October Pickups

[the 'stache]

There are several good discussions on the forum about scanners, with members posting information about price, operating system, etc.

Here are a few:
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...hlight=scanner
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?p=1148653

I have been using a Canon Canoscan 8400F which I picked up off of eBay for about $45 total. It was used, but it has served me well for about a year and a half. You absolutely want a scanner with a CCD scanning element, which stands for charge-coupled device. Your average office scanner has a CIS element. Avoid those, because they're awful for scanning graded cards. The reason? The elements are unable to scan anything with depth. Obviously, a graded card is slabbed in plastic. A CCD element takes care of that problem. It also has a cold cathode fluorescent lamp, which is great for scanning highly reflective cards (no streaks). I think some of the second generation led lighting elements have gotten better about this. They use less energy, and the scanner is just faster. But I love the scans I get. I leave the scanner top up, and either scan with no backing (for some graded cards), or I use black or white construction paper as my backing. Sometimes, I use the back of a steno pad for cards needing a neutral background.

Originally Posted by Yossarian

On that subject, can anyone recommend a solid scanner for my collection? Nothing too fancy as I would probably just utilize for my cards. If I need to start a different thread, I can.

Thanks