Need Advice For Photography Set up

Durexmetals

I am looking for some advice on what is the best photography setup for imaging coins (mostly slabs). Just bought a dino-lite but i really dont like it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks!!

drwstr123

A digital camera body, dedicated (fixed) macro lens, copy stand, and lighting.
...and you're off to the races.

BryceM

In order of importance:



1) Knowledge. Save yourself a ton of trial and error and buy Mark Goodman's book "Numismatic Photography." Don't argue. Just get it.

2) Stability. Get a good copy stand.

3) Lens. Get a high quality macro lens. Spend more on this than the rest of the setup put together.

4) Light. Get a lot of it, in steady, adjustable fixtures.

5) Camera. Buy a DLSR body. I got a used Canon for about 20% as much as my first macro lens.

6) Editing & processing software.

Raybo

Any brand dslr with a good macro lens and a COPY STAND.
Set your white balance correctly and pretty much any bright light source will make you good to go.

LanceNewmanOCC

.

105mm macro or in that range.



less is really not enough and more is not necessary but can be nice.



do some research before buying and/or get a good consult. like all big purchases.



my d90 and sigma 105 have served me extremely well but canons have some great stuff too.



rmpsrpms or whatever does bellows with cameras for a good price though ive never used one, they seem quite worthy.

.

jtlee321

If there was ever a free online coin photography school this link is it....

Coin Community Coin Photography

I learned quite a bit from it.

brg5658

Originally posted by: BryceM

In order of importance:



1) Knowledge. Save yourself a ton of trial and error and buy Mark Goodman's book "Numismatic Photography." Don't argue. Just get it.

2) Stability. Get a good copy stand.

3) Lens. Get a high quality macro lens. Spend more on this than the rest of the setup put together.

4) Light. Get a lot of it, in steady, adjustable fixtures.

5) Camera. Buy a DLSR body. I got a used Canon for about 20% as much as my first macro lens.

6) Editing & processing software.

I agree with these ingredients, except #2, #3, and #4 are ordered differently from how I would rank them.



1) Knowledge / practice

2) Light

3) Stability (copy-stand)

4) Lens

5) Camera body

6) Software



As long as the lens can focus at true macro 1:1, you can photograph anything coin-related...super expensive glass is of little if any importance when almost all coin photos are downsized to 800x800 pixels or smaller for web viewing anyway. I've also seen very compelling arguments that cameras with more than 10 Megapixels or so are pretty much also overkill if your only goal is to use your camera for photographing coins. More Megapixels won't hurt your photos necessarily, but it becomes a wash when you're downsizing the final product anyway. Of course, these comments apply to taking good photos of full obverse and reverse images of coins. If all you care about is photographing slabs (as the OP seems to imply), I don't see the point of even buying a macro capable lens -- you could just use a stock lens.

Durexmetals

Wow. Thanks for all the info. Anybody have suggestions on where to buy a copy stand and macro lens ?

BryceM

Copy stand - I got mine off eBay. Chinese. Not outstanding, but it works & it came with the lights. Macro lens........ lots of photo supply stores on-line, or you can check photography sites & forums for a good used one.



brg5658, I debated a bit about the order. Mostly I harp on that because most newB's assume the fanciest, highest MegaPixel body is the most important ingredient. As you said, it's virtually the least important part. There's probably no correct rank list, as all the parts have to work together, but here's my thinking......



All the light and all the optical clarity in the world is useless if the camera is bouncing around. When it comes to stability, the copy stand is just part of the equation. Lots of light means faster shutter times and less blur. Using a remote shutter release, a timer, or even better, a tethered connection with mirror lock helps even more. Once you have all that figured out, the quality and position of the lights is crucial to taking great photos. Maybe light should come before lens, but if the lens isn't great, there is literally nothing you can do to compensate. Taking good photos isn't too hard. Even some of the new smart phones are doing a respectable job. Taking GREAT photos with outstanding color and sharpness is harder.....



Oh, and a photography thread is useless without some photos:

messydesk

So, yes, you need the stuff listed, but to help further it would be nice to know what your goals and budget (both in terms of money and time learning the craft) are. You can get a usable setup for $100, or spend $4000 on top of the line equipment that won't do you much better without having mastered some basics.

Durexmetals

BryceM those are really nice photos.

grip

I agree. Outstanding pictures.

mercurydimeguy

For what it's worth, and this might seem trivial...



The background on which you lay down the slab matters, huge! Some people use black. It absorbs light. Some people don't think about this and put it on a gray or other color surface, which affects the image look/quality and color.



Through 10's of thousand of images I've come to the realization that white is the best (I might be alone on this). It reflects light (from bottom of slab) and lights up the coin more evenly. It also helps to maintain accurate color because I set the white balance on the same background.



I uses a 96 brightness white piece of printer paper (nothing fancy). I use it to set the white balance, and then put the slab right on top of it. As a result, I typically don't get too many of the dark/hot spots on my images like when I used a black piece of paper or black felt.



Here's an example of an image with 98% accurate color (I think, anyway).