open scanner which has 6 or nine slots for cards to be lined up perfectly, then you just pick up the template, close the scanner and your good to go.
Not sure if that make sense, probably didn't explain it well enough.
I've actually fashioned a few myself with rulers and cardboard and tape. Works pretty good.

[savedfrommyspokes]

Fujitsu makes several different sheet fed scanner models in various price ranges that allow you to "sheet feed" the cards through. I can SAFELY scan 1000+ cards in less than an hour front/back, consecutively number the images (automatically) and finally insert the images into their appropriate listing in a few clicks.

Ten years ago I used hand place 9 cards on my flatbed scanner, crop/number each image and finally manually add each image to it's listing. With my Fujitsu scanner I can now, in less than an hour, do what used to take me 12+ hours to do. This scanner is worth every penny I spent on it.

If you are only listing a few 100 cards a month it may not be worth the investment and scanning in pages on a flat bed is just fine, but if you get into listing 1000's/month, you might want to consider it.

[savedfrommyspokes]

Originally Posted by OsFan

A quick suggestion would be to figure out how to adjust/straighten the scans in photoshop. Once you figure that out it only takes a few extra seconds per card to straighten them and there's really nothing to it.

Someone needs to invent/manufacture a plastic template that you place on the open scanner which has 6 or nine slots for cards to be lined up perfectly, then you just pick up the template, close the scanner and your good to go.
Not sure if that make sense, probably didn't explain it well enough.
I've actually fashioned a few myself with rulers and cardboard and tape. Works pretty good.

Before I started using a sheet fed scanner, I used card pages(as suggested by jollyelm) ...saved me a lot of time in not having to straighten scans.