Picture quality of coins for sale and how important it is.

barberlover

This is a rant thread and an idea thread I want people to comment on, and speculate on.

I have always felt it's a collectors responsibility to determin the value of a coin offered for sale, just like the up's and downs of the market do not justify complaining about coin values.

One beef I still do have with the advent of the internet and long distance coin auctions wether thru Ebay or Teletrade, or Heritage or any other Major online coin auction is imaging accuracey.

I do not want to divulge a name here, but someone associated with a powerful coin firm told me that the technology does not yet exist to give a person a complete 3 D image of what a coin truely looks like in person. Is this true that such technology doesn't exist more than 33 years after we put a man on the moon ?

I believe sellers of coins thru auctions need to do a better job of imaging there coins, especially if there is no return privledge but maybe thats just my own personnel feeling on the matter.

Comments on this are welcome and I would like some speculation as well as information on the future of coin imaging, are we approaching a time when we can have little video type images showing what a coin looks like if you were holding it a foot from your face and rotating it in a mini movie type style showing luster & color and surface quality the way it would look in person ?

Les

Lakesammman

Interesting thoughts.

Currently I think the time/cost constraints are prohibitive except for the most expensive coins. I would be interested in hearing from the tech types whether 3D accurate imaging can be done cheaply. I know 2D is still time intensive and therefor expensive.

Second, why would ANYONE buy a coin w/o a return privilege??

airplanenut

I'd love to have a video with a rotating coin... the problem with that is the constant change of focus, unless you can keep one part of the coin (the center) from not moving... at all.

I have the capabilities with my digicam, but I can't easily hold the coin to be rotated

barberlover

"Why would anyone buy a coin without a return priveledge ?"

Because some coin auctions don't have retun priveledges and some coin images in auctions without return priveledges don't really look like the coin.

Les

Lakesammman

Because some coin auctions don't have retun priveledges and some coin images in auctions without return priveledges don't really look like the coin.

So why do you take the risk??

drsvenghali

I think streaming video would be nice.

janapier1

I was thinking about creating a little holder that could spin on an axis and capture with a web cam, then convert to an animated gif.
Wouldn't this be almost good enough?

Conder101

<< <i>Is this true that such technology doesn't exist more than 33 years after we put a man on the moon ? >>


This surprises you? Heck the technology to put a man on the moon doesn't exist today either. If we wanted to return to the moon it would take the better part of ten years just like it did in the sixties. (Of course we could get there faster if we just pull out the Satern V blueprints and build 1969 technology again. And even that would take several years.)

barberlover

Condor 101 the point is thAT tECHNOLOGY SHOULD IMPROVE OVER TIME AND IF WE COULD PUT A MAN ON THE MOON WHEN i WAS 13 YEARS OLD, WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO MAKE BETTER COIN IMAGES WHEN i'M ALMOST 47 YEARS OLD. That darn caps key, sorry.

Les

dorkkarl

even w/ such technology, the simplest, most basic rule of buying coins would still apply:

DO NOT BUY COINS SIGHT-UNSEEN

K S

nwcs

Remember, a picture is by definition 2 dimensional. A three dimensional picture is a hologram. Only a video stream can represent a coin better than a picture (on the net). But even then, all pics and videos are subject to user manipulation, ignorance, or skill.

sinin1

why would you want a 3 dimensional hologram? are you only talking raw coins?

i like the idea of rotating platform -> what is need is more frames than 1 with more angles - lighting, etc.

i think that is why I like movies better than pictures (oh and the sound - would that help - a commenter talking while all of the coins great features and flaws - like the nick/planchet flaw you tried showing me a few times and I still never saw) -

problem with these ideas is how much data/bytes required and slow download times

my modem is slow - webTV is even slower

also what amount of time should be spent imaging these coins? you can quickly see that if it takes 30 minutes to get the image/edit on every coin how much more selective the auction must become in their listings - especially if you want this on every coin

I have been told many times that you do not get much of a video for under $1000/minute play time - with all costs/editing involved.


Les, if you come up with something very good (and reasonably priced)- you have found yourself a job - dealers would send you their coins to make images of - and you could admire them in your home for a day or 2 - it would be like going to a big coin show everyday of the year!