"Revealed" Trying some new lights. 1838 CBH

LindeDad

Been using Otts but not showing luster very well. Went to Wallmart and got three small desk lamps with 40watt Reaveal bulbs.
Think I like this better.

STONE

Nice photo and coin.

What kind of camera (and macro lens) are you using?

I'm planning to purchase a DSLR, and would like opinions of different cameras members here use.
I'll make a thread about this next week (sorry if this hijacks your post slightly)

robkool

Kool pics... Did you use a copy stand ???

LindeDad

Nikon D90 with a old manual Nikon Niccor 105mm lens. It works better than the 18 to 105 lens it came with for Macro work.
And yes I use a copy stand and remote shutter release. Added note images are hosted on the PCGS Registry.

BigDowgie

LindeDad,

Great pictures! I'm struggling to get quality pictures like these. Might you be able to take a picture of your set-up? That is, if you have another cameera to do this!

Thanks
Dowgie

JapanJohn

Dowgie,

You don't need to spend a lot of money to get great shots. A couple years ago I set out on a mission to take great coin photos with pocket cams. It's mostly about the lens and not the camera. All that being said if I want the grandiose shot I'm going to grab the DSLR with a macro lens. I use a 60mm Nikon Macro auto focus and I also have the 105mm manual focus Nikon. I think the old manual focus lens is better and I read somewhere once that the human eye is more accurate to focus than the auto focusing systems onboard cameras and lenses.

Don't know how deep your pockets are but if I wanted to take real good photos I'd buy something like an old Nikon D40 body, a 105mm manual focus lens and Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 software. The CCP software is awesome. In my mind tethering to a computer improves the final product a lot. For one thing you see your results right away and can adjust and get what you're looking for easier. Also a lot of people probably set their cameras on Auto or Program mode and that doesn't always net the best result. Manual settings with your aperture set about mid range will net the sharpest results. Lighting is big time important as well. Lot of people make little light boxes on the cheap with great results. I use a flash and aim it away and diffuse it. Little nuances like that can affect style a lot. I think I can recognize some guys shots here just by their distinctive style.

I think we're probably talking 4 or 500 dollars here for all that. A cheap pocket cam with a good lens will work just as well. A lot of the Canon pocket cams have great glass and can be tethered and controlled from a computer.

Don't mean to hijack the thread with camera chatter. Great looking shots and great looking coin. I'm fascinated by the coin and photography discussions on this board.

John

lkeigwin

Hi Syl, I like your CBH! Very pretty.

I am not at all a fan of Ott lights. I think you'll find those of us who shoot lots of coin images have moved on. My best results have come from halogen and incandescent. I have a wide variety of them for different applications.

The problem with GE Reveal bulbs and others like them (there are many brands of "neodymium-coated" bulbs) is that they are not color-corrected and have a very low color rendition index (CRI). About 70. Color rendition is how a light source makes the color of an object appear to human eyes and how well subtle variations in color shades are revealed.

Ordinary sunlight, incandescent, and halogen bulbs have a much better CRI, around 100 (the highest attainable). The higher the CRI the more accurate the color spectrum without spikes and drops. Low frequency colors are particularly troublesome (red and yellow shades) with neodymium bulbs.

Halogen has a very higher color temperature too, yielding more accurate and vibrant color rendition across a wider range of colors. And you can get them in a different wattages and beam angles (narrow spot to wide flood). They come in standard screw sizes to fit ordinary lamp sockets. See photo below.

The only downside to halogen bulbs is that they get hot so you have to be careful. This is true of even Reveal bulbs which are neodymium-coated incandescent bulbs. So I pay careful attention when shooting and always turn them off when not needed. One more thing...the particular bulbs below work great but don't tolerate abuse, like knocking over the lamp. PAR tungsten/halogen flood lamps are much sturdier and give great results!
Lance.

LindeDad

Halogens came on my copy stand only problem is they are on fixed arms and I can not get the angles high enouph to light the coins right. And yes I had to color adjust the images in photoshop as they were slightly off but had to do that with the Otts too.

BTW this coin is only a AU50 so there is not a lot of luster to start with but it looked totally dead when I shot it before. Will look for some of those bulbs at the store the next time I am there and try them.

Also I orginally had this lens and setup with a Nikon D40 but my son kept borrowing it so I gave it to him when I found a deal I could not pass up on the D90.

crazyhounddog

Great job imaging! The coin is also quite beautiful....

mrearlygold

Nice image!

The lcd light on eschenbach magnifiers is great. Anyone have any ideas on where to buy a similar lcd for imaging?

richardshipp

Nice coin and pictures.