1965 cent doubling? - and a little about microphotography...

coppercoins

Just to disspell a myth regarding 1965 cents, I thought I would make this post. I have seen about a half dozen times where people either reported a 1965 cent doubled die to me or were selling 1965 cents with proported doubled dies on eBay. I finally got around to taking a photo of the area people were reporting and thought I would post it here for general information.



This coin shows a notch in the center left area of the 5 digit of the date on a 1965 cent. The notch is on all 1965 cents to some degree, as it is part of the design used this year. This is the only year such a notch shows so prominently on the 5 of the date because this 5 is a one-year type.

Have fun!

millennium

Did you take that photo? What setup do you use to get that close with that much detail without a loss in sharpeness?

JRocco

Hi C.D. That was a good question. I am thinking about buying a nice setup to both see and film varieties. Looking thru those loops kill your eyes and this plastic blue digital scope is barely better than a ..well.....piece of plastic. What do you recommend for a decent setup without totally killing the bankroll? Thanks also for the post.

JrGMan2004

I think a nice camera with a good macro could do the job... or even with a loop in front of it. I'm lookin to get a CoolPix 950, which, along with the 990, has the best Macro lens, without an add-on...

coppercoins

Hi Folks...I use a Sony Mavica FD-88 camera I purchased 4 years ago, a 7.5X-35X stereo-zoom microscope I got off eBay for $300, an Eco-Light 150 light source with a 180 watt halogen bulb, dual fiber optic light guides (light and guides were $350), and four years of practice that can't be bought. I have rounded my method down to science and have done pretty well with it, especially over the last six months to a year.

Yes I snapped that photo - the light was at around 50-60 watts, the light guides are bent to face each other under the optics of the scope stuck into the ends of a translucent plastic coin tube with the butt cut off of it to diffuse the light. The light was about an inch off the coin, and the coin was tilted about 10 degrees into the light. I take the photos on a 1280 pixel setting (the highest the camera will go) through the right eyepiece.

Here's a picture of my set-up. All told, it would cost about $1,000 to duplicate, without software. I use the Adobe CS suite with Photoshop 8.0, which retails for around $2800, but I use it for a lot more than just photos. You could get away with an older version of Photoshop LE for $30 off eBay.

coppercoins

And to reply to the above:

No amount of macro on a camera will do the job. You cannot get the die flow lines on a coin to show up that sharply with a macro setting.

No loupe will do a job like that either. The secret is in the lighting and the steady setup. Holding a loupe and a camera could not possibly focus in with this kind of clarity.

These photos are taken at 1.3 megapixels and the scope is set up to 35 power. I don't use any zoom on the camera, that won't do it either. I have to back the camera out to full and use the scope for magnification. Otherwise all I get is a fuzzy dot in the center of a black field.

Even with this setup, I get a black circular outline around the subject that I crop off. Here's a small version of a shot I would get using the scope and camera, raw as it comes out of the camera on diskette:



Then what I end up with after editing in Photoshop for the web:



The finished photo is scaled down quite a bit from the original. I could also crop this to 250 DPI for print, which is what I actually did with this photo. The subject for the photo was to show that machine doubling is really common on 1968 cents - it's for the book.

mozeppa

wow C.D. we both got the same type of scope and light source...cept i opted for the tri-noc set up.

its a great set up... i could not be any happier with mine!

coppercoins

I figured to save a bit of cash by stepping down to the binocular scope. I can still get good results with what I have, so I'm pretty happy. I'd like to see some of your shots some time though. I might end up with the money one of these days to get the full trinocular model and have my current scope as a stand-by.

mozeppa

will do! soon as i'm happy with my outcome.

coppercoins

<< <i>will do! soon as i'm happy with my outcome. >>



If you're not happy with the outcome, send the shots to me via email and I can try to help you with them.

coppercoins

TTT for the daytimers who might be interested in reading about it.

mgoodm3

Nice pics. Great for doubled dies and other such varieties.

JRocco

Thanks for the post C.D. and for the info on your set-up. One question I do have for you is how do you steady the camera? Do you use the contact with the right eyepiece to help steady it? Thanks in advance-JRocco

mrpaseo

Nice, I kill my eyes with the Loupes as well, and my photo taking stinks to say the least

Thanks for sharing,
Ray