Has anyone noticed that NGC photo department has improved immensely?

DCW

NGC photos used to be garbage
Unusable. Dark as if they simply scanned the coins.
Now have a look:

So, there is hope for PCGS to fix the True View issues.

coinbuf

Yes NGC's photovision is greatly improved, however, I fail to see how that can in any way translate as a fix to the horrid photos at PCGS now. It is truly perplexing to me the lengths that some people here go to prop up and hype a sinking ship. I think everyone is aware that the TV product could be improved with some capital investment, but there have been no signs that such an investment is forthcoming.

DCW

@coinbuf
Who here is hyping up and propping up the sinking ship? All I see are complaints about PCGS. I'm saying if NGC can turn it around, so can PCGS. It's not that hard.

Connecticoin

If NGC would get rid of the white prongs, I would consider using them again, but they seem to love those ugly things.

FlyingAl

@DCW said:
@coinbuf
Who here is hyping up and propping up the sinking ship? All I see are complaints about PCGS. I'm saying if NGC can turn it around, so can PCGS. It's not that hard.

I've heard that the only reason NGC's images were so bad were because the photographer was forced to use a filter to make all coins look uniform. Without the filter, I've been told he could shoot just as well as Phil.

If that's true - NGC always had the capability to do better. PCGS does not necessarily have the same skill readily available.

BillJones

That is great news. I hope that all of the grading services improve their imaging. It's the most important factor in knocking down the counterfeit coin in the counterfeit slab criminals. If the coin in the slab doesn't match the one in the photo, the slab and very probably the coin are counterfeits.

OriginalDan

@coinbuf said:
Yes NGC's photovision is greatly improved, however, I fail to see how that can in any way translate as a fix to the horrid photos at PCGS now. It is truly perplexing to me the lengths that some people here go to prop up and hype a sinking ship. I think everyone is aware that the TV product could be improved with some capital investment, but there have been no signs that such an investment is forthcoming.

I see a way. Vote with your wallet.

FlyingAl

@BillJones said:
That is great news. I hope that all of the grading services improve their imaging. It's the most important factor in knocking down the counterfeit coin in the counterfeit slab criminals. If the coin in the slab doesn't match the one in the photo, the slab and very probably the coin are counterfeits.

NGC has been taking images of every coin for years now for this very reason.

alefzero

Yes. Their images used to look like holder prison intake photos. While it still does vary, many are looking pretty sweet.

david3142

The old scans and the new PhotoVision are not the same type of photography service. I believe PhotoVision is an add-on, although perhaps it is also included in certain types of grading like the TrueView is. The old method really was just a scan with no intention of capturing the coin, but just having a record of it as it was holdered.

lordmarcovan

As mentioned, Photovision is an add-on you pay for ($10, as I recall).

NGC’s standard photographs (scans?) on the cert pages are as wretched as ever, and their cheaper “Internet Imaged” photograph option ($3, I think) is a complete waste of money.

Photovision and the work of their Doug Plascensia is great, however, and superior to the present PCGS TrueView situation. And happily, they are now adding the Photovision images to the cert pages of the coins that have them. That wasn’t the case a year ago.

lordmarcovan

@Connecticoin said:
If NGC would get rid of the white prongs, I would consider using them again, but they seem to love those ugly things.

I agree- I have always hated the white prongs and the way they intrude into coin photos. But at least the NGC Photovision images are prong-free- like a TrueView is.

@OriginalDan said:

@coinbuf said:
Yes NGC's photovision is greatly improved, however, I fail to see how that can in any way translate as a fix to the horrid photos at PCGS now. It is truly perplexing to me the lengths that some people here go to prop up and hype a sinking ship. I think everyone is aware that the TV product could be improved with some capital investment, but there have been no signs that such an investment is forthcoming.

I see a way. Vote with your wallet.

I am doing just that (voting with my wallet). NGC gets all my submissions now. They already got most of them because they do Ancients. But I’m now sending my non-ancient material to them as well, because of the decline of PCGS’ TrueView quality. The imaging matters as much to me as the grade does.

ajaan

LM, those images and coins are awesome.

asheland

Indeed, NGC is offering some excellent photography! I never thought PCGS and NGC would reverse roles with regards to photography.

FlyingAl

@asheland said:
Indeed, NGC is offering some excellent photography! I never thought PCGS and NGC would reverse roles with regards to photography.

NGC's images have never really been that bad if you paid for them - it's just that until PCGS got bought out they had a significant edge because PCGS was the preferred service for everything. Now it's becoming clear just how much TrueViews carried that.

spyglassdesign

@OriginalDan said:

@coinbuf said:
Yes NGC's photovision is greatly improved, however, I fail to see how that can in any way translate as a fix to the horrid photos at PCGS now. It is truly perplexing to me the lengths that some people here go to prop up and hype a sinking ship. I think everyone is aware that the TV product could be improved with some capital investment, but there have been no signs that such an investment is forthcoming.

I see a way. Vote with your wallet.

Doing just that. I have about 30 to 40 coins that I would have gladly filtered through pcgs as soon as next week... Now they will be going elsewhere.

It's really sad what is becoming of this...