Coin Photography guru's what m I doing wrong?
CoinZip
Posts: 3,253 ✭✭✭
CoinZip
Posts: 3,253 ✭✭✭
CoinZip
Posts: 3,253 ✭✭✭
Comments
Aperture is pretty high at F20. That's a small opening, allowing less light into the camera. Are you doing this for depth of field? Is the coin not square to the camera? Otherwise, try F/5.6-8 or so. You'll get faster shutter speeds. Use plenty of light.
Not a big deal but I would go with a lower ISO (I use 100) for less grainy images. It tends to be a problem with pretty high settings and 400 is not too extreme. But why are you up there?
Lance.
<< <i>What lens are you using? Lighting?
But why are you up there?
Lance. >>
First off this image is straight from the camera, no editing at all.
No lens just the one that came with the camera.
No lights, other than the normal room lighting (the light in the middle of the ceiling).
By "up there" I'm assuming your referring to the f stop, its because there is no light, with no light the shutter has to stay open longer to allow more light in.
All that being said, this is exactly what the coin looks like in hand, in the room it was photographed in, with the given light or lack of. Now if you shine bright lights on the coin, you see more luster.
This coin is the first coin I ever sent into PCGS, it came back MS 64RB, which I feel was pretty accurate.
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From your EXIF data, you have two things that may mess up the quality of the image:
1) f/20 aperture. This will make the pixel-level details fuzzy due to diffraction.
2) 3.2sec shutter speed. This in itself is not an issue, except it can allow any small vibrations to blur the image.
The image is small, so it's impossible to tell if either of these is messing up the shot.
Ray
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White Balance?
Try f/8 or f/9 then increase your shutter spead for a sharper image.
Try moving the lights around?
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<< <i>Try moving the lights around? >>
so your suggestion is to move the ceiling?
<< <i>No lights, other than the normal room lighting (the light in the middle of the ceiling). >>
.
If you think the photo looks exactly like the coin in-hand, why try to improve on it?
In general, most people who shoot lots of coins use dedicated lights (which can be adjusted), a wider aperture, 18% grey card for white balance, and a macro lens. It's hard to see fine detail from the photo you showed us, but honestly it looks pretty good. I promise you it's better than I could obtain with a 3.2 second exposure.
My setup uses enough halogen light that with a 100mm macro lens, I'm usually at ISO 200, f/6.3, with a shutter between 1/320 to 1/2,500. I worry slightly about melting the slabs or plastic pronged gaskets, but so far so good.
I usually shoot each coin at three or four different exposures and pick the one that provides the best contrast & detail.
....... but, that's just me. There are many ways to do a thing. Pick one that works for you and go with it.
<< <i>
<< <i>Try moving the lights around? >>
so your suggestion is to move the ceiling?
<< <i>No lights, other than the normal room lighting (the light in the middle of the ceiling). >>
. >>
I missed that.
Get some cheap lights and CFL bulbs then if not happy?...
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<< <i>i missed that.
i am really glad you saw the humor
as much chaos as is out there, i try not to pass up on too many opportunities to make someone smile or laugh. words on a screen can be a bit more challenging for this goal, but it is doable
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