Coin Photography Improvement???

keyman64

I had reason to photograph a few things last week so I grabbed a few extra items. Coin photography has always been a pain for me and I have not done much of it in the past 6 months due to so much frustration with the task but I did something different this time that makes my photos a little better I think. Here is an example of a very challenging coin to photograph(due to the toning).

1941-S/S FS-501 in PCGS MS62FB, was ANACS MS64FB. There are NO HITS on the coin that cause this to be a 62FB. I believe this coin was graded so low because of the toning. There is no reason for this not to be in at least a 63FB Holder...IMO. I bet if it were cracked out(not worth it) and a little MS70 applied with a Q-Tip to get rid of most of the toning then it would be in a better holder. It has plenty of luster. Anyway.....

Photo taken close to a year ago...


Photo taken last week with ALL OF THE SAME EQUIPMENT, just different things done with the same two lights...the MACRO has not improved any, that's for sure. The MintMark shows that.


Click Here to see my NON-COIN photography...which I think is a bit better.

Let me know if you think my coin photography has improved any based on this example. Thanks!

blu62vette

The color sure is different on the 2, did you set the white balance for the recent shot? The first ones looks to be more true on color.

JamesM

I would use manual focus and adjust your Fstop number to address the sharpness

lcoopie

f 8
iso 100
manual focus
manual white balance

use exposure compensation to reduce exposure as I believe your recent photo is over exposed

keyman64

The coin looks a lot more like the recent photo...a lot more luster than previously shown. Custom White Balance was set each time with a GRAY CARD. The most recent photos were shot in MANUAL at F9 with ISO 200. I do not see an issue with sharpness but maybe I am blind...I did shoot it with a Nikon 105mm MACRO coupled with a 2x tamron teleconverter which may have made the images a tiny bit soft. I tried Manual Focus for the MM but could never get it fine tuned just right.

keyman64

<< <i>The color sure is different on the 2, did you set the white balance for the recent shot? The first ones looks to be more true on color. >>

The first photos last year were under exposed for sure....the new ones might be a tiny bit over exposed, but not by much.

MsMorrisine

there is a quality difference between the new obverse and new reverse.

sharpness? focus?? I don't know. but I can see it and sense it.

lkeigwin

Lose the teleconverter. The 105mm macro should be fine.

Adjust white balance with your editor, as necessary. Shoot raw so you can tweak for shadows and glare.

Focus is off. Try harder. You may have to take a dozen photos to get it right. Manual focus is best but can be frustrating.

You're probably using a remote shutter trigger or timer, right?
Lance.

keyman64

<< <i>Lose the teleconverter. The 105mm macro should be fine.

Adjust white balance with your editor, as necessary. Shoot raw so you can tweak for shadows and glare.

Focus is off. Try harder. You may have to take a dozen photos to get it right. Manual focus is best but can be frustrating.

You're probably using a remote shutter trigger or timer, right?
Lance. >>

The teleconverter allows for better working distance but you are right, I should get rid of it and buy a 200mm f/4 Macro one day when I am rich...it will make a difference in the end product for sure. White balance is fine but I can adjust the levels a hair for improvement. I hate RAW but I certainly understand where you are coming from.

messydesk

1. The teleconverter will kill the performance of the Nikon macro lens, as you found out while trying to get a good shot of the mint mark. Don't use it. If it means the dime is relatively small in the viewfinder at you preferred working distance, remember that the pictures you show here are less than 0.3 MP per side and you have probably a camera that 10 MP or more.

2. Use ISO 100 (unless you have a D70, I guess, where the minimum is 200)

3. I've never had much luck doing in-camera white balance adjustments with a gray card on my D80. Not sure why. If you're shooting a series of pictures, take a way out-of-focus picture of your gray card before the rest of your shots, and calibrate the white balance in post processing (I'm using Adobe Camera Raw) to the image of your gray card. The second picture leads me to believe you're having similar problems doing this, as they look rather pink.

4. Manual focus will get you the sharpest pictures. Consider a macro focusing rail that is capable of letting you make much finer adjustments than you can make by focusing with the lens barrel. When using one of these, the focus of the lens is fixed, and you are moving the camera toward or away from the subject to focus.

TomB

I don't think you need the teleconverter and don't think you need a 200mm lens, either. The below shot was taken with a Nikon D70 and 105mm lens and was not taken in RAW format. I shoot anywhere from f8 through f11 and also use ISO 200, which is the lowest option for the D70.

keyman64

Thanks John...I'm thinking a "macro focusing rail" will be a HUGE improvement over just using the lens. What a royal pain with terrible results I have gone through with coin photography. I have Nikon D300...not that it matters. ISO Really does not matter with this camera at 400 or below as long as things are properly exposed. I used 200 so I could have a shorter exposure time(1/30th if I recall) at the DOF(F9) I wanted.

My monitor is set at 1600x1200 so I see now loss in sharpness but if I change my monitor's resolution to 1280 x 1024 then I see what you all are talking about....so if I were to go to 1024x768 I bet it would look really soft. I should do that more often.

Maybe I will try again soon...but I think a macro focusing rail will be required....I need to go look into that....or get rich and buy a 200mm f/4.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

keyman64

REALLY NICE TOM!!! Are you using a macro focusing rail or did you use autofocus?

TomB

I have found that autofocus is worthless in coin photography. PM sent on the focus rail.

keyman64

Thanks Tom!

messydesk

<< <i>My monitor is set at 1600x1200 so I see now loss in sharpness but if I change my monitor's resolution to 1280 x 1024 then I see what you all are talking about....so if I were to go to 1024x768 I bet it would look really soft. I should do that more often. >>


Only run your monitor at its native resolution, otherwise you will be introducing a degradation in image quality you don't need.


<< <i>Maybe I will try again soon...but I think a macro focusing rail will be required....I need to go look into that....or get rich and buy a 200mm f/4. >>


I have the Nikon AF 200/4 Micro Nikkor, and the focus is very touchy on the lens, making the focusing rail a must-have, so it looks like you're buying one, anyway.

Another thing with the D300 is that you have mirror lockup mode, which lets you flip the mirror up before taking the picture, eliminating camera shake induced by flipping the mirror up immediately before the shutter opens. Use this feature and your pictures will be sharper.

keyman64

Thanks John. I knew about the mirror lock-up but never thought about using it...I guess this would be a good example of when to use it...will have to figure that out.