johnamichael
Member 
Posts: 74
What I collect: Newfoundland, Early Canada, Weimar Republic/Third Reich-Germany
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Post by johnamichael on Apr 9, 2023 10:51:32 GMT
A couple of questions, I have an Epson Printer/Scanner. I use Mac Preview for scanning software.
Should I use the the highest dpi (1220) to scan stamps/pages, is this necessary. Is there a size limit in respect to megabytes.
Number 2, I see there are 2 ways to add images. What is the difference and which should I use.
Thanks,
John
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,699 
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Apr 9, 2023 11:23:13 GMT
When I scan pages for my collection records I scan at 300dpi 100% quality jpg. This yields a 500 to 600k file. This meets most any need I have to zoom in to details. 600dpi takes over 2x longer to scan and file size gets large.
If I post the page on the forum, I resize them to 1024 horizontal dpi before posting (keep original file untouched). This is a reasonable size. It is good to keep uploads to no more than 300kb in size. The TSFImage host will compress again if file has large file size.
When I scan a single or block, I will scan at 600 dpi. This provides more detail. Again when posting on forum, I will resize to 1024 width.
If I want to enlarge a section of a stamp, then I consider 1200dpi or larger. I will crop the image in the scanner preview to minimize what I do not need to see to keep file size reasonable.
I upload everything to the TSF Image Host rather than the link that goes to imgbb. The imgbb is a free host so your images may disappear (like what happened to photobucket).
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vikingeck
Member
Posts: 3,551
What I collect: Samoa, Tobacco theme, Mail in Wartime, anything odd and unusual!
Member is Online
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Post by vikingeck on Apr 9, 2023 11:53:47 GMT
I have Canon Lide scanner and for most purposes, posting here or listing on eBay , scanning the reverse of a cover or card for an album page 300dpi is perfectly adequate .
Single stamps I may do at 600 dpi , only rarely do I need 1200dpi.
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johnamichael
Member
Posts: 74
What I collect: Newfoundland, Early Canada, Weimar Republic/Third Reich-Germany
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Post by johnamichael on Apr 9, 2023 12:23:38 GMT
Thanks all helpful replies.
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hdm1950
Member
Posts: 1,887
What I collect: I collect world wide up to 1965 with several specialty albums added due to volume of material I have acquired. At this point I am focused on Canada and British America. I am always on the lookout for stamps and covers with postmarks from communities in Queens County, Nova Scotia. I do list various goods including stamps occasionally on eBay as hdm50
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Post by hdm1950 on Apr 9, 2023 12:28:21 GMT
I am following this thread with interest due to challenges with my image size when listing on eBay lately. In the past I would just scan the item at the preset low resolution on my cheap multi function printer and then crop them. Over the past year when adding images on eBay they often reject my scans as being too small. I think they are speaking of resolution so when I next list some individual stamps I will try setting the machine to maybe 600 dpi.
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johnamichael
Member
Posts: 74
What I collect: Newfoundland, Early Canada, Weimar Republic/Third Reich-Germany
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Post by johnamichael on Apr 9, 2023 12:35:05 GMT
I upload everything to the TSF Image Host rather than the link that goes to imgbb. The imgbb is a free host so your images may disappear (like what happened to photobucket). Is the TSF host free? |
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,699
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Apr 9, 2023 12:45:46 GMT
Steve can correct me but I believe the forum pays the hosting fees.
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Admin
Administrator 
Posts: 2,676
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Post by Admin on Apr 9, 2023 12:46:43 GMT
I upload everything to the TSF Image Host rather than the link that goes to imgbb. The imgbb is a free host so your images may disappear (like what happened to photobucket). Is the TSF host free? The Forum pays for the host but it is free for members' to use (but only for images they post on the Forum and not for their personal photos). |
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vikingeck
Member
Posts: 3,551
What I collect: Samoa, Tobacco theme, Mail in Wartime, anything odd and unusual!
Member is Online
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Post by vikingeck on Apr 9, 2023 12:52:18 GMT
I am following this thread with interest due to challenges with my image size when listing on eBay lately. In the past I would just scan the item at the preset low resolution on my cheap multi function printer and then crop them. Over the past year when adding images on eBay they often reject my scans as being too small. I think they are speaking of resolution so when I next list some individual stamps I will try setting the machine to maybe 600 dpi. Yes individual stamps scanned at 300 then if cropped close , are too small to be accepted on eBay. 300 resolution is perfectly OK but don’t crop too close. Either scan at 600 or leave a good margin either side of the image. Size is ok for images here, but eBay likes them just that bit larger |
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banknoteguy
Member
Posts: 324
What I collect: 19th Century US, High denomination US (> $1), 19th century covers US, Indian Feudatory States and most recently I acquired a BigBlue [with about 5,000 stamps] and pristine pages.
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Post by banknoteguy on Apr 9, 2023 17:41:02 GMT
See examples below (1200,600,300 dpi scans of the same image). I suspect that some resolution is lost [reduced] during the upload but I don't know that for sure as the 1200 dpi image viewed locally with Windows viewer on my screen seems to have considerably more detail that what I see uploaded. These examples were not scaled down to upload, I uploaded exactly the images as scanned (well there is some post processing also but that did not change the resolution).
What I do know is that I like the detail I get in the 1200dpi images and that is what I use to record individual stamps. I don't do whole pages that way, 600dpi seems fine for that. Also note that a 600 dpi image is roughly 4X times larger than a 300dpi image and a 1200 dpi image is 4X larger than a 600dpi image.
1200DPI [Edit added a day later -- uploaded images above about 600 dpi are downsampled, so that max resolution you can post is slightly above 600dpi]
600DPI
300DPI |
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johnamichael
Member
Posts: 74
What I collect: Newfoundland, Early Canada, Weimar Republic/Third Reich-Germany
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Post by johnamichael on Apr 9, 2023 18:36:02 GMT
very nice work, some stamps are truly beautiful.
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,699
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Apr 10, 2023 9:53:23 GMT
banknoteguy You may have scanned them at the settings but once you posted them I believe they were modified when you uploaded to image host. The TSF image host modifies files. What was were you original image size and file size? I would expect the 1200dpi to have a larger over size than the 600dpi. 1200 downloaded: 1024x1378 743.9 kn 600 downloaed: 1000x1345 390.3 kb
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Post by PostmasterGS on Apr 10, 2023 12:51:01 GMT
When I first started scanning my stamps about 20+ years ago, I scanned my stamps as JPGs at 300 dpi. Then, when I started building my website, I discovered that wasn't good enough, so I scanned master copies of everything as PNGs at 600 dpi, but converting the copies for the website to JPG for better loading. Last year, I decided to re-do all my album pages, which presented my with an opportunity -- since I was going to have all my stamps off the pages, I could re-scan them as 1,200 dpi TIFs, though still converting to JPGs for those that go on the website. So right now, some of the stamps on my website are 1,200 dpi JPGs, and others are 600 dpi JPGs. The JPGs are saved using Photoshop, using a JPG quality setting of 80 out of 100. This results in a slight loss of quality, but it allows me to keep the file sizes manageable for such large resolution images. Here's a demonstration of the difference in the JPGs. I can't post the TIFs because ProBoards doesn't support them. Resolutions and file sizes are noted, and I host my own images, so there's no additional downscaling at the hosting level. 1,200 dpi JPG — 1832 x 1258 — 303 KB  600 dpi JPG — 916 x 629 — 152 KB  300 dpi JPG — 458 x 315 — 66 KB  |
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banknoteguy
Member
Posts: 324
What I collect: 19th Century US, High denomination US (> $1), 19th century covers US, Indian Feudatory States and most recently I acquired a BigBlue [with about 5,000 stamps] and pristine pages.
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Post by banknoteguy on Apr 10, 2023 13:53:14 GMT
Angore,
My file sizes were:
1200dpi 2000x2700 and 1.44mb
600dpi 1000x1345 and 390kb
300dpi 500x673 and 112kb
These are jpgs stored at 75% compression [that is the value above which I can't see any difference].
So you are right that the 1200dpi was downsampled on upload but looks like the other two were not.
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stainlessb
Member
qaStaHvIS yIn 'ej chep
Posts: 4,906
What I collect: currently focused on most of western Europe, much of which is spent on France, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain Queen Victoria
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Post by stainlessb on Apr 10, 2023 14:15:26 GMT
Perhaps this downsampling is what also causes some color shift? I have routinely scanned at 3200 dp1(mainly so i can zoom in on mslaa areas with little [pixelation)
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Post by classicalstamps on Apr 10, 2023 18:58:23 GMT
It is not all about the DPI or the compression/lossless formats. The type of scanner makes a noticeable difference. Many cheap scanners are CIS, compared to CCD which does a much better job. Especially noticeable with engraved stamps. I wrote this a couple of years ago in another thread: This site: sellosyartistas.blogspot.comis filled with extremely high quality scans, including the original art. The artists are shown to the left. You can spend hours browsing through this. Stunning. A couple of examples:     |
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brookbam
Member
APS 236261
Posts: 235
What I collect: US...everything until I decide what I don't want to collect! And now thanks to a TSF give-away I'm adding Space topicals!
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Post by brookbam on Apr 11, 2023 0:34:18 GMT
This has been a very good discussion...so good in fact that it reminded me that I think I have a Canon CanoScan 9000F Mark II...somewhere...it might be out on the porch yet when UPS dropped it off...
I bought it to scan some of my Mom's old vacation negatives from the 70s and 80s but now I'm also going to use it for stamps too. I'm hoping I can get a default setting on it to save me some time from having to resize the scan in GIMP which is time consuming.
I have a HP Z800 workstation coming (wish I'd bought a Z820 or Z840 instead...) and then I'm getting that scanner hooked up and see what it'll do.
brookbam
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Post by daniel on Apr 11, 2023 1:43:14 GMT
One shouldn't forget that stamps are miniature works of art and that's the skill of the stamp artists and engravers. Once you enlarge, for example, an engraved stamp you can lose the artistry and you start seeing the techniques involved in creating them. That's fine if that is what you are looking for but, for me, some of the enlarged images above are not as beautiful as the original stamps.
Daniel
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,699
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Apr 11, 2023 10:20:45 GMT
I think I posted this before but I do most of my resizing in Microsoft built-in Photos. However, when it resizes it. it is not as good as done by this link. www.stampcommunity.org/image-optimizer/ on another forum. It can take a lot of size out without degrading image quality as just a pixel resize. I love Lightroom to resize and modify but it is a large beast. |
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hdm1950
Member
Posts: 1,887
What I collect: I collect world wide up to 1965 with several specialty albums added due to volume of material I have acquired. At this point I am focused on Canada and British America. I am always on the lookout for stamps and covers with postmarks from communities in Queens County, Nova Scotia. I do list various goods including stamps occasionally on eBay as hdm50
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Post by hdm1950 on Apr 13, 2023 11:06:02 GMT
I am following this thread with interest due to challenges with my image size when listing on eBay lately. In the past I would just scan the item at the preset low resolution on my cheap multi function printer and then crop them. Over the past year when adding images on eBay they often reject my scans as being too small. I think they are speaking of resolution so when I next list some individual stamps I will try setting the machine to maybe 600 dpi. Yes individual stamps scanned at 300 then if cropped close , are too small to be accepted on eBay. 300 resolution is perfectly OK but don’t crop too close. Either scan at 600 or leave a good margin either side of the image. Size is ok for images here, but eBay likes them just that bit larger Back from vacation and I scanned a few single stamps at 600 last night and that did the trick for listing on eBay. Scanning is a bit slower on my old clunker but I am listing so few items now I can live with that. Thanks Alex. |
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karelm
**Member** 
Posts: 19
What I collect: Austria Empire varieties & cancellations
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Post by karelm on Apr 15, 2023 1:31:58 GMT
I have been scanning my new aquisitions, collection, album pages and stock book pages with an Epson Perfection V370 Photo scanner (it folds flat, so it is easy to scan books) at 300 dpi and find that is adequate for variety checking etc. My biggest challenge is to get a setting that results in a true color representation. I store my images on Google Drive as a safety measure but it also allows me to share with other collectors (http://www.austrianphilately.com/michielsen/index.htm) Doing this has put me in contact with other collectors that share my interest.
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Post by uppercanadian on Apr 15, 2023 4:07:55 GMT
I really enjoyed looking at that collection Karel.
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,699
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Apr 15, 2023 10:50:21 GMT
I would really like to test one of these devices.
I
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Post by PostmasterGS on Apr 15, 2023 14:50:29 GMT
I would really like to test one of these devices. I bought a CZUR book scanner several years ago. Worst tech investment I've ever made. It might have worked good for magazines, pamphlets, or other things that can lay perfectly flat, but for books with any curvature to the pages, it was hot garbage. The software to flatten the pages didn't work anywhere as good in practice as it did in their videos. For book scanning, I finally settled on a Plustek OpticBook (non-destructive) and a Fujitsu/Ricoh ScanSnap (destructive). |
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eggdog
Member
I want a new Harley!
Posts: 464
What I collect: It's complicated....
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Post by eggdog on Apr 16, 2023 2:42:02 GMT
For book scanning, I finally settled on a Plustek OpticBook (non-destructive) Are you happy with it? Does it make .epubs? If so, how long would it take to make a 200-page .epub (I know that would depend lots on the type of book, but I'm just looking for a ballpark here)? |
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,699
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Apr 16, 2023 11:39:38 GMT
PostmasterGS Thanks for the update. I have been following the Czur line and they seem to be making improvements. The cameras have much higher resolution now and looks like they changed OCR software. There was an article in the APS journal recently about one group (Guatemala society?) that used it for digitizing their printed books. I would like to know someone who tried to digitize Scott catalogs.
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Post by PostmasterGS on Apr 16, 2023 12:31:48 GMT
Are you happy with it? Does it make .epubs? If so, how long would it take to make a 200-page .epub (I know that would depend lots on the type of book, but I'm just looking for a ballpark here)? I've never tried to make epubs, and I think it may depend on which software you get. Plustek currently ships the OpticBooks with one of two software suits -- BookMaker or eBookScan. I think eBookScan supports epubs. I'm not sure about BookMaker. Scan speed depends on B&W vs. grayscale vs. color, the size of the pages, and the resolution. In general, about 4-6 seconds per page for B&W, 6-8 seconds per page for Color. It takes longer to flip the pages and replace the book on the scanner than it does to scan the pages. You could probably do 200 pages in an hour or two. |
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Post by classicalstamps on Apr 16, 2023 13:09:20 GMT
The higher end Azur models are quite good. They do a good job "adjusting" Example:  I would not recommend their lower end scanners though. Not worth it. One thing to note about book scanners that many people don't think about: They are able to OCR the text, so you can copy and translate it as you wish. A book written in Czech language about a topic you're passionate about? No problem, just scan and translate. It opens up a world of possibilities! |
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