What are the best lights for imaging coins?

shylock

And why? Lighting is as important as the camera itself, so share with us your best kept secrets.

K6AZ

Paul, as you and I discussed a while ago Reveals certainly do better than regular incandescents or flourescents, but they impart a reddish tint in images that can be difficult to filter out in an image editor. The best lights in my opinion are quartz halogens which are as close as you can get to natural daylight with artificial light. Until recently, the only option for this type of lighting were the expensive Kaiser or Bencher light arms. This wasn't a good option for us who already had stands that accept bulbs with the standard household medium sockets.

Finally there is a solution. Sylvania has introduced a new line of Daylight Halogen bulbs that are very close in color temperature to the professional photography lights. These bulbs use the standard medium socket. I am using four of them in my stand, two 50w up front and two 75w in the rear. Here is an image of the box for those who want to look for them:

mgoodm3

I prefer nice white lighting. Halogen desklamps work quite well and are pretty cheap. I am presently using two 300W quartz halogen lamps that are really white and extremely bright, but expensive and nuclear furnace hot. K6AZ's quartz halogen spots seem to be a cheap alternative that seem to work really well also.

Reveal bulbs are good for looking at coin with your eyes (the slight red shift means less blue light which is the light that your eyes are least good at handling). i don't think that there is any significant advantage to them when shooting pictures. The camera would probably actually do better with shorter wavelength blue light (probably not a significant difference in real life).

MacCrimmon

I prefer the 13W OTT-lights.

RYK

Paul,

Per your recommendation, I have been using Ott lights, but I am thinking (and have been told) that I am not getting enough light in my pictures. I am considering adding a third light of some kind.

K6AZ

I should have mentioned something about diffused lighting in my post above.

I think it works great on copper, if that is all you shoot. I tried it on MS silver, and while it highlights color, it strips luster to the point where images look like they came from a scanner.

MacCrimmon

Shot using 2 OTTs at 10K &2K. The subtle rose color was picked up nicely, but I still need to work on pulling out more of the cartwheel effect.

Barry

A plain old 75W incandescent bulb. Usually one, sometimes two.

RYK said: I have been using Ott lights, but I am thinking (and have been told) that I am not getting enough light in my pictures. I am considering adding a third light of some kind.

If you're not getting enough light, it's an exposure/light meter problem, not how much light is actually shining on the coin. This is very common with white backgrounds, such as NGC and ANACS slabs. Either use spot metering, or adjust your exposure compensation (EV) in the camera.

shylock

"I should have mentioned something about diffused lighting in my post above.

I think it works great on copper, if that is all you shoot. I tried it on MS silver, and while it highlights color, it strips luster to the point where images look like they came from a scanner."

My 2 cents as far as Ott lights go. They don't strip luster if you place them correctly, they inhance it. Place 2 Ott lights at opposite edges of the coin, just out of glare level. Hold the 3rd in your free hand above the coin until the color looks optimum to you in the LCD screen of the camera. Placement is the key.

mgoodm3

luster is best enhanced by harsh direct light (no diffusion) and high-angle, whatever the light you use.

shylock

An example of Ott lites on silver. I like these lights because I feel they replicate true color better than any other light source.

2 Ott lites are placed east & west at the rim, just out of glare level. A 3rd Ott lite is held by hand above the coin, filling in the areas the other two lights miss (TDN's 1866 Trade Dollar reverse).

photoman

I use 250W and a 420W 3200k lights. I get great color balance with the 3200k and so I don't have to correct the color in photoshop that much. Plus the brighter the bulb, the more I can close the lens down on the camera for ultra focus and sharpness.

Doug
ANR

K6AZ

Here's an image with the lights I mentioned above. I don't use diffusion. By the way, I have a 13" TV plugged into my camera so I can rotate the coin to get the best color.

K6AZ

One more example:

EagleEye

I go back and forth using and ott light for color and a halogen light for clarity (and to show off the cartwheel luster) Ott's alone tend to give me more blues in copper. If I use both together I can show off both cartwheel and color. On this coin, the blue is on the coin (the coin is more vibrant that the picture - proof copper is tough)

DMWJR

Ok, I've got two reveal bulbs coming in North and South, and added an OTT light today. What am I missing on the camera settings???

Lakesammman

Can officially report that blaklights don't work well....

mgoodm3

<< <i>Can officially report that blaklights don't work well....

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Everything probably starts looking like Elvis.

DMWJR