TrueViews.
keets
Posts: 25,351 ✭✭✭✭✭
We have had the TrueView service available to us for a number of years now. When it first became available there was quite a bit of criticism which tended to be about the quality of the pictures, their ability to accurately represents the coins. The critique ran the gamut of "cartoonish" to "glamour shots" and everything in between.
For my own part, I was skeptical at first and it seemed to me that some of the pictures I was seeing were exaggerated in how they showed the vibrant colors and the beauty of the coins. Armed with that unfounded bias, not based in any real experience, I resisted for a number of years. That was until about two years ago when I finally waded into the pool. I mailed a regrade submission under the Gold Shield service which included the TrueView images. I waited a little more anxiously this time for the grades to post.
I would just like to say that I have never been disappointed with ANY of the images and for what I have requested they have been wholly realistic, showing the coins/medals as they really are.
I recommend the service for anyone lacking the requisite skills to take good pictures. Way to go, Phil!! 
Al H.
Comments
I agree with Al.... the pictures are excellent... as true as coin photography can be. They do not do 'beauty shots'...and that is fine with me. The more realistic, the better. Cheers, RickO
Well maybe except for Lincoln Cents - they tend to be juiced up a bit too red for my liking.
WS
Have always been happy with my TrueViews a few definitely skew towards "glamour shots" but personally don't mind that at all.
I wish they could have an option on how to shoot proof coins is my only critique. I know proof coins in general are tough to image and represent how they look in hand but ones like this of mine for instance:
a 63CAM that is nothing like how the coin looks in hand. It basically shows the colors and that's all. I think this is done with axial lighting?
I'd much rather have it imaged like this one which I recently sent in:
which I'm guessing they shot the way they did because of the light cameo which is rare for WLHs. Personally the WLH image is much more what the coin actually looks like in hand compared to the barber dime which you are just guessing at.
I like how, for instance, on GC proof coins are shot both ways. Would be cool if we could get an option depending on the coin or even both for an additional fee.
I should be the last one to complain or even comment on photography as I suck at it.
I believe for a service called "TrueView" you would expect the image to be shot in such a way so that it gives the best representation of what the coin truly looks like in hand under normal lighting conditions. Anything else in my opinion is misrepresenting the coin and doing an injustice to anyone using the image(s) to buy the coin. That's why I have only purchased one coin from photos on-line and the other 8 were purchased in person.
Donato
Donato's Complete US Type Set ---- Donato's Dansco 7070 Modified Type Set ---- Donato's Basic U.S. Coin Design Set
Successful transactions: Shrub68 (Jim), MWallace (Mike)
One thing I know for sure is that TrueView is the way I'm going. I love it.
The few I've owned were fine.
wonder if they can add a service that has "Proof Picture" printed across them and you get to choice the ones you want to buy.
Best place to buy !
Bronze Associate member
I have only had one "bad" image of a 2000-P Wounded Eagle. While it was not a brilliant example, the TrueView image made it look horrible...so bad that I sold it.
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Having a professional image of your coin adds one more level of enjoyment to the hobby
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
I agree and at only an extra $5/coin, Secure, now "Gold Shield", is a relative bargain. Some people claim that it costs you a grade since they "have to be conservative on them", but that has not been my experience so far. Great service and I will use it on all of my "better" submissions.
Collector, occasional seller
...I have always liked and pushed the TV service since I found out it existed...it's a must for me and my collection of sweet nothings
The vast majority of the TVs in my set (link below) were done relatively soon after the program started. There are a few recent upgrades, but overall, I'm very happy with the images.
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!
I like TrueView images and feel that they are representatively accurate.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
Phil does great work. He's earned all the kudos.
His work is all the more impressive if you consider volume. On an average day he shoots 400-500 coins. On a busy one (say, at a grading event) it's closer to 800-1000. Remarkable.
Lance.
Phil Arnold has never used axial lighting.
Lance.
I always get Trueviews. Love having them to look at when I don't have my coins.
I’ve just heard that term thrown around before and thought maybe that’s what was used on most proofs. Swing and a miss by me!
Yeah, a lot of guys throw the term around. So no misstep on your part.
Axial lighting sounds sexy and intriguing. If it is toyed with it is usually with colorful, mirrored proofs.
In principle the idea is to use a pane of glass to refract light to the subject (coin) such that it mimics light coming directly from the camera lens.
In practice it is unwieldy and prone to problems like glare. A good copy stand and lighting set-up, as surely PCGS has, gets results close enough.
Lance.
They’re excellent IMO, as long as they don’t only include glamour shots ... (like the glamour shot of PhilLynott’s dime above).
I've always loved TrueView photos. Since they stay on file and online with PCGS, I do wish they would re-holder the coins in a new slab, with some sort of mark to denote that the coin has TrueViews available. I think this would be a real value adder as well as a nice convenience. The quality is hard to beat!
Dwayne F. Sessom
Ebay ID: V-Nickel-Coins
My V Nickel Registry Set - https://pcgs.com/setregistry/alltimeset/71874
with some sort of mark to denote that the coin has TrueViews available
while I understand what you are saying it would be an added cost and redundant. either way, you would need to go to the PCGS cert verification page where the picture would be listed. most people, myself included, already do that with many PCGS coins to see if it's available.
Exactly - this is all you have to do.
I asked for this one to be TV but it was not I did see it on Gold Shield photo.
Hoard the keys.
Trueview is part of the gold shield service. @Type2
Here are your image download options:
https://images.pcgs.com/TrueView/35601724
Collector, occasional seller
I personally love it, all of my registry coins have it. I’m terribly at taking pictures and the ones I have are so much closer to what they look like in hand then I could ever achieve.
Anyone have an example of a "cartoonish" Trueview the Threadmaker is talking about?
The Trueview of my most recent purchase is notably more attractive than Heritage's auction listing photos. I cannot recall any that I have ever thought was cartoonish.
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/gold/liberty-head-2-1-gold-major-sets/liberty-head-2-1-gold-basic-set-circulation-strikes-1840-1907-cac/alltimeset/268163
March of Time - 27 Centuries in Gold
https://coins.www.collectors-society.com/WCM/CoinCustomSetView.aspx?s=36590
Anyone have an example of a "cartoonish" Trueview the Threadmaker is talking about
the "cartoon" reference was a criticism that was rendered when the TrueView option first became available. at that time it seemed that most of what was being photographed by Phil were toned, high end coins. I recall that TDN either had coins TV'd or linked some TV's back then and since the service was new many of us were hyper-critical. we just weren't accustomed to seeing some really lovely coins depicted in that fashion. my own thinking is that the skill that Phil has was evident from the start but it is also just as clear to me today that he has gotten better.
Phil was very good to begin with, and he has gotten even better.