I know Howdy Herz has always recommended a camera for capturing chip and token images. I think it's partly because he has a background as a coin collector and dealer and there are some you simply can't scan well. Mainly, it's the ability to light the object at an angle to bring out differences in detail even if the color or brightness doesn't provide enough contrast. Certainly, you should use a digital camera if you want to go this way as you can get it into your computer almost as quickly as with a flat-bed scanner.

I've experimented with a camera and even bought a copy stand with a vertical post. Just too much time and experimentation required for day-to-day image capture. I agree it's better for many coins and tokens. the Howdy token scanned below could have been pictured better with a camera, for example.