Regarding EzGrader

Hi Craig,

as the developer of EzGrader I can tell you that the degree of rotation
will make very little difference to the grading ( as long as the stamp
is within say 20degrees of perpendicular. ). What will make significant
differences is in the scan. Try scanning at 200-300 dpi at 100% .
Do not enlarge. Also, scan on a black background. Noise in the
background
will affect the grading. EzGrade works by walking in from each side
independently until it "hits" something, be it stuff on the scanner (
bits
of dust etc ) or part of the stamp. if you email me the images you are
working with I can help. 99% of the time, the discrepancy is caused by
the image.

Let me know if you have any questions,

regards
MArios



Craig wrote:

Hi there,

I have just been playing with the demo version of this app and it
looks good. I am wondering though, how straight does the stamp have to
be on the scanner ? I did a scan of a reasonably well centred stamp
and was told it was fine, 67 i think, i then rotated the scanned image
in photoshop bu 1 degree CW to level it up (to my eye) and tried
again, only to be downgraded to a good 40 something.
I also increased the contrast of the stamp and it got SF 0 , i presume
space filler.
I then resanned but made sure the stamp was as straight as i could get
it, not even closing the lid so not to move it and got F-VF 70
something.
Rotating the stamp to a diamond shape and scanning gave a 40 something
reading.
So how accurate do you have to be, surely you can't get an accurate
reading when there is room for user error ?

Regards
Craig

--
Developers of EzStamp, AlbumGen & EzGrader & PCVU

Email: OR
Websites: http://www.ezstamp.com
http://www.stamptools.com
http://www.stampgrader.com
http://www.pcvu.com

Hi Craig,

as the developer of EzGrader I can tell you that the degree of rotation
will make very little difference to the grading ( as long as the stamp
is within say 20degrees of perpendicular. ). What will make significant
differences is in the scan. Try scanning at 200-300 dpi at 100% .
Do not enlarge. Also, scan on a black background. Noise in the
background
will affect the grading. EzGrade works by walking in from each side
independently until it "hits" something, be it stuff on the scanner (
bits
of dust etc ) or part of the stamp. if you email me the images you are
working with I can help. 99% of the time, the discrepancy is caused by
the image.

Let me know if you have any questions,

regards
MArios



Craig wrote:

Hi there,

I have just been playing with the demo version of this app and it
looks good. I am wondering though, how straight does the stamp have to
be on the scanner ? I did a scan of a reasonably well centred stamp
and was told it was fine, 67 i think, i then rotated the scanned image
in photoshop bu 1 degree CW to level it up (to my eye) and tried
again, only to be downgraded to a good 40 something.
I also increased the contrast of the stamp and it got SF 0 , i presume
space filler.
I then resanned but made sure the stamp was as straight as i could get
it, not even closing the lid so not to move it and got F-VF 70
something.
Rotating the stamp to a diamond shape and scanning gave a 40 something
reading.
So how accurate do you have to be, surely you can't get an accurate
reading when there is room for user error ?

Regards
Craig

--
Developers of EzStamp, AlbumGen & EzGrader & PCVU

Email: OR
Websites: http://www.ezstamp.com
http://www.stamptools.com
http://www.stampgrader.com
http://www.pcvu.com

On Fri, 01 Aug 2003 01:45:14 GMT, Bob Ingraham
wrote:

I can also say that I certainly don't need any more excuses to sit in front
of this computer! And Marios' program does sound kinda fun. Unfortunately, I
can't even try it because it's designed, apparently, only for PC's, and I am
a lucky Macintosh owner. If rarity is an indicator of value, then we
Macintosh users are very valuable indeed. Offers?

Not on your rotten apple life! :^P ~~~~~ - Mac worm... Ewwwwww...

Seriosly, Macs have been getting a rotten (oops) hand in the biz.
Fortunately, for me, PCs stayed around long enough for me to get 20
years consistently to work on 'em.

Tracy Barber

From: (Tracy Barber)
Organization: Plenty of It
Reply-To:
Newsgroups: rec.collecting.stamps.discuss
Date: Fri, 01 Aug 2003 02:51:44 GMT
Subject: Regarding EzGrader

On Fri, 01 Aug 2003 01:45:14 GMT, Bob Ingraham
wrote:

I can also say that I certainly don't need any more excuses to sit in front
of this computer! And Marios' program does sound kinda fun. Unfortunately, I
can't even try it because it's designed, apparently, only for PC's, and I am
a lucky Macintosh owner. If rarity is an indicator of value, then we
Macintosh users are very valuable indeed. Offers?

Not on your rotten apple life! :^P ~~~~~ - Mac worm... Ewwwwww...

Seriosly, Macs have been getting a rotten (oops) hand in the biz.
Fortunately, for me, PCs stayed around long enough for me to get 20
years consistently to work on 'em.

Tracy Barber

Once, when one of my Apples was nearing the time it had to be put down, I
considered by PC because it they are much less expensive. I mentioned it to
my son, who has done a lot work professionally on both PCs and Macs. His
response: "Father, I want you to go to your room and think about that!" :^)
I did, figuratively speaking, and I bought another Apple. It's cool. It has
a transparent green case. It's fun watching the digits fly around inside,
or... oops! Those are *fruit* flies! :^) One of the good things about the
iMac I have is that it cools by convection. No fan noise.

We've been an Apple family since about 1983 or 1984, when we decided our
Radio Shack Color Computer was obsolete, it and its 64K memory! Paul
switched recently to a PC because of cost, and swears he'll go back to an
iMac ASAP; my wife uses a notebook iMac at home, but at her volunteer job at
the Community Policing Centre, she often has to use a PC. She isn't given to
excessive swearing, but that PC makes her indulge in some colorful language!

I believe it's time for a stamp to commemorate the Apple family of
computers. Not really, but now this is a philatelic post! :^)

boB

Thank you, i will carry on and try a sheet of black card behind the
stamp as my scanner leaves a kind of fuzzy grey around the stamp.

Craig

On Fri, 01 Aug 2003 00:38:14 GMT, mariost wrote:

Hi Craig,

as the developer of EzGrader I can tell you that the degree of rotation
will make very little difference to the grading ( as long as the stamp
is within say 20degrees of perpendicular. ). What will make significant
differences is in the scan. Try scanning at 200-300 dpi at 100% .
Do not enlarge. Also, scan on a black background. Noise in the
background
will affect the grading. EzGrade works by walking in from each side
independently until it "hits" something, be it stuff on the scanner (
bits
of dust etc ) or part of the stamp. if you email me the images you are
working with I can help. 99% of the time, the discrepancy is caused by
the image.

Let me know if you have any questions,

regards
MArios



Craig wrote:

Hi there,

I have just been playing with the demo version of this app and it
looks good. I am wondering though, how straight does the stamp have to
be on the scanner ? I did a scan of a reasonably well centred stamp
and was told it was fine, 67 i think, i then rotated the scanned image
in photoshop bu 1 degree CW to level it up (to my eye) and tried
again, only to be downgraded to a good 40 something.
I also increased the contrast of the stamp and it got SF 0 , i presume
space filler.
I then resanned but made sure the stamp was as straight as i could get
it, not even closing the lid so not to move it and got F-VF 70
something.
Rotating the stamp to a diamond shape and scanning gave a 40 something
reading.
So how accurate do you have to be, surely you can't get an accurate
reading when there is room for user error ?

Regards
Craig

"Bob Ingraham" wrote in message
...

snip

I believe it's time for a stamp to commemorate the Apple family of
computers. Not really, but now this is a philatelic post! :^)

boB


Darn. All these years, and I was thinking *this* one commemorated the Apple
family:

http://www.planetaryexploration.net/...ed_stamps.html

Mike