Advice on imaging coins

macjeff

(I searched, but didn't find anything; sorry if this is a repost!)

Does anyone have any advice on imaging my coins? I have a decent digicam, but the pics I tried to take didn't turn out well at all, so I tried scanning 'em. That worked, for the most part, except the ones in plastic holders, like proof sets and the like. Lots of reflections and soft focus issues. Other than cracking the holders, what can I do?

Thanks in advance, O knowledgeable ones!

magikbilly

Hi,
If you want to try the scanner route (don't expect to capture lustre) - from a previous post of mine:

"well, I am using a high quality epson Photo Scanner, perfection 2450, that can scan up to 12,500 DPI. I am using the Photoshop Elements program that came with it. I am scanning at 2400 with adjusted settings for"Gamma" and "Exposure", "Saturation" and such - and I scanned with the "Unsharp Mask" on. The slabs are tilted on the flatbed, capable of 48 bit true color, with a combination of Kodachrome slide mounts and other odd items under them that give the proper reflection or other sought after effects (color, cameo etc.) without changing focus or color appreciably (these can be corrected in the editing phase to a degree). The whole thing then gets covered with a folded black t-shirt which seems to enhance the mirrors and color. Trial and error with exposures and tilt will yield the best results (try rotating 90 degrees for each scan until you find the right angle for the light to attack - then play with it). This scan is then saved, and turned into a JPEG file. This is then opened and cropped with the "Crop Tool". I then select "Inverse" under "Selections" and then turn the "Rectangular Selection" tool into an elipse/cirlce by right clicking and choosing that feature. After selecting the coin only I choose from the layers dropdown folder on the right the lower left icon which changes the unselected background color to black (or whatever color you want). This image is then saved. Each step is saved seperately - in case you make a mistake you won't have to start again. Then, I edit for minor color variations with "Variations", then "Brightness" and "Contrast" to insure accuracy to the coin in hand, then very judiciusly remove scratches in the slab, which show up quite well, with the "Blur Tool" or the "Pencil tool" (by sampling color), and then a slight touch of manual "Unsharp Mask" to pull it all together. This is then resized to "500x500" (or whatever size you want) and saved at quality level "7" (or whatever you want). This ought to do it. Let me know if I can help further."

Best,
Billy


1941 10c PCGS PR65

Monstavet

Invest in a copystand and some lights (available on Ebay for $60 and up depending on how fancy you want one), some editing software (like irfanview), and practice up!

wjd283

A digital camera works better for me than my el cheapo scanner.

I can take a really detailed pic but when I edit it to below 50k I lose the sharpness.Any suggestions ?