numismatic photography at its best - RO image from MG

LanceNewmanOCC

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hope the owner doesn't mind me sharing this again. Just been a while since we've seen some photography that is not rivaled, especially by me!

enjoy!

FunwithMPL

Was that photo which it great by the way taken with a microscope with a usb camera on it?

ibzman350

MG is the man........... revisiting his book, as soon as I find it. I'm in need of a Macro lens for my D5100.


Herb

MrHalfDime

What a spectacular image! Mark Goodman is certainly one of the very best. What some here may not know is that the image is of the 1848 V7 (so-called '1848/7/6') half dime, incorrectly designated as V10 by Al Blythe, and as 3044 by Walter Breen. Breen suggests that the variety was discovered by Jack Collins in 1976, but what is not commonly recognized is that Dr. Valentine knew of this variety, described it in his 1931 reference, and designated it as his V7.

The repunched date numerals may or may not be a 7 and a 6, but there was decidedly some serious repunching involved, most noticeable in early die states, as with this example. What is not seen in this particular image are the diagnostic vertical die lines, one at either side of the date, running from the rim at the bottom up to the base of the rock. The engraver's die line, starting at the rim under the 8 and proceeding at a 45° angle up through the 1 and to the base, suggest that the die sinker was attempting to eliminate the error by lapping it away.

Fabulous image of an interesting, if not scarce, variety.

Staircoins

Excellent thread. Thanks to the OP, MrHD, and to MG for the terrific photo!

DorkGirl

mrearlygold

Wow!

nwcoast

Excellent!!!
Sharpness, depth of field and lighting are superb!
I suspect this is the result of a set up with bellows and a flat field lens....
And a photographer with an exceptional skill with their tools at hand- not to mention the mind and eye!


Edited for typo

messydesk

<< <i>I suspect this is the result of a set up with bellows and a flat field lens.... >>


Probably an enlarger lens on a bellows using focus stacking with a stack of 8-12 images.

nwcoast

<< <i>

<< <i>I suspect this is the result of a set up with bellows and a flat field lens.... >>


Probably an enlarger lens on a bellows using focus stacking with a stack of 8-12 images. >>



Are you referring to that very rarely used and seldom even mentioned or known of technique
scanning light photomacrography? That which utilizes a thin beam of light and an elevating stage for the subject?

Weiss

Wow, that is awesome photography.

OGDan

Amazing photo. Anyone who's ever tried this knows it isn't at all easy.

messydesk

<< <i>Are you referring to that very rarely used and seldom even mentioned or known of technique
scanning light photomacrography? That which utilizes a thin beam of light and an elevating stage for the subject? >>


Sort of a modern version of that. Focus stacking uses a series of photos taken with the focus set at different levels (like SLP), but using normal light and relying of software to align and combine the images into an output image with extended depth of field. This software can be a stand-alone program like CombineZP or a built-in feature of Photoshop CS5 (maybe CS4) and newer. The sharpness of the picture in the OP is not possible by simply stopping down a macro lens. The loss of sharpness due to diffraction at small apertures would wipe out any gain from increased depth of field. You still need either an elevating stage or a macro focusing rail for the camera, and whichever you have has to be capable of very fine adjustments, since the slices in the stack are probably tens of microns apart in depth.

mgoodm3

I don't really remember the lens involved, but I suspect it was with either a Canon 35/2.8 bellows lens, Leica 25/2 bellows lens, or a Nikon 4/0.2 planApo microscope objective on a bellows. The image was most certainly done using focus stacking - probably on the order of 20-30 images combined in Helicon Focus. There is no substitute for focus stacking at this magnification.

Meltdown

Incredible.

nwcoast

Very cool and exceptional work!

Thank you for sharing the details on the techniques.
Prior to about ten years ago i had made my living as a photographer specializing in macro work.
I have not kept up with the newest techniques since then and have only been rekindled in my interests recently when taking my own coin photos and viewing the fine work of those here on the forum who are generous enough to share.

Thank you for your generousity and the resulting inspiration to enjoy photography again...

coinsarefun

I love those close ups.......you can reach out and touch it

LanceNewmanOCC

<< <i>I don't really remember the lens involved, but I suspect it was with either a Canon 35/2.8 bellows lens, Leica 25/2 bellows lens, or a Nikon 4/0.2 planApo microscope objective on a bellows. The image was most certainly done using focus stacking - probably on the order of 20-30 images combined in Helicon Focus. There is no substitute for focus stacking at this magnification. >>



I think you told me something like that since I contacted you for assistance shortly after seeing RO post the images to this coin. I did attempt focus stacking NOT with the program you suggested and as a result had my butt handed to me and I haven't been back to attempt focus stacking since ><
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USMoneylover

Very interesting about the focus stacking...I've never heard of this before, although I'm much less experienced than some of the pros who've posted in this thread so far. Can focus stacking be done with a 105mm macro lens? Thanks for the lesson!

Unknown

This content has been removed.

LanceNewmanOCC

<< <i>Very interesting about the focus stacking...I've never heard of this before, although I'm much less experienced than some of the pros who've posted in this thread so far. Can focus stacking be done with a 105mm macro lens? Thanks for the lesson! >>



focus/image stacking has less to do with the camera than software. there are quite a few youtube videos covering this
.

messydesk

<< <i>Can focus stacking be done with a 105mm macro lens? Thanks for the lesson! >>


Yes. You can do it with any lens. You will have to manually focus the lens and then leave it, then take your series of pictures at varying distances from the camera by moving the camera somehow (e.g., a focusing rail) by an amount less than the depth of field of a single shot. Unless you are using a steel support post in your house as the copy stand mast, you will likely have to wait a couple seconds between pics for the camera to stop shaking from being moved to avoid motion blur, especially at high magnification.

USMoneylover

Thanks for clarifying this more, Messydesk. I've taken so-so close up macro photos with my 105mm Sigma lens...Can you suggest any ways to improve what I've done besides using the focus stacking technique? Here is an example of a close-up shot I took of a seated half:

LanceNewmanOCC

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i will add something about focus stacking that makes it above all else in macro photography

the more you zoom the smaller the target. what the stacking does is it takes a bunch of zoomed targets and gets the clearest parts all together in the same image

in effect doing what no camera can *(that i know of) which is have a wide-view in super clarity with no blurring if done properly. quite amazing to me still.

i wonder if a $5-10k camera will ever have this as a built in feature. i bet it wouldn't be too hard given our level of technology.
.

Mark

That picture by MG is simply fantastic! I was lead to think about the workman who made the blunder on the die. He probably thought nobody would notice. I wonder what he would think after seeing such a fantastic picture of his error.

rmpsrpms

Here's what you can do with more modest equipment. I expect Mark used the Nikon 4/0.2 (a $1000+ objective...used) for the Half Dime shot. Here is a Lincoln Cent shot using a Nikon 4/0.1 (a $25 objective used) with 8-shot stack, using CombineZP (freeware).



And here's the same coin with a Tominon 17/4 (a $50 lens used) with 6-shot stack and CZP

LanceNewmanOCC

<< <i>Here's what you can do with more modest equipment.] >>



very well done. seeing all these great images, now I'm going to have to get good at the imaging/stacking process.

simply fantastic
.

rmpsrpms

Sorry to spam...just one more shot tonight. Pushing the Nikon 4/0.1 to about 7x still gives a nice result...

LanceNewmanOCC

<< <i>Sorry to spam...just one more shot tonight. Pushing the Nikon 4/0.1 to about 7x still gives a nice result.. >>



is this what you refer to and if so how do you use it with the camera. thanks

the thing i used to get off the small particles that are pretty much naked to the eye is a blush brush women use. soft bristles and a lot of them. removes those small particles quite well. ty ladies

rmpsrpms

<< <i>is this what you refer to and if so how do you use it with the camera. thanks >>



That's it. They also make a smaller (shorter) one but it has same working distance. You can mount it on this adapter:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RMS-Thread-to-M42-Adapter-for-microscope-objective-cone-/350352400700?pt=US_Lens_Adapters_Mounts_Tubes&hash=item5192a1613c

A set (or two sets...) of M42 extension tubes will get you out far enough to get 4x magnification. Then all you need is the camera (Nikon or Canon or ??) to M42 adapter and away you go! Probably $60-$75 total. You will of course need to mount the camera very rigidly to avoid vibrations...

LanceNewmanOCC

<< <i>

<< <i>is this what you refer to and if so how do you use it with the camera. thanks >>



That's it. They also make a smaller (shorter) one but it has same working distance. You can mount it on this adapter:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RMS-Thread-to-M42-Adapter-for-microscope-objective-cone-/350352400700?pt=US_Lens_Adapters_Mounts_Tubes&hash=item5192a1613c

A set (or two sets...) of M42 extension tubes will get you out far enough to get 4x magnification. Then all you need is the camera (Nikon or Canon or ??) to M42 adapter and away you go! Probably $60-$75 total. You will of course need to mount the camera very rigidly to avoid vibrations... >>



i have a copy stand with a d90 and sigma dx f/2.8 105mm.

ty for the info
.

mrearlygold

<< <i>Sorry to spam...just one more shot tonight. Pushing the Nikon 4/0.1 to about 7x still gives a nice result...

>>





Are those images taken on a coin in a slab or raw?

Does it make a difference?

rmpsrpms

<< <i>

<< <i>Sorry to spam...just one more shot tonight. Pushing the Nikon 4/0.1 to about 7x still gives a nice result... >>



Are those images taken on a coin in a slab or raw?

Does it make a difference? >>



The Cent shots were of raw coins, but as long as the slab is clean it only degrades the image a little bit.

LanceNewmanOCC

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just a ttt for today's crowd to see some cool images
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Justacommeman

Incredible work. MJ

Shamika

Now that's amazing.

MaineJim

Very nice - learn something new everyday. Thanks

Jim

mgoodm3

To show that it doesn't take expensive equipment - beyond a camera. This picture was taken with a total of $15 worth of equipment ($10 extension tubes from eBay, $5 Spiratone 35mm enlarging lens). There is a little flare in the image (hazy brightness on the center of the image) that could probably be taken care of fairly easily with a small piece of black cloth. Stacking software can be free (CombineZP).

LanceNewmanOCC

RANDOM OLD THREAD