Stamp Analyzer Software

Mac doesn't offer much in the way of software for stamp collectors, but if anyone has used Stamp Analyzer http://rakium.com I would be interested in hearing your opinions.

Looked promising so I bought it. But it crashes on start-up. Sent the developer the crash report. Does it on both my desktop macs. One is running 10.6.8, the other is my main machine 2x2.4 (eight-core) running Mavericks (10.9.5). Restart and reinstall did not help. Bummer.

Good News - the developer got right back to me with a diagnosis. The bad news - I have to reinstall the Comic Sans font. I'll let you know how it works.

I would give a thumbs up to the developer. There's not enough customer service like that these days.

Rusty - I concur. I was truly surprised when I got up this morn and saw the response. Score 1 for the developer.

I reinstalled Comic Sans. The developer said the next version upgrade will do away with Comic Sans and use Helvetica Neue.

with that completed, Stamp analyser opened right up. Since perking the small queens always gives me trouble, I thought I would try it on a known stamp #44. I was able to scan at a decent size, 600 dpi. This is the highest dpi the software handles I believe. Setting Stamp Analyser software to 600 dpi it seems to have accurately measured my #44's perfs.

I like this software because it easily documents the margin and perforation numbers and may be a plus, say if you want to include an evaluation like this in an ebay listing. It will certainly help me sort out my small queens.

Here is the scan I started with:


Here's a screenshot of the scan loaded into Stamp Analyser. It was a simple drag-n-drop:




You can elect to print a "certificate". I need to figure out how I can fix the title. On my mac I elected to save this page as a pdf.



This is a simple tool without a lot of bells and whistles. It seems to have worked well on this stamp. I'll post more small queens as I go through them.

How does one get a copy and how much is it?

Just to revive this thread as I was looking around and found the app. It's now £4.99 so probably worth a shot?

A solution looking for a problem?

I am a person who always leans towards using technology solutions but I guess I do not understand how using software is better than simply using a perforation gauge. Obviously it takes far longer to scan the stamp, save the file, start the app, and then run the analysis. I am sure that I could manually gauge 3-4 stamps in the time it would take me to do 1 with the software.

But if I was already scanning every stamp, or if I already had scanned images of every stamp, then it might take the same amount of time? If it does not save me time, what is the point?

Also note that that this type software only works with scanned images, not those taken with a camera (since a camera image may be not be exactly 90 degrees perpendicular to the stamp).
Don

I think poor eyesight is the main hindrance when trying to check the perforations

Understood.
When I am gauging stamps I typically have a lot of them to do. So I have an illuminated magnifier that leaves both of my hands free to handle the stamps.


The best justification for the software is probably as a way to verify your hand gauging.
Don

The centering score was most interesting to me.

Yes Don, I think it would help to confirm while I come to grips with tiny perforations! That magnifying piece looks amazing :)

David Y:




Just go to the App Store for Mac or or other apple device. It costs $US4.99.

I installed this program some months ago but have never managed to get any sensible/reasonable readings from it. The program did. however, come alive without having to mess with fonts or anything else like that. Seeing that some of you seem to be getting results, maybe I'll take another look at it. Maybe there has been an upgrade since I last tried.

Well, I have to offer an apology to the group. I tried this program again this morning, first time in many months, and it worked very well. Perhaps there has been an update since the last try that has sorted out some incompatibility with my particular configuration.

So my conclusion is that Stamp Analyser by Rakium is worth far more than its purchase price!!

But only for Mac, right? So no way to use it on Windows?

Correct. The maker's web site doesn't suggest that it is available for other than Mac, iPad or iPhone.

And since when have apps been available for the Windows OS for $4.99? They tend to be free (usually only for mass applications or for hidden reasons) or start at at about $30.