My Equipment—Scanner & Software

I have a Cannon flatbed scanner, a CanoScan 8600F.  I got this one last spring after my HP PSC finally died after 8 years. I got it because Cannon had a deal if you bought a printer and a scanner together, and I wanted to be able to scan film, which this one does. It costs around $160 separately. However, any scanner should do. I use the scanning software that came with my scanner, called ScanGear, which allows me to multi-crop images, but I've also scanned a page of cards at one time and cropped them afterwards. I'll describe both methods. 

Scanning Methods

I use two different methods. Method 1 is easiest for me when I'm scanning cards that are all the same size, which is most of the time. I use Method 2 if I have a bunch of odd-sized cards.

Method 1 is to crop all the cards before they are scanned. My scanner has a multi-crop function so I can preview a page, then click and drag a crop around each card. The proportion automatically stays at 2.5x3.5—ie 5x7—so I can cheat and crop slightly inside each card to avoid the edges. Once I've defined those crops I can scan multiple batches of cards without re-cropping as long as the cards are all the same size. (See image 1.1 below). 

Method 2 is to scan the whole sheet of cards at once, save multiple copies of the image and then crop down to each card in Picasa. Use this method if your scanner doesn't do multi-crops.

Arranging the Cards

I arrange the cards on the scanner the same way for both scanning methods. I can fit 9 - 2.5" x 3.5" cards at a time on my scanner bed: 3 across and 3 down. I always lay them out the same way, regardless of whether they are horizontal or vertical cards, so that I don't have to re-crop every time. I remove the cards from their protective sleeves and lay them tight, edge to edge, no space in between the cards. If you have a mixture of cards the sizes may be slightly different—just get them as close together as possible. This helps keep them straight.

The Scanning Software

Open your scanning software through any photo-editing program such as Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro or even Microsoft Publisher. I don't do any editing during the scanning phase; the photo-editing program is only necesssary for saving the images.  I use the simple program that came with my scanner, called ArcSoft PhotoStudio. I open PhotoStudio, then click on the scanning icon (or "aquire" from the file menu) which opens my scanning software, in this case, ScanGear. I entered my settings once and saved them so I don't have to redo them every time. I've also set my preferences to open to these settings each time I start ScanGear.

Scanner Settings

Obviously, these will be different for other scanners and software, but hopefully there will be enough similarities to figure it out. 

Scanner Mode—My scanner has three scanning modes: Simple Mode, Advanced Mode and Multi-Scan Mode. I use Advanced Mode. 

Input Settings—

  • Source: "Platen"
  • Paper Size: "Full Platen"
  • Color Mode: "Color"

Output Settings—  

  •  Output Resolution: "150 DPI"
  • Output Size: For Method 1.  I enter an output size of  "2.5 x 3.5 Vertical". That really just defines the output size proportions of each crop; at a scanning resolution of 150 dpi it results in a scan size of (2.5 x 150)=375 pixels by (3.5 x 150)=525 pixels. That gives me a little room to crop afterwards, if needed, without going below the 500 pixel dimension; more about that later.  For Method 2, I select "flexible" for my output dimensions and adjust one crop to include all the cards. 

Image Settings—

  •  Auto Tone: "ON"   (Optional, but seems to work well with it ON).
  • ·Unsharp Mask: "OFF"   (Must be OFF for the Descreen option to work, and I sharpen later, anyway).
  • ·Descreen:  "ON"   This is necessary when scanning screen-printed material, like cards or magazines, to avoid what they call a "Moire Pattern" on the screened image. (See at right). If your scanning software doesn't have this, you'll have to remove the moire pattern in your photo editing software. 
     
    Misc: There are other settings available, like "Reduce Dust & Scratches", "Fading Correction", etc, which I have OFF because they slow down the scanning and I can easily fix the color later in Picasa. But if my cards have some scratches, or if I'm scanning a bunch of old cards which have yellowed, I turn these corrections on.