Coin Photography System

Coinscratch

Finally made time to try out the new camera and I absolutely love it!
I will need more time to read up and understand photography and lighting as I am a beginner but here are some photos on my first time out.

Shout Out! To @rmpsrpms for the new system - Thanks!

I'll post more here as I progress

Coinscratch

http://www.macrocoins.com/home.html

ctf_error_coins

Coins are too yellow, work on your white balance.

yspsales

Take an image.

In camera go to custom white balance setting.

Select that image, retake shot and the new image and all following will be corrected for WB

Nice start BTW

Coinscratch

I couldn’t find the WB setting so I bypassed that step. Is it on the camera or the software?

ctf_error_coins

@CoinscratchFever said:
I couldn’t find the WB setting so I bypassed that step. Is it on the camera or the software?

Both, best in the camera and then subtle changes in the software.

Jimnight

Nice set-up!

cheezhed

Very nice

coinbuf

excellent first shots; one suggestion is to talk to Ray about getting a diffusor for the lights, that will really help with the hot and cold spots.

ctf_error_coins

@coinbuf said:
excellent first shots; one suggestion is to talk to Ray about getting a diffusor for the lights, that will really help with the hot and cold spots.

I never use a diffuser, I love highlights and shadows.

Kurisu

The white balance is determined by the color temperature of your lights.
Those look like little halogen lights which tend to be more blue, like daylight.
Your camera's manual will have a guide for a "white point" setting for different types of lights.

Looks like you're nearly perfect on the focus and have the correct lens! Nice job!!!

Whether you diffuse the light or not, maybe get a couple cheap polarizing filters for in front of the lights.
https://www.teachersource.com/product/polarizing-filters?gclid=CjwKCAjwjuqDBhAGEiwAdX2cj0xEPq5mAA86TQNvv0k4j0AdZ1i4Aka09Kr7cw3zlU8rksfm6fwgMhoCuhEQAvD_BwE
You can make a little holder for them out of bent paperclips or something...basically polarized light will eliminate most reflections when rotated to the proper angle. It's maybe a slightly more advanced technique, but it's how we also photograph art without getting reflections.
I mentioned this in another thread, but it's most likely that the setup PCGS uses to do Trueview images involves cross-polarized lighting and perhaps and axial lighting setup.
Cross polarizing is when both light sources are polarized and sometimes the lens as well. Polarizing filters cut down on your exposure just a bit, but that doesn't matter when you're using a stand.

crazyhounddog

Looks pretty good from here

TurtleCat

@ErrorsOnCoins said:

@coinbuf said:
excellent first shots; one suggestion is to talk to Ray about getting a diffusor for the lights, that will really help with the hot and cold spots.

I never use a diffuser, I love highlights and shadows.

They can be your friend but it’s all about controlling them as you know.

ctf_error_coins

@TurtleCat said:

@ErrorsOnCoins said:

@coinbuf said:
excellent first shots; one suggestion is to talk to Ray about getting a diffusor for the lights, that will really help with the hot and cold spots.

I never use a diffuser, I love highlights and shadows.

They can be your friend but it’s all about controlling them as you know.

Probably, I am just a light freak and love the depth of harsher lights.

Look at my Nature Photography page link, I almost never use "soft" light.

RPM2

Can I get information on this camera setup. I am looking to purchase one in the near future.

tincup

Nice setup... might have to look at getting a similar one for me!

TurtleCat

It’s a nice setup.

Basically all you need is a copy stand, a good enough camera (many good ones out there), macro lens, and 2-4 lights preferably articulated. Optional extra is a diffuser for the lights and fine honed white balance with something like an expo disc.

For my particular setup, I use a copy stand I got from B&H, three articulating OTT lights (3 level lighting) with diffusion material on them to tone down the harshness, a Nikon Z6 and 105 macro lens. I do manual focusing only, carefully, and I move the lights as needed and change intensities as needed. I stick to ISO 100 and f10 to avoid much diffraction and I shoot in raw only.

Coinscratch

@RPM2 said:
Can I get information on this camera setup. I am looking to purchase one in the near future.

The sellers website is listed on the second post. I found him on the BST.
@rmpsrpms

Coinscratch

Yellow or not, enlarge the 03 1C and check out that frosty lil gem

Coinscratch

I’ll shoot more pics later now that I found the white balance setting - yard work takes precedence.

RPM2

Looks like a nice system!!! Thanks for the info!!

Coinnmore

Coinscratch those are fabulous pictures you took! I bet they look just like in hand too! Good Job now if I could do something like that! Dang those are nice.

Gemstrike

Beautiful pictures! Hey, which model Canon DSLR camera are you using?

Coinscratch

@Gemstrike said:
Beautiful pictures! Hey, which model Canon DSLR camera are you using?

Rebel XS EOS 1000D
An older model but brand new one. I think these were designed for amateurs which is perfect for me.
It also came with a couple of lenses a macro and a 50 or 100 mm not sure other than the bigger one is for bigger subjects?!

Coinscratch

@Coinnmore said:
Coinscratch those are fabulous pictures you took! I bet they look just like in hand too! Good Job now if I could do something like that! Dang those are nice.

Thanks! If I can do it you can do it. The system is very easy to focus. Now, I need to learn all of the functions and how or why to use them.
OTT lights, diffusers, and a lot of terminology is still Greek. I want to learn how to capture the true colors like you see on proof TrueViews. While my main focus will be qualifying coins before sending in for grading it will come in handy for listing coins as well.

ricko

Very impressive set up.... and great pictures. I clearly see why I have not pursued coin photography beyond my phone's capability. Cheers, RickO

fathom

@TurtleCat said:
It’s a nice setup.

Basically all you need is a copy stand, a good enough camera (many good ones out there), macro lens, and 2-4 lights preferably articulated. Optional extra is a diffuser for the lights and fine honed white balance with something like an expo disc.

For my particular setup, I use a copy stand I got from B&H, three articulating OTT lights (3 level lighting) with diffusion material on them to tone down the harshness, a Nikon Z6 and 105 macro lens. I do manual focusing only, carefully, and I move the lights as needed and change intensities as needed. I stick to ISO 100 and f10 to avoid much diffraction and I shoot in raw only.

Shutter speed?

TurtleCat

@fathom said:

@TurtleCat said:
It’s a nice setup.

Basically all you need is a copy stand, a good enough camera (many good ones out there), macro lens, and 2-4 lights preferably articulated. Optional extra is a diffuser for the lights and fine honed white balance with something like an expo disc.

For my particular setup, I use a copy stand I got from B&H, three articulating OTT lights (3 level lighting) with diffusion material on them to tone down the harshness, a Nikon Z6 and 105 macro lens. I do manual focusing only, carefully, and I move the lights as needed and change intensities as needed. I stick to ISO 100 and f10 to avoid much diffraction and I shoot in raw only.

Shutter speed?

I do fully manual but shutter speed will be based on the overall lighting. Mine tends to be around 1/60 or so with my particular lights. Since the auto exposure metering with coins tends to force it to get darker (it tries to set things to a mid tone, same problem with snow or dark colors) I take control of the shutter speed as well. I use a live histogram and try to shift the highlights to the far right (called expose to the right) so I have good quality data to work with and don’t need to boost shadows.

Connecticoin

That is a nice, simple copy-stand setup. Typically for me, I get better results when the lights are at the same height as the camera lens, resulting in a higher angle. Like others mentioned, the white balance needs work, but I believe that camera's WB can be adjusted fairly precisely (get the owner's manual online if you do not have it).

Also, the book "numismatic photography" by Mark Goodman is an excellent reference. A lot of his tips can still be found on his website, coinimaging.com (click on the "articles" tab).

Coinscratch

Y’all guys are speaking Greek again, I’ll get that Mark Goodman book soon.