coin microphotography and Macs -- anyone have any tips?

DennisH

I'm about to make the switch from 35mm film photography to digital and in making the change one of my primary needs will be to take large file size (4-8mb) microphotographs of coins... I'm guessing mostly at 10x to 40x resolutions. I also use a Mac G4 computer.

Does anyone out there have experience doing this and do you have any advice about what microscope to use and/or what camera to use (I'm thinking about a high-end Canon model)? Sharpness and clarity of the images are much more important than equipment cost. Does using a Mac complicate things at all?

Since I'm starting from scratch here I'd like to do it right and only do it once. Thanks in advance for any comments!

Gonfunko

<< <i>I'm about to make the switch from 35mm film photography to digital and in making the change one of my primary needs will be to take large file size (4-8mb) microphotographs of coins... I'm guessing mostly at 10x to 40x resolutions. I also use a Mac G4 computer.

Does anyone out there have experience doing this and do you have any advice about what microscope to use and/or what camera to use (I'm thinking about a high-end Canon model)? Sharpness and clarity of the images are much more important than equipment cost. Does using a Mac complicate things at all?

Since I'm starting from scratch here I'd like to do it right and only do it once. Thanks in advance for any comments! >>


Canons are OK, although I personally prefer my Olympus. The only issue I've found with coin photography on my mac (the new mini) is the lack of a program that can crop in a circle. (As far as I know iPhoto only allows rectangular cropping) In fact, it's the only reason I've kept my PC, since Picture It! did have that capability. Unfortunately, the Digital Blue microscope isn't compatible with mac, although I believe that most professional microscopes are. BTW, since you said 4-8MB images, how much RAM do you have? I'd recommend 512MB or more for those file sizes.

mgoodm3

Doesn't matter if the microscope is compatible with your computer, just make sure your camera is. Sounds like a dSLR is what you're looking for. What kinda Megapixel camera you looking at? I don't know much about editing software for the mac.

mgoodm3

Oh, one thing to watch for is the CCD size. The smaller the CCD you functionally will magnify the image compared to a 35mm piece of film because you not imaging the whole field. Some of the new way-expensive dSLR's have a full 35mm sized CCD. digital rebel and D70 CCD's are about 16 X 23 mm. So a 100mm lens functions like a 150.

ShoeshineBoy

<< <i>The only issue I've found with coin photography on my mac (the new mini) is the lack of a program that can crop in a circle >>



GraphicConverter allows you to crop circles. I always use it when working with coin images and the circle selection works well.

DennisH

I have 640MB of RAM on a G4 Mac, with both USB and Firewire ports. I use the full-blown Photoshop program for cropping/etc. I'm leaning toward the Canon 10D digital camera, as I've been a Canon user for 20+ years.

I'm clueless about which microscope to consider, but it seems multi-source fiber-optic lighting is a must?

bushmaster8

<< <i>
GraphicConverter allows you to crop circles. I always use it when working with coin images and the circle selection works well. >>



Shoeshine... where can I find GraphicConverter?

mgoodm3

The Eos 10d has a CCD of similar size to those mentioned. You'll get a bit less field of view with your scope.

ShoeshineBoy

<< <i>where can I find GraphicConverter? >>



GraphicConverter or VersionTracker. You can download the program to try it out, then pay the $30 shareware fee if it works for you. For shareware, it really is a robust piece of software. I use it for everything that I do with images.

stev32k

If you are wanting sharpness and clarity and cost is no object Nikon makes the DXM 1200F digital microscopy camera. It is (I believe) 12.0 mega pixel and is designed to be used with microscopes that are interfaced with PCs. It can be used with a standard trinocular head.

Edit: Here is a LINK