When did coin photography become popular?

braddick

Did collectors back in the 1950's or earlier take photos of their coins or was this left to professional catalogers? Was the camera equipment back in those days even capable of macro type photography and was the skill set to master this type of photography within the grasp of the average collector?

Followup: When did taking photos of coins become popular or a pastime with you?
Was it the advent of digital imagery and cameras coupled with computer processing that brought you to enjoy, or at least, participate?

Are there those here who have never taken a photo of a coin nor plan to ever, simply leaving it to the professionals that offer these services instead?

Zoins

Digital cameras + computers + Internet

ctf_error_coins

Photography now is easier that ever ...

Everyone now is a photographer ......

The professional photography community has taken a huge hit in the last decade .........

LindeDad

The improvement just since I joined this forum have amounted to quantum leaps.

NewEnglandRarities

<< <i>Did collectors back in the 1950's or earlier take photos of their coins or was this left to professional catalogers? Was the camera equipment back in those days even capable of macro type photography and was the skill set to master this type of photography within the grasp of the average collector?

Followup: When did taking photos of coins become popular or a pastime with you?
Was it the advent of digital imagery and cameras coupled with computer processing that brought you to enjoy, or at least, participate?

Are there those here who have never taken a photo of a coin nor plan to ever, simply leaving it to the professionals that offer these services instead? >>



Photography of coins really became large in the late 90s to mid 2000s. While many would take film pictures of coins earlier, another popular method was making aluminum foil impressions of coins so they could easily show what their coins detail and surfaces looked like. This is somewhat of a lost art as it because unnecessary with the digital cameras, but it is still cool when one comes accross a foil impression of a rare coin done in the 50s-60s.

WTCG

Mostly in the last few years which is the same time photography capabilities have expanded exponentially. Nowadays even non photography oriented electonics can take awesome pictures. My iPad takes better pictures than all the cameras I've ever owned could ever take.

Coin photography or any photography wasn't widespread popular in the 50's because equipment and setup were cumbersome and time-consuming. Taking one photograph and getting it developed and printed was inconvenient and expensive. And on analog film you couldn't take a dozen shots then cut it down to just the one best shot.

Personally I've always liked photography as a hobby. I just don't like taking pictures of coins as I leave that up to the pros. The hobby kind of faded for about half decade until the day I learned my iPhone and iPad can take better photos than I could've ever imagined. From that day on it's been a new day.

messydesk

Look at how fast someone can produce decent pictures with a digital camera today, and compare that to a generation ago. Let's say it takes 200 pictures to become proficient enough to produce one keeper for every two shots.

Today you can shoot 200 pictures, get immediate feedback for focus, exposure and other stuff, experiment with corrections, and shoot your 40 pictures to give you 20 keepers in a single afternoon, getting free feedback from the internet all the while.

Back up to 1982. Instead of free digital film, you're paying $3 in 1982 dollars for 24 shots if you are doing prints, $5 if you're doing transparencies. You now need to invest $30-50 in film to take the 240 pictures. Want close-up? You have to use an SLR with additional macro-capable accessories. No pocket camera option. You don't get auto-focus, either. That didn't come out until thd mid-late 80s. Lights and a copy stand look the same, but you have to buy gels or filtration to handle your white balance if you want to shoot color. After you take a picture, your feedback doesn't come until after you process (and possibly print) the film. Well, you have 24 exposures on the roll, so you may as well take 24 shots before processing the first one. Don't forget to write down exactly what you did, because unless you want to pay $7-10 a roll for one hour processing (still 1982 dollars), your $5 processing won't be ready for 2 days. Since you need feedback often at first, you can't start another roll of film until you get the first one back, so those 200 pictures are going to take you 3 weeks to shoot and cost you another $50 to process, most of which will be thrown out, since you're still learning. Of course, that assumes you have a seasoned coin photographer handy who can give you feedback. If you don't, you could always contact one by phone or through the mail and send prints for comments. Assuming your contact can comment and send feedback immediately, that's another 6 days. Need captions and a custom background? Type a label, cut it out with a scissors, and place it on your background. Then place the coin on the background and shoot the picture. Careful not to wrinkle the label, and hope it stays flat. (It will be a little out of focus unless you stop the lens way down or raise it to the level of the surface of the coin.) Want obverse and reverse on the same print? Your camera will have to handle multiple exposures and you'll have to use an absolutely black background or have some capability to mask half of the frame with a dark slide.

What was the question, again?

TwoKopeiki

Not sure about aluminum imprints, but when I was a kid I pencil rubbings of coins through a sheet of thin paper. Worked great for cataloging.

coinsarefun

<< <i>Digital cameras + computers + Internet >>





Pretty much sums it up

Lehigh96

<< <i>Digital cameras + computers + Internet >>



A little OT, but it is not coincidence that the rainbow toned coin market exploded at the same time, for the same reasons.

COALPORTER

<< <i>Coin photography or any photography wasn't widespread popular in the 50's because equipment and setup were cumbersome and time-consuming. Taking one photograph and getting it developed and printed was inconvenient and expensive. And on analog film you couldn't take a dozen shots then cut it down to just the one best shot.
>>



Is that 1850 or 1950? Kodak came out with some highly popular point and shot cameras about 1900! You could even
wright a message on them - thus the "photo postcard" cought on like wild-fire.

WTCG

<< <i>

<< <i>Coin photography or any photography wasn't widespread popular in the 50's because equipment and setup were cumbersome and time-consuming. Taking one photograph and getting it developed and printed was inconvenient and expensive. And on analog film you couldn't take a dozen shots then cut it down to just the one best shot.
>>



Is that 1850 or 1950? Kodak came out with some highly popular point and shot cameras about 1900! You could even
wright a message on them - thus the "photo postcard" cought on like wild-fire. >>



In the 1950's there were point-and-click cameras for amateur photographers but the color capabilities were very limited and getting those photographs into a viewable state was relatively expensive and slow. In those days you could not instantly view a high definition picture, or any picture the moment it was taken.

Even in the 1990's it was still expensive to have film developed into photos. I still remember in 1994 on my 8th grade Washington D.C. trip I took 4 rolls of pictures and it cost $65 to develop on a half day turnaround. Parents gave me lots of grief over that.

Cocoinut

I worked for a dealer in the early 1980's, and we used to produce small auction catalogs. We took some decent coin photos with a special camera that used a specific type of Polaroid film. If I remember correctly, we would first shoot the obverse of the coin, which was on the left side of a tray. The coin would then be moved to the right side, flipped to shown the reverse, and another photo would be taken. The finished result was a single black and white photo that showed both sides of the coin. The prints weren't very large, so they didn't show the detail that today's digital photos display, but at the time, they were as good as we could get without employing a professional photographer.

Jim