Scanning Graded Cards With Inner Sleeve

[rugbymarine]

I searched the boards (apologies if I missed it), and found related topics but nothing on this directly.

I got an Epson v600 last week, and I'm loving the improvement in the scan quality. The only issue I'm having is the few graded cards I have where PSA has inserted the plastic 'sleeve' inside the case with the card.

Does anyone have any suggestions for settings to try? I scan primarily vintage, and the cards in question are 1960 Leaf, 50s Bowman.

[Casey2296]

What's the issue you're having? Can you attach an example?

[Carter08]

I don’t have the answer but just ordered a v550 if you have any advice. Excited to get it.

[CardPadre]

There’s just nothing you can do to eliminate some of the visual effects an inner sleeve causes in a scan. The way the plastic of the sleeve curves along the edges where it seals will pretty much always cause some rainbow reflection or refraction or whatever.


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[rugbymarine]

I spent more time messing around with settings, and I think I've got an acceptable result. It's just not as strikingly clear as the scans of the cards WITHOUT that little sleeve. I have found I'm not great at having 99% of whatever I'm doing be nearly perfect, and the last 1% being just good. Too much OCD, I guess. Here are 2 cards with sleeves in them.

1960 Leaf Brooks Robinson



1955 Bowman Carl Furillo:



For comparison, here's what the Epson v600 does for other cards. Both 1949 Furillo scans are larger than I would usually post to see the difference:

1949 Bowman Carl Furillo (scanned on HP ENVY all-in-one):



1949 Bowman Carl Furillo (Epson v600):

[rugbymarine]

And since this is the pre-war section:

[chadeast]

I too have an Epson V series. spent many hours trying to get the scans of my graded T3's to match those of my ungraded. I had a few that had "wrinkled baggie" problems, but all had the issue of colors not being true and the entire scan appearing dull, and somewhat bluish. Photoshop improved it a little, but not enough for me. I could never figure out how to get it right. Scanning ungraded cards by contrast is absolute simplicity, no modifications needed.

The Walsh below had serious wrinkling going on inside. In the end, there was only one solution that worked for me, crack them out. I was also motivated not just by scanning but by wanting to see the cards as they truly are, with my own eyes. Although it presented quite well in the holder, the Lajoie came out too. Almost certainly not a good decision financially, but I'm much happier with the cards now. Also, the SGC slabs are ridiculously cumbersome.

If interested, here is a link to my T3 scans. About 15 of them are still in their slabs.

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmWsbV9B


three BST purchases

Lajoie before and after, Walsh after, same scanner settings for all (I have to see if I can find the Walsh before, but it was horrible with the baggie wrinkles)

[rugbymarine]

As for settings and other general info, I cannot take credit. net54 member NGS458 (Nic Schmitt) has put extensive time and effort into this, and has shared it many times.

https://www.net54baseball.com/showth...g+graded+cards

I started with everything he said, and made a few changes. Please note: None of these are meant to disagree with Nic. I only tinkered to find what I thought looked like the clearest scans, as well as the most accurate representation of the card as I hold it in my hand.

1) I use 48-bit scanning. In his guide, Nic suggests using 24-bit. Bumping up to 48-bit does increase file size. I noticed on a few specific cards with large swatches of dark color (black sleeves in 60s Topps, dark backgrounds in 1957 Topps), switching to 48-bit decreased a faint 'cross-hatch' look that showed up in those dark areas.

2) I turned off the Unsharp Mask setting. Nic suggests Low, but he spends time in his guide talking about why each setting may be better.

3) I went into the Tone Correction menu (The middle of the 5 small picture icons just above the 'Unsharp Mask' setting), and changed from the default Linear setting to High Contrast.

[nineunder71]

Wow, something must be in the air, I ordered a V600 on Wednesday, states it should be here Tuesday, I as well am excited to get it

Let us know any tricks you may discover and I will do the same once it gets here

Cheers All