: Before you scan a single page, ask yourself: Does a digital raw already exist? For many series, you can find high-quality digital raws from official sources or online databases. The simple truth is that using an existing digital raw eliminates the entire scanning and initial cleaning phase, dramatically accelerating your project. If the manga is available for free digitally, for example, you can download the raw files directly as PNGs—saving you hours of scanning and cleaning. A tool like HakuNeko can be used to download raws from various websites.

Auto-contrast destroys subtle gray washes and highlights.

📍 For the best visual experience, always check the "Credit Page" of a scanlation group. Groups that list a "Redrawer" and a "Quality Checker" typically produce much better scans than those that simply "rip" content from other sites.