coin photography question

Walkernut

I recently purchased a Nikon D60 camera on this board's recommendation for taking coin pictures. I collect mainly toned walkers and was hoping to take exceptional pictures of my coins. While some came out better than expected, others not so good compared to my old "point and shoot" Olympus C-2100 camera. I strive for a picture that looks like the coin in hand but I can't get that with my Nikon on coins with subtle color variations. As an example, the composite picture below shows the top left hand picture taken with the Olympus catches the various colors while the other three from the Nikon under the same and different lighting conditions don't bring out those colors. Using a program called Opanda I discovered that a renown Ebay seller of toned coins uses a "point and shoot" Nikon E995 camera for his coins and the quality and look is exceptional. Is this a characteristic of DSLR cameras or is it the optics or some other factor that makes the difference. I don't have a problem using whichever camera will produce the best most realistic picture but I'm curious, why the difference.

kryptonitecomics

It would appear your images are too dark or have dark patches so how many lights and what type are you using? You should be able to get better color quality with the correct lighting, plus are you angling the coins or just keeping them flat to the lens?

cheezhed

What are you using for a camera support?

What lens setting and white balance is used for the p&s vs. dslr (zoom length and aperture)?

The top left appears to be underexposed with the bottom right looking closest but just a tad overexposed to top left.

It is impossible to make A/B comparisons unless everything is equal.

Overexposure will wash out colors while underexposure tends to bring them out.

Based on shadows by the head for example, the lighting was not identical to the others.

messydesk

The best coin pics are taken with dSLRs because the people that take the best pics have dSLRs. (I hope that made sense.)

Actually, the pic I like best is top right. It's much more evenly lit and doesn't have blown-out oversaturated areas. If the white balance isn't quite right, that's correctable, and may be the source of your problems. The two pictures taken with the same lighting seem to differ only in white balance and sharpness. Assuming the focus is optimally set in both cases, the two cameras handle sharpening differently during pre-processing of the image, meaning you may have to handle it differently in post-processing.

FunwithMPL

You should get a copy of Numismatic Photograph book by Mark Goodman. You will fine it very helpful with all type of coins.

mumu

Maybe im reading it wrong but I think top left is grabbing the least color. Id say top right is grabbing the best color of the coin while bottom left has the best white balance.

renomedphys

The answer to your question lies within hours upon hours of back strain. Good luck!

sbeverly

Bottom left looks a tad overexposed.

Walkernut

I use a tripod with the dslr and shoot straight on in manual mode with an f8 setting and pre-set manual WB. With the p&s I hold the camera and shoot in automatic mode while tilting the coin at different angles. The picture below is taken with the p&s straight on with more lighting and still shows the colors but also the pattern of those colors, or freckles if you well, which you don't see from the dslr. On the photo from my first post the top left and bottom right are taken under an 18 watt Ott lamp by the p&s and dslr respectively. The top right was under a cfl and bottom left under a halogen light. The coin in hand is closer in white balance to the bottom left with the luminosity and color of the top and bottom right and the distinctive color pattern of the top left. Basically a blend of all four. I bought "THE BOOK" and read it over several times and have taken a thousand pictures with my new camera. With certain toned coins I get the results I'm looking for and others not. It's hard to set up both cameras identically because I can't get the light source in the same place. With the dslr and a 105 mm lens I can set the camera back a foot and and have multiple light sources, not so with the p&s in macro mode from four inches away. Gary



This pic below is using the dslr with the same lighting as above.

SoCalBigMark

This is with a 995 just leaning up against a ott light.

lkeigwin

Like Matt says, it takes a lot of practice. Plenty of experimentation with lighting. A 100mm macro lens makes a big difference in focus and gives you more lighting options.

I am surprised how few people use good post-processing software. If you shoot raw you have all the data there to work with and the software will give you hundreds of adjustment options to arrive at images that look like the coin.
Lance.

50cents

Can you tether your Nikon camera to your computor and view and control your camera shots as you shoot?


I use a Canon and this has help me a great deal

Walkernut

Lance, I'm not surprised. I looked into that and it's another $100 software program to manipulate raw images. I downloaded a sixty day free trial and played with it for a few hours and wondered if it would do what I wanted. It looked like a steep learning curve since I don't have a lot of experience with digital imaging software and my back has had a pretty good workout. It's yet another software program to tie the camera to the computer and I just now read that it might improve my picture taking capability.

mgoodm3

the last pic looks like one or two lights at the top of the coin. that results in good lighting for the left and right parts, but not the top or bottom. Another light around 9 o'clock would help fill in the dark areas on the image. Seems like you need more lights or to space the ones you have better.

LeeG

As most have already said; lighting, lens, practice.


D60 images: