Photography novice needs help.

QuarterCollector

I usually send my coins for trueview but it has become a very costly hassle. I've been contemplating buying photo equipment and Mark's books but the other day I saw an add for dinolite and was intrigued. I also saw a microscope with a built in LCD monitor which is digital picture capable. Which would be the better route, photo, dinolite, microscope? Who uses what? Does anyone have examples of dinolite or microscope images?

Tom

blu62vette

I doubt a dinolite will fit your needs if you are used to Truviews....

mgoodm3

dinolite is fine for close-ups, not so great for whole coins.

DIMEMAN

I saw a demo of the dino lite at the FUN show. I was very nice and easy and did really good pics. I just haven't pulled the trigger on spending money on things other than dimes.

Flatwoods

I would get a reasonably priced point and shoot. A cheap copy stand and a couple of OTT lights.

You should be able to get this for around $200-$250, maybe less. If you are handy you could make a satisfactory copy stand.
But you can get a small one fairly reasonably.

In no time at all you'll be upgrading and spending tons of cash!

Bochiman

Bought a Nikon S10 a few years ago...nice camera for simple coin pics.
I'm still learning my Nikon D90 and all the lens, but the S10 was low priced and easy to use.

The dinolite is more for extreme closeups than full coin pictures. I would not get it as a full coin picture replacement. I have one and use it for extreme closeups.

seemyauction

The DSLR I use cost $450 I only have the lense that came with the camera and to be honest its fine for what I do.

I also have a Dino Lite, you can take a photo of the whole coin with it but not a very good one.....

I use the Dino Lite instead of a loupe, the computer its hooked to has a 34" monitor, takes all the squinting out of it.


eddited to add the photo taken with my Dino Lite

drwstr123

Don't lose sight of the fact that a DSLR may be used to take pics in the real world too.