Macro coin photography thread

oldcameoproofsguy · May 31, 2007 2:48PM

My recent pickup. The dealer had it graded au58. I think it has a remote possibility to MS. What do you think?
I took this shot with only one reveal bulb at a distance with a Canon 30D and a Canon 100mm f2.8 macro lens.
Lets see some more macro photography... what setup do you have to get those closeups?

mgoodm3 · May 31, 2007 3:07PM

Nikon D200 Nikon 85mm PC macro lens. No lighting used. only the ambient room light

SpaceMonkey · May 31, 2007 3:11PM

Bruceswar · May 31, 2007 3:17PM

Canon 30D 18-55MM Stock lens. Close up rings. Edited to add 2 OTT lights used.

ModernCrapNut · May 31, 2007 7:58PM

Some nice shots of coins. Mark, have you found that ambient lighting is best for Proof coins?

LeeG · May 31, 2007 8:44PM

NIKON Coolpix 5700, stock lens, no lighting, ambient light in the room:

ldhair · May 31, 2007 8:59PM

Canon Rebel with Sigma 150 lens.

jgrinz · May 31, 2007 9:12PM

Old Kodak DC4800 with Double Macro Lens +10 and +7
Double Otts AND Tru View Flourescent
Macro Mode at 5.6

lsica · May 31, 2007 10:32PM

Canon A430 4 MP Point and Shoot at 3X Zoom through a "Accuscope" Student-level microscope with 40X mag

OTT Lights

P Mint Mark from some dime I found in change, forgot what the date was

messydesk · May 31, 2007 10:37PM

These were with a Nikon D80 with a 105/4 short-mount Micro Nikkor on a bellows. Two compact daylight fluorescent bulbs in desk lamps.

Same setup, this time the picture is cropped, and not reduced in size.

ellewood · June 1, 2007 12:00AM

The photography talent on these boards is just astounding sometimes. Mgoodm3, ldhair and messydesk...THOSE IMAGES ARE INCREDIBLE. I think I could look at coin pics all day long...

T

ricko · June 1, 2007 12:06AM

Amazing... I must try to enter this area of coin photography... I have the equipment.. just not the drive yet. oh well.. soon.. Very nice photography.. Cheers, RickO

JRocco · June 1, 2007 12:07AM

Nice cheap Nikon 4200 with OTT or Reveal (sometimes both) bulb

ellewood · June 1, 2007 12:14AM

This is my coin (1984 DDO in 67RD) but certainly not my photography work. This was shot by Phil at PCGS (TrueView) but I cropped it down to zoom on the doubling of lincoln's ear...

mgoodm3 · June 1, 2007 12:31AM

Seems like only certain coins really look nice with ambient lighting. The more mirror the better, but if they're too frosty they tend to look washed out a bit in the relief. The problem with this technique that I'm doing is:

1: requires the coin to be tilted some (hard to image with anything but a tilt and shift lens)
2: a relatively dark room which means very long shutter speeds (up to a couple seconds)
3: can only do it during certain times of the day when the lighting in my room is right.

messydesk · June 1, 2007 1:29AM

<< <i>Seems like only certain coins really look nice with ambient lighting. The more mirror the better... >>

Which is exactly what makes it hard to try and get a brilliant proof coin lit "just right" using lamps, especially if the coin is in plastic.

mgoodm3 · June 1, 2007 1:51AM

Brilliant proofs are the hardest coins to shoot. Normal pictures don't do them justice otherwise.

lsica · June 1, 2007 2:16AM

<< <i>Brilliant proofs are the hardest coins to shoot. Normal pictures don't do them justice otherwise. >>

I'd vote for cameo copper proofs with colorful toning. Try getting a pic that shows both the depth of the mirrors, the frostiness of the devices, and the coloring (including the "red" of the copper). Oy!

Longacre · June 1, 2007 2:57AM

Wow. Some great pics in this thread!

speety · June 1, 2007 3:04AM

JRocco: That picture of the eagles head and part of the shield is one of my favorite pics on this forum!

Fletcher · June 1, 2007 3:20AM

Sorry for the modern, but the rest of my coins are at the bank. I shot this one this morning just for practice ... the edges still look soft and I shot this coin using basically every aperture setting that is on my camera. Maybe I need to get farther away from the coin???

Nikon D40x - Tamron 90mm Macro - ISO 100 - F8

mcheath · June 1, 2007 3:22AM

The op's coin looks unc. to me.

23Pairer · June 1, 2007 3:23AM

Nikon D100, 105mm micro nikkor, Promaster MacroLume TTL Ring Flash

23Pairer · June 1, 2007 3:25AM

Same as previous setup

Fletcher · June 1, 2007 4:20AM

If anyone is interested ... I am using this $79 portable studio/light set/tripod from SkyMall and it works great!

LucyBop · June 1, 2007 4:27AM

No fancy lenses..

Just a pretty coin, and the Canon PowerShot Pro...

Mesquite · June 1, 2007 4:38AM

These were shot using a Nikon 885 using ambient light with the camera set on macromode, area focus and highest image quality.

ModernCrapNut · June 1, 2007 4:49AM

The shinier the coin, the more trouble I have getting enough light without getting glare. I think with the camera I'm using I have to get the coin too close to the lens to get the resolution I want.