I went back to Taking Photographs of Coins; Far Superior to Scanning

TomB

I just wanted to share an image with everyone of a coin that I bought at the ANA. This is the reverse of a 1937 Mercury dime graded MS67FB by NGC. The coin is stunning and nicer than the image suggests. I hadn't taken pictures of coins for some time so I decided to take a roll and experimented with lighting, f/stop, etc...This coin came out quite nicely. By the way, I bought this from a fellow Board member.

If anyone is interested in the specifics for getting this type of image quality send me a PM or just ask here and I will try to share the information. Just so you all know, this isn't digital, it's film.

Spooly

AT Sweet coin!





(I am just playing with Tom!)

Dave99B

Lovely color, Tom. Colorful Mercs like that are just wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

Dave

P.S. AT my a$$!

michael

superb!

supercoin

Beauty!! How's the obverse?

TomB

Thanks guys. The obverse is white with subtle blue patches throughout the fields and devices. In this roll of film I did not take both obverse and reverse images of all the coins because I wanted a range of toning depths, colors and patterns to work with. Therefore, I have no obverse image at this time.

LanLord

Tom,

I am interested in your setup. I imagine you use either a macro lense or macro attachment to a lense, did you try both? Which works best for image clarity? Also, what light source are you using and did you need to do any temperature compensation for the light source and film used? What film mfg and speed? Also, getting your exposure correct, was this done with a spot meter or internal meter on the camara and did you need to bracket your exposures by plus and minus 1/3 f-stop to make sure you got the best image? Finally, if I haven't yet asked enough questions, did you have the film developer place the pictures on a CD or did you digitize the negatives yourself?

pmh1nic

TomB

Gourgous coin and great photograph. I won't ask for the details since I use a digital camera and my skills are one step above "point and shoot".


Spooly

You trouble maker .

shylock

Awesome deep tones, and I love that splash of orange at the top.

Fairlaneman

Tom:

Nice Merc !!

Digital Camera's take Nice pictures also.

Ken

TomB

I'm glad this seems to have piqued the interest in some members and I might have been able to help. This post is a little long as I've included the contents of a PM I have sent to several people who had questions and will also attempt to answer LanLord's questions after the PM content. I'd like to also mention that after the photo was scanned I used a mask tool on my imaging software to get rid of the slab. The photo image of the coin itself is not manipulated at all via imaging software, it is as close to real as possible. Here are the edited comments sent in PM to others-



<< <i>I'd be happy to tell you how I took that and other photos. The reason I didn't spill out all of the details as to how I did it in my post was because I thought many/most people couldn't care less. I'm not a professional photographer, I'm an amateur camera hacker so anyone should be able to take images like these with a few accessories and some experience. As I mentioned in my post, the image is taken with film, not a digital camera. Therefore, if you have a digital camera only I don't know how well you might adapt what I have done. I use a Canon AE1 from the late '70s, you can pick up this camera or an equivalent manual one for $100-$200 without a lens at most camera repair shops. This camera has the capability to be fully manual and is an SLR. For the lens I use a dedicated Canon 105mm lens, not a telephoto, since I believe you can focus better with a fixed length lens than with a telephoto. This was actually fairly difficult to find as they don't make quality lenses for this camera anymore and the 105mm lens is what most portraits are taken with. I ended up buying a used one off ebay for about $125. Onto the end of the lens I mount diopters. These are adapters that will allow the lens to take closeups. The only drawback is that the depth of field shrinks, however, when you are taking pictures of coins this is usually not a big deal. A set of diopters can run from $10-$50. I have a set of three diopters from Quantaray and they are labeled +1, +2 and +4. The greater the number, the greater the magnification. You may screw the diopter onto the end of the lens and may also screw additional diopters onto that in order to get closer. Next, I use a blue 80A filter, also from Quantaray and about $15, because I use regular indoor lighting that would otherwise cause the film to appear yellow. This filter is also screwed onto the lens. The camera is then mounted onto a tripod, I have one from Sears that I got in the late '70s and is very basic. A good tripod might cost $50-$100, this is something that I think you shouldn't splurge on since most are very similar. With this camera set-up I place the slab onto a black velvet tray so as to reduce the reflection back to the camera. I actually took this photo in my bathroom using a single desk lamp with a normal 100W soft white bulb. I focused the camera on the coin by attempting to keep the camera and coin in the same focal plane and then manipulated the desk lamp to give the best lighting. I had no other lights on in the room. I used a 1/60th second shutter speed for this roll. The coins look good, however, I think I overlit them because the camera was fooled into thinking the coins were darker than they were from the black velvet. When I shoot again I will use the light meter in the camera to tell me what aperture it will use and then I will close the aperture manually one f/stop in order to decrease the light on the coin. I think this will increase the color and make it look more realistic. I hope this helps. By the way, this was done using Kodak 800 film. >>



So, to specifically answer LanLord; I use a fixed-length 105mm lens (macro) with a +1, +2 and +4 diopter set and for this roll I used both the +1 and +2 diopters, in combination, screwed onto the 105mm lens; image clarity is best attained by manipulating the position of the light while keeping the coin and camera in close to parallel planes since the focal length is so short when a macro lens is used in combination with diopters; I used a normal indoor houselight, a desk lamp with a single 100W soft white GE bulb that you might use anywhere in your home and did not compensate at all for temperature with regard to light source or film; the film is generic Kodak MAX 800 because I like to be able to shoot film of coins and then use the remainder of the film to shoot everyday scenes, this film is very versatile but is grainy when compared to slower films, had I wanted to make museum quality pictures I would have used a Land camera or used this SLR with film speed slower than 100; I used the internal meter in the camera and did not stop down, however, I think I will have to close the aperture next time one f/stop because the background is so dark and the camera is fooled into over-exposing the coin; I did not bracket expose, I thought about it but decided to take pictures of many coins using fewer experimental conditions; I do use a spot meter on occasion but thought this was too much for a first pass; I did not have the film put onto a CD, I scanned the image with a Visioneer 8100 scanner that I bought at OfficeMax for about $79 and masked it using Corel Photo-Paint 8 that came free with my computer.

I think I answered everything. If not, feel free to ask more.