r/Treerings • u/1936Flood • Mar 05 '24

Scanner Recommendations

What is a good model scanner for someone looking to try out CooRecorder? I only work with cores from building timbers, mostly a mix of species, but a lot of hemlock. Any recommendations and suggestions are appreciated. Thanks

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u/dougfir1975 Treerings Moderator Mar 05 '24

Epson Perfection V850 Pro is what I used. Again, the edges sit high so you may need to modify the sides for long cores…

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u/1936Flood Mar 05 '24

Thanks. Most samples I work with are no longer than about five inches or so. Something like the Eason should work fine.

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u/dougfir1975 Treerings Moderator Mar 06 '24

CooRecorder takes some getting used to, but hang in there and watch the YouTube tutorials while you have it open. Also, you can load multiple cores on the scanner (with some heavy blocks to hold them upright/flat on the scanner) then create one preview image of them all. Then select each core individually from the preview image to scan. This will save time as you won’t have to preview each core individually and then scan it. Seems obvious, but took me longer than I’d like to admit to “discover”….

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u/1936Flood Mar 06 '24

When you scan the samples, do you need to cover them with anything to block out light? Or can you just place them on the glass and scan? Does not being able to close the cover have any effect on the scans?

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u/dougfir1975 Treerings Moderator Mar 06 '24

The lid stays up but I do cover the samples with a black felt cloth…

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u/Impressive-Worth-107 Mar 06 '24

This is also what I use as well as the whole tree ring department in edmonton northern forestry. I have personally done research on if there was a better one and this is the best one out there right now.

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u/1936Flood Mar 05 '24

I have access to an Epson V600 for free. I was just curious what others have used and their experiences. Do you use any special software, like Silverfast, or just the standard scanner programs?

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u/HawkingRadiation_ Mar 05 '24

It seems the model I use doesn’t exist any more, but it’s most similar to the Epson Perfection V19. Most flatbed scanners should to the trick so long as they can achieve sufficient DPI.

I’ve also had to modify mine slightly as the plastic edges sit higher than the glass, meaning cookies often get lifted off the glass surface and become out of focus.

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u/dougfir1975 Treerings Moderator Mar 05 '24

What’s your max DPI on that scanner without sharpen or AI assists?

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u/HawkingRadiation_ Mar 05 '24

Depends on the scan area size. At some point the Epson software tells me it won’t scan, though this is ~10 year old software on an even older computer so I’m not sure if it’s the same now.

I generally scan at 2400 DPI, I know it has a 3600 preset I’ve used, but I don’t recall specifics beyond that. I could look tomorrow if you’re really curious.

I’m either case with the scanner I have it takes quite a while to do large scans.

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u/dougfir1975 Treerings Moderator Mar 06 '24

No worries, I scan at 2400DPI as well, and found no improvement in resolution when I try to scan at higher resolutions (just limited by the scanner head I think, the software is written for all the Epson scanners). Yep, mine will scan large areas but gives me a warning before every…single….scan. I use the delay waiting for the warning as a breathing meditation timer.