Is this what people mean when they say “have the lights as parallel to the camera lens as you can”
Mr_Spud
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I just got some new lights to play around with for taking coin pictures. I was using a bar type LED light that opened up into a ^ shape and all I could do was open and close the gap in the ^ with the lights way above my iPhone which I’m using as my camera, Some people said to try lights that are more maneuverable and to either have them as parallel to the camera lens as possible or to just keep moving them around to find the sweet spot. Is this what is meant by as parallel to the lens as possible? 
These lights seem pretty good. I can actually position them under the phone right next to the lens. They come with a removable diffuser which might come in handy for Proofs. They are cheap too. I should also be able to move them into an infinite number of positions to find those sweet spots too.
The first coin I’m trying the lights out on is this one I just got really cheap for my slabbed Circulated type set. It’s not the most photogenic coin with the dark spots, but I think the pictures came out pretty good. Looks just like the coin in hand.
And here’s another pic so you see the whole setup
Mr_Spud
Comments
Yes. Now most people are probably visualizing a long macro lens on an SLR so “parallel” to the axis of the lens makes more sense. But you have the idea. Good photo.
LIBERTY SEATED DIMES WITH MAJOR VARIETIES CIRCULATION STRIKES (1837-1891) digital album
Thanks, I couldn’t quite figure out the word parallel in the context of my phone.
I also just now decided to do a tweak to get rid of the slight golden coloration. The pictures I posted earlier were straight out of the camera with just cropping and no other adjustments. I just now backed off on the saturation a little bit and now the picture looks the exact color of the coin in normal lighting. The other pictures look just like the coin in hand under my desk light (LED generic Ott light) but when I turned on the overhead incandescent lights the coin looks like the pics below. I also just took the coin outside and looked at it under sunlight and it looked like the original pictures with the slight golden coloration, which makes sense since the LEDs are trying to mimic sunlight, but I’m thinking the pictures below are the ones I should stick with. The LEDs have different settings to make them more cool or more warm and are also dimmable, so I can play around and figure which I like the best.
Mr_Spud
Cool set up.
What is your phone on?
I was wondering the same thing. Thanks for posting the lights, I'm gonna buy a couple for my own rinky dink setup.
Click on this link to see my ebay listings.
That’s my $1000 copy stand😉
Actually it’s a 250cc PET bottle like the ones you get vitamins in. One of these
And here’s an older picture with my original lights showing how I have it sitting on the bottle better than the one I posted with the latest lights. I do that to allow the phones camera to be level with the coin and use the 10 second timer so the phone doesn’t shake. It’s a good height for the autofocus to work.
But when I tried to use the bottle with manual focus with my new Camera+2 app, it’s not the right height. I’m going to do some experiments with one of these (see picture below) this weekend with the coin slab on the little platform that can be raised and lowered to see if I can improve the focus that way. The little platform jack arrived yesterday from Amazon🌞
Mr_Spud
Dang nice pictures!
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
Thanks, I also was able to take microscope like pictures the other day using the manual focus app that came out decent. But I had to get the camera at an exact distance away from the coin. I did it by stacking post it notes on top of a little cup underneath the iPhone until it was at the perfect height. That’s why I’m optimistic about trying that little platform jack, not just for microscope like pictures, but for whole coin shots too. I’m thinking I can turn the screw on the jack and it will be a way to further fine tune the manual focus. The one in the phone camera app is controlled by sliding your finger left or right but you can’t make fine adjustments. But anyway, here’s the microscope pictures I took the other day using manual focus but with an add on macro lens on the phone
Mr_Spud
I also got these pictures out of the phone the same day with the new Quan lights and manual focus too that I thought came out decent. I had trouble getting good pictures of this coin using the autofocus and I decided to use it as a test case to do experiments with.
I like it much better than what I was getting before, but I’m hoping I can do better at capturing the full luster using the platform jack to fine tune the focus.
Mr_Spud
i
this thread!
i just downloaded Raw+. it gives some DSLR settings. ISO, Shutter Speed, level, histogram etc.
now i need to make sure my phone is set to the highest quality setting so when i "tweak" images, there is more info for when i scale down the overall size in MB.
@LanceNewmanOCC Does Raw+ have manual focus too?
Never mind, I just looked it up, it looks really interesting. It says it’s only manual focus and works with ProRAW which is what I like to use. I also especially like that it says it’s minimalist. The Camera+2 has way too many options
I might have to try that one out too, thanks 🌞
Mr_Spud
what is the difference between manual focus and 2 finger screen zoom in/out?
must be a slide bar thing. up/down or left/right?
nevermind to that. only can change video quality settings. i see nothing for camera.
A few years back at costco i purchased a pair of reading book lights. 6 LCD -3 AAAA batteries and 2 light settings .
They have clamps to place the light on a book while reading like in bed.
I like them as you can take one with you for extra light at a show.
"That's why I wander and follow La Vie Dansante"
Love the set up pics.
Wayne
Kennedys are my quest...
I checked out the RAW+ app and it’s really cool and it does have manual focusing, but it doesn’t have a timer so you have to touch the phone to take a picture which can shake it so it might make it hard to use for focusing on coins. The RAW+ looks much more user friendly and less cluttered than the Camera +2, but the Camera +2 has the timer so it might end up being better for my purpose.
The manual focus for the RAW+ and the Camera +2 are both controlled with your finger sliding, but it doesn’t make the image bigger and smaller like zooming in and out, it makes the image clearer and less blurry or more blurry if you slide your finger too far. I’m experimenting with manual focus for small coins because the autofocus lock box thingy is too big and it ends up focusing on the slab instead of the coin.
Mr_Spud
@HalfDimeDude cool portable light. I bet it works for taking coin pictures pretty good on the fly
Mr_Spud
Nice job, @Mr_Spud. You have stumbled on an important photographic technique.
The point of numismatic photos is to represent a coin as best possible. Too often new photographers get caught up on not touching what the camera delivered. In spite of the fact that cameras are programmed to make adjustments to exposure, contract, color, etc.
Use your editor to get the images correct. Don't apologize for your edits to correct images. Be proud of them!
Lance.