I’m wondering if any of you have used the Poloroid Jewelry Pro II
camera system? If so, I’d be very interested in hearing your
opinions, either on or off list. My primary use for it would be
photographing bunches of rough and cut gems, so that I can scan
the pics for my web site. (I already have a flatbed scanner.)
I’ve used the Polaroid Jewelry Pro for the past 5 years and have
found it to be great for quick shots of your pieces, but as for
showing detail and colour I have found it better to go with a 35mm
camera.
Just my 2c worth. Hope this helps
P.S. I use it, to attach to my Valuation Certs, so that the
customer has a copy.
Hi. I have used an older version of that kind of Polaroid set up.
I think that the quality is not high enough for scanning and for a
web page. If you’re willing to spend that much on the Polaroid, I
would suggest buying a digital camera. Then you can skip the
scanning step and go straight to the computer. Good luck.
-Elaine
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Midwest
Great Lakes
Hi Tom, I have a Polaroid Jewelry Pro II. I don’t like it! I
use the most expensive film I can buy and I don’t get results any
better than the old Polaroids Mom used to use. I would be happy
to sell mine if anyone is interested.
To get good pic of jewelry, I scan my jewelry directly on a good
flatbed scanner. I get good scans, and can touch-up the photos and
print catalog pages and save them on disc for anything else,
including jpegs. If interested, I will send you a jpeg that I
scanned directly. Duane, Studio B Corbin, KY
Tom: I have use the poloroid Pro for about a year. Because I make
one of a kind custom elk tooth jewelry I use it to take a picture
for my customers and enclude the Wt., size , metal, etc. for
insurance purposes. It does a great job and all the pictures can
be scanned into your scanner, edited and put on your website. It
does a beatiful job because of the close up lense that comes with
the kit. I would suggest you go to my website however I’m having
problems with the site. If I can be of more assistants give me an
shout. Ron from Idaho
I have a 4p Hp flatbed scanner , I scan faceted Gemstones , Some
stones like Garnets and Spinel come out O.K. But Zircons and
Sapphires Are out , The true color never comes out . they come
black or too dark. And the other thing is I can not scan Color
changing stones, eyes and Stars, Can I ?
I have had better success with a Minolta Digital camera , but
Zircons give trouble on that too. Because of the high R.I. it`s a
nightmare.
To get good pic of jewelry, I scan my jewelry directly on a
good flatbed scanner. I get good scans, and can touch-up the
photos and print catalog pages and save them on disc for anything
else, including jpegs. If interested, I will send you a jpeg
that I scanned directly.
Duane, I would appreciate seeing a copy of what you are getting
from your flatbed. I have a flatbed and retouch the scans, but
they are not as good as I would like. Any tricks you have learned
would be gratefully accepted if you care to share. BTW I used to
be from Cincy, hope to get back someday in reasonably near future!
Hi Nancy: Your pic is only going to be as good as your flatbed
scanner is, the better the scanner especially in resoluction and
the more features or technically advanced it is the better your pic
will look I have seen scanner from $125.00 and they go up to
Thousands!!! Hope this helps!
Has anyone had experience with a Canon Canoscan flatbed? I saw
what [I think] was a used one for $199.00 US.
Which raises another question, aside from such obvious things as
scratches on the bed, what would one look to avoid in a secondhand
scanner? Or, should one avoid theme completely.
Colleen,
who should not even be thinking about buying a flatbed as her car’s
transmission just went bye-bye.
We are selling software for Jewelry stores and we spent lot of
time on finding out how to take good pictures. We have the
on our website www.evoware.com but sofar only in
german. I will give you a short summary:
Basically you have 4 options to take pictures and use them with
your software (Photoshop etc…)
Photo-CD This is the KODAK System. Advantage: very high quality
Disadvantage: You have to take normal pictures first and bring
them to a photo shop who will then produce the CD, furthermore you
need the software to read Photo -CD
Scanner Disadvantage: To get a good picture, u have to make
first a normal picture with your camera and then scan it. You can
not scan Rings or three dimensional articles
Digital Camera Certainly one of the latest toys but you might
have problem to take pictures of small items. The zooming abilities
of affordable Digital Cameras are not good yet. I have a Sony
myself. The pics are good enough for small mailings or inhouse use
but not for catalogues which of course depends on your
expectations.
Framegrabber and VHS Camerar You can connect any VHS Camera to a
Framegrabber and then you can read the pictures directly from
Camera to the Computer. You can also pictures (Frames) from a video
tape. We have bought the framegrabber “SNAPPY” of Logitech and
made good experience. It is easy to install, just connect it to the
printer port. The prices are around DM 400 wich makes around USD
200,-- The only disadvantage is the low quality of the pictures.
We normally recommend the Framegrabber since most of our customers
only need the pictures for their own use. If you already have a VHS
Camera, with Macro Function would be great, it is a rather cheap
solution. It is also the fastest way since you can read the
pictures directly from your camera in the computer. No need for any
steps in between.
It all depends on the quality you need. A friend of mine has a
large jewelry mail order company and eventhough they were testing
all new possibilities, they still stick with the traditional way of
taking pictures with the normal camera. They get the best results
sofar but i am sure that esp. the digital cameras will improve
shortly.
I would never buy second hand computer equipment. Prices for new
equipments are reasonable. You have the guarantee and after sale
service. I dont think it is worth to save a few dollars and have
troubles lateron unless you know how to fix computers. I did that
once and ended up spending lots of time and money not to mention
nerves. Eventhough the scanner might look ok, you still have to
make sure that it will be compatible with all your other programms,
operating systems etc. and you never know what they did to it
before.