New Macro Lens - first couple of clicks

renomedphys

Stuck this by accident in the Set Registry Forum, but meant to put it here.

Nikon AF 200mm f4 D on D7000. On camera SB800 Flash with ring flash adapter and bottom half blocked. No enhancement AT ALL.

Boosibri

Wow really nice! That is a great lens from what I have heard.

Bodin

any kind of diffusion? I mean, WOW

morgansforever

Very nice. The MPL Lincoln seems a bit out of focus, tiny bit. Is the IHC doubled?

lkeigwin

Nice lens. The 200mm macro is my go-to lens. The only time I use a shorter one is when shooting larger coins.

You get good results with a ring light. I gave up on it.
Lance.

Wabbit2313

Very nice!

TopographicOceans

Great pics and beautiful colors

nwcoast

Those are beautiful photos and some of the best results I've ever seen from a ring flash.
That's a lens I've always wanted.... A sweet one!
Great work

messydesk

I have that lens, too. Love it. Nice shots!

rmpsrpms

Very nice result. I use my 200AF Micro for walk-around shooting on the D7000, never had enough room on my desk for a big enough setup for coins. The long working distance gives a lot of lighting flexibility. With ringflash you're getting a nearly axial look.

You say no enhancement but I assume you mean post-processing, correct? Which Picture Control mode did you use, and which Sharpening, Contrast, Saturation, Brightness and Hue settings?

Purfrock

Congrats on the new lens. Those pictures look great!

renomedphys

<< <i>Very nice. The MPL Lincoln seems a bit out of focus, tiny bit. Is the IHC doubled? >>


I think they are both a tad out of focus. I was focusing manually and just trying to get the working distance right, not paying too much attention to level or the sort.

As for post processing, there was none. I merely imported them into iPhoto, cropped them, posted them onto my Flickr account, and linked to them here. No hue, brightness, sharpness, anything except whatever the camera does by default in "auto" mode.

CoinZip

rmpsrpms

Auto mode uses the "Standard" Picture Control with default sharpening level of 3 out of 9.

Your lighting is at a high enough angle that you can see the basining of the MPL fields. You're getting direct reflection on the bust and the fields just around the bust. As you go farther out toward the rim the angle changes and you get less reflection, so it looks darker. It's a nice look for an MPL, emphasizing the bust and immediate field areas. The IHC has a flat field so it reflects more evenly and gives a brighter look right to the edge.

Swampboy

Terrific first results!!!

Nic

<< <i>Nice lens. The 200mm macro is my go-to lens. The only time I use a shorter one is when shooting larger coins.

You get good results with a ring light. I gave up on it.
Lance. >>



How far away for a dollar sized coin Lance?

K

Meltdown

Incredible shots! That Lincoln is stunning up close!

AMRC

I don't know, could you get a little closer?

Kyle

Impressive.

sparky64

What great pics.
The subject coins are nothing to sneeze at either.

lkeigwin

<< <i>

<< <i>Nice lens. The 200mm macro is my go-to lens. The only time I use a shorter one is when shooting larger coins.

You get good results with a ring light. I gave up on it.
Lance. >>



How far away for a dollar sized coin Lance?

K >>

If I max out the copy stand a silver dollar won't fit in the frame. I think it's about 30" from the end of the lens to the coin. If it's important to you I can measure it exactly.
Lance.

icsoccer

Wolf359

Terrific photos. That is clearly a great lens.

1Bustcollector

Renomedphys

Shall I assume the "key" to your excellent photo was due to you blocking half of your ring flash?

rmpsrpms

For those of you interested in lenses, Mark Goodman maintains an excellent website where he has measured a wide variety of lenses using imatest software to get objective data on them. He has recently updated the site to include lens comparisons and other nifty features. The 200mm AF Micro is among the very best macro lenses available, and his measurements show it. Mark does measurements exclusively in the macro range, so what his measurements don't show is that the 200mm AF Micro is also one of the sharpest 200mm lenses available at infinity focus as well. It is probably THE BEST overall lens out there, which is quite the statement as there are usually compromises in other areas when lens manufacturers make a 1:1 capable macro lens. Here is the link directly to the 200mm AF Micro review page, and from there you can link to the main selection page an look at all the excellent work Mark has done to give us an objective database on macro lenses suitable for coin photography...

Nikon 200mm AF Micro lens review by Mark Goodman

pennyannie

Fantastic, a few years back after seeing all the great pics posted on this site I went out and bought a cannon rebel T1i and looked at the 300 page owners manual and lost intrest before I even bought a lens.

What is the approx. cost of what you are using from camera, lens,stand,light?

How long does it take a older challenged person to do semi decent work or is it even possible?

renomedphys

<< <i>Renomedphys

Shall I assume the "key" to your excellent photo was due to you blocking half of your ring flash? >>



In a word, yes.

In more words, leaving the bottom half of the ring exposed creates an artificial looking light, mainly because this is just not how we look at coins. Usually, we look at coins with a single light source and both or one eye open. Usually we try to hold the coin such that the lighting is direct but not reflecting and distracting our eyes. This is the closest I have been able to get to that optimum scenario.

lostincoins

Very nice images and I am also surprised you were successful with the ring light. Could we get a pic of your setup to better visualize it? Your coins are very nice and that MPL is fantastic. That IHC has a lot going on.

CoinJunkie

Those images are superb!

rmpsrpms

<< <i>Fantastic, a few years back after seeing all the great pics posted on this site I went out and bought a cannon rebel T1i and looked at the 300 page owners manual and lost intrest before I even bought a lens.

What is the approx. cost of what you are using from camera, lens,stand,light?

How long does it take a older challenged person to do semi decent work or is it even possible? >>



The D7000 body is perhaps $1200, and you can pick up the 200mm AF Micro for perhaps $1200 used. Copy stand is a few hundred. Lights another $50-$100 depending on what you do. Maybe $3000 total.

You can put together a MUCH cheaper setup though. Your T1i can do just as well as the D7000 if you choose to use flash, or even better if you use continuous lighting. A number of <$200 (even <$50) lenses have performance at macro magnifications equal or better than the 200mm AF Micro for web publishing. You will still need a copy stand or tripod. Take a look at this thread on how to put together a setup for <$400 (way under since you already have the camera), also capable of taking high mag pics of varieties if that's your thing. Plus there are lots of folks around that will help you get the most from it...

Under $400 setup

ricko

Amazing pictures......detail is very sharp....Cheers, RickO

pennyannie

rmps- Thanks for the link

Nic

<< <i>

<< <i>

<< <i>Nice lens. The 200mm macro is my go-to lens. The only time I use a shorter one is when shooting larger coins.

You get good results with a ring light. I gave up on it.
Lance. >>



How far away for a dollar sized coin Lance?

K >>

If I max out the copy stand a silver dollar won't fit in the frame. I think it's about 30" from the end of the lens to the coin. If it's important to you I can measure it exactly.
Lance. >>



Thank you Lance. Perhaps a 105 would be better for me.

lkeigwin

It's hard to beat a 180 or 200mm lens. But I agree that a 100mm is a great compromise. I sold mine and now I wish I'd kept it.
Lance.

rmpsrpms

The advantage a 200mm lens gives is in the long working distance and flexibility in lighting. The extra distance allows you to compensate for the large diameter of the macro lens so you can get high lighting angles. But if you are doing mostly Dollars, then a 105mm lens is a great choice as the working distance of the 200mm is extreme and that of the 105 is pretty large. If doing mostly Cents, which are exactly half the size of Dollars and thus need twice the magnification and half the working distance, then a longer lens makes sense. If you're doing both, then the choice can be tough because the IRONIC TWIST with modern macro lenses is they shorten focal length as magnification increases. This goes exactly the opposite how you would like in order to maintain long working distance!!

One option is to use a 105mm macro on its own for Dollars to Quarters, and then add a 2x teleconverter for Nickels to Dimes and smaller. This will essentially make your working distance pretty constant across the full range of coin sizes. The disadvantage is the teleconverter reduces the aperture, so the smaller coins will lose two stops, but that can be an acceptable tradeoff to keep relatively fixed lighting independent of coin size. It also gives you an option for medium magnification variety shots, as it will take the 1:1 capable 105mm to 2:1 capable 200mm.

You can play the teleconverter game with a 90mm, 85mm, or 60mm lens as well. Even the venerable 55mm Micro will give reasonable working distances with this technique.

Another option is to go with a Zoom macro lens. The Nikon 70-180mm Micro is pretty much purpose-built for coin photography. Use it at 70-100mm for Dollars and Halves, and 120-180mm for Quarters to Dimes. It is around the same price range as the 200mm. With it you can fix your setup for lighting and working distance, and just zoom the lens to frame the coin. If you are tolerant of manual focus the Vivitar 90-180 Flat Field Macro is another good choice, though the max magnification is a bit lower so won't fill the frame with a Cent.

messydesk

<< <i>Another option is to go with a Zoom macro lens. The Nikon 70-180mm Micro is pretty much purpose-built for coin photography. Use it at 70-100mm for Dollars and Halves, and 120-180mm for Quarters to Dimes. It is around the same price range as the 200mm. >>


True. The difference between 180 and 200 at the long end is not much. For an APS-C format camera, a big advantage of this over the 200 mm would be the fact that you can't shoot full slab shots with the 200 (full frame you can). You probably won't lose any money on this lens, either. It currently sells used for more than it originally cost new, as it was discontinued about 10 years ago and is in high demand.

lostincoins

The Sigma EX 150mm Macro is a very nice lens and has reviewed with very high scores. It lets you have just enough flexibility to shoot dimes to dollars and holders. The nice thing about the Sigma and other higher end macro lenses that has not been mentioned is the focusing is done inside the lens and it does not move. Focusing is smooth and quiet, focusing can be limited to eliminate focus searching and when you get close you can manual focus without switching between manual and auto for fine tuning of focus.

rmpsrpms

The Sigma 150 is indeed a good lens and very popular among coin photographers. Super sharp and good working distance. It's enough shorter than the 200mm AF Micro that you can have a reasonable working distance for Dollars, though full slab shots might push the limits of most copy stands.

Nic

The last time I shot coin photos was with a Nikon Coolpix. This was a herculean effort in an old NGC Fatty.






Please give me a rough idea of how far the lens will be from a 3c silver, and a dollar, with a 105.

Thank you for your help.

K

mgoodm3

with a Nikon 105VR you will be full screen on a dollar from about 11.75 inches - from the front of the lens to the coin.

with a 3c silver you will be about 6.25 inches.

with a Nikon 200AF 24 inches from a dollar and about 10.25 from a trime.

The 200 is a long lens and your copystand will need to be quite high. When I look through the viewfinder with a dollar on the 200, I can just barely reach the dollar with my arm to move it around.

Nic

Thanks Mark.