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Coin Photography
slipgate
Posts: 2,301 ✭✭
You want to know what really sucks? I'll tell you! I have a $1000 lense, a $300 copy stand and I take better pictures with the cheap lense that came with the camera holding the slab in my hand. Sigh... I give up...
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A macro lens, D-SLR and copy stand are the bomb!
Lance.
Certainly working out nice, for maybe $150 total investment.
Get an account on the Open Forum. There is a dedicated thread for photography there. I'll be happy to try and help you get the best out of your camera.
1. I assume your images are a bit on the blurry side? not quite in focus?
2. Your lighting could casue issues but I bet its number one.
My guess is that you are using the copy stand but you are using your finger to press the shoot button? By using your finger to press the button you slightly move the camera as the shutter snaps causing the image to slightly blur. One the image is uploaded it looks terrible. Easy fix, go to the camera store and buy yourself a 20.00$$ remote, it will stop the slight shake when the images are taken solving your problem.
<< <i>I bet I can tell you what your issue is without even seeing your images.
1. I assume your images are a bit on the blurry side? not quite in focus?
2. Your lighting could casue issues but I bet its number one.
My guess is that you are using the copy stand but you are using your finger to press the shoot button? By using your finger to press the button you slightly move the camera as the shutter snaps causing the image to slightly blur. One the image is uploaded it looks terrible. Easy fix, go to the camera store and buy yourself a 20.00$$ remote, it will stop the slight shake when the images are taken solving your problem. >>
No I have the Nikon capture control, a mouse click fires the shutter. I am pretty sure it is the lighting. Plus the 120mm lense has such a narrow depth that if the devices are in focus, the fields are not.
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<< <i>I bet I can tell you what your issue is without even seeing your images.
1. I assume your images are a bit on the blurry side? not quite in focus?
2. Your lighting could casue issues but I bet its number one.
My guess is that you are using the copy stand but you are using your finger to press the shoot button? By using your finger to press the button you slightly move the camera as the shutter snaps causing the image to slightly blur. One the image is uploaded it looks terrible. Easy fix, go to the camera store and buy yourself a 20.00$$ remote, it will stop the slight shake when the images are taken solving your problem. >>
No I have the Nikon capture control, a mouse click fires the shutter. I am pretty sure it is the lighting. Plus the 120mm lense has such a narrow depth that if the devices are in focus, the fields are not. >>
How was the mindreader wrong?
<< <i>Plus the 120mm lense has such a narrow depth that if the devices are in focus, the fields are not. >>
For this specific problem:
Put the camera into "Av" mode and set the "A" value to 8.0. If you are having shallow depth of field problems, you may be shooting with an aperture number lower than 8. Get that aperture set to 8.
You are correct that it can be much easier to spend the money on the equipment than it is to learn how to use the equipment properly. Lighting is terribly important but need not be expensive. Post a photo please!
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<< <i>I bet I can tell you what your issue is without even seeing your images.
1. I assume your images are a bit on the blurry side? not quite in focus?
2. Your lighting could casue issues but I bet its number one.
My guess is that you are using the copy stand but you are using your finger to press the shoot button? By using your finger to press the button you slightly move the camera as the shutter snaps causing the image to slightly blur. One the image is uploaded it looks terrible. Easy fix, go to the camera store and buy yourself a 20.00$$ remote, it will stop the slight shake when the images are taken solving your problem. >>
No I have the Nikon capture control, a mouse click fires the shutter. I am pretty sure it is the lighting. Plus the 120mm lense has such a narrow depth that if the devices are in focus, the fields are not. >>
How was the mindreader wrong? >>
Whoa todd, were you attempting to insult me?. I knew it would be one of two problems I assumed it was that the images were blurry, my initial assumption was a remote
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<< <i>I bet I can tell you what your issue is without even seeing your images.
1. I assume your images are a bit on the blurry side? not quite in focus?
2. Your lighting could casue issues but I bet its number one.
My guess is that you are using the copy stand but you are using your finger to press the shoot button? By using your finger to press the button you slightly move the camera as the shutter snaps causing the image to slightly blur. One the image is uploaded it looks terrible. Easy fix, go to the camera store and buy yourself a 20.00$$ remote, it will stop the slight shake when the images are taken solving your problem. >>
No I have the Nikon capture control, a mouse click fires the shutter. I am pretty sure it is the lighting. Plus the 120mm lense has such a narrow depth that if the devices are in focus, the fields are not. >>
How was the mindreader wrong? >>
Whoa todd, were you attempting to insult me?. I knew it would be one of two problems I assumed it was that the images were blurry, my initial assumption was a remote
He is using a remote shutter.
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<< <i>I bet I can tell you what your issue is without even seeing your images.
1. I assume your images are a bit on the blurry side? not quite in focus?
2. Your lighting could casue issues but I bet its number one.
My guess is that you are using the copy stand but you are using your finger to press the shoot button? By using your finger to press the button you slightly move the camera as the shutter snaps causing the image to slightly blur. One the image is uploaded it looks terrible. Easy fix, go to the camera store and buy yourself a 20.00$$ remote, it will stop the slight shake when the images are taken solving your problem. >>
No I have the Nikon capture control, a mouse click fires the shutter. I am pretty sure it is the lighting. Plus the 120mm lense has such a narrow depth that if the devices are in focus, the fields are not. >>
How was the mindreader wrong? >>
Whoa todd, were you attempting to insult me?. I knew it would be one of two problems I assumed it was that the images were blurry, my initial assumption was a remote
He is using a remote shutter. >>
Yes I see that now, but like I said my intitial though was blurry due to not having a remote, I dont think there was a need for your remarks caliing me a mind reader. It was a simple assumption on my part and I was wrong about the remote but not wrong about the blurry images. It was just a guess on my part as usually the two big problems with photographing coins is blurry images and lighting, it was far from a mind reading attempt on my part.
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<< <i>I bet I can tell you what your issue is without even seeing your images.
1. I assume your images are a bit on the blurry side? not quite in focus?
2. Your lighting could casue issues but I bet its number one.
My guess is that you are using the copy stand but you are using your finger to press the shoot button? By using your finger to press the button you slightly move the camera as the shutter snaps causing the image to slightly blur. One the image is uploaded it looks terrible. Easy fix, go to the camera store and buy yourself a 20.00$$ remote, it will stop the slight shake when the images are taken solving your problem. >>
No I have the Nikon capture control, a mouse click fires the shutter. I am pretty sure it is the lighting. Plus the 120mm lense has such a narrow depth that if the devices are in focus, the fields are not. >>
How was the mindreader wrong? >>
Whoa todd, were you attempting to insult me?. I knew it would be one of two problems I assumed it was that the images were blurry, my initial assumption was a remote
He is using a remote shutter. >>
Yes I see that now, but like I said my intitial though was blurry due to not having a remote, I dont think there was a need for your remarks caliing me a mind reader. It was a simple assumption on my part and I was wrong about the remote but not wrong about the blurry images. It was just a guess on my part as usually the two big problems with photographing coins is blurry images and lighting, it was far from a mind reading attempt on my part. >>
He doesnt seem to have a blurry issue as much as a angle issue.
Hey Slipgate- Have you checked the camera angle with the coin angle to make sure the are the same? With part in focus and part not it sounds like something is not lining up. If you get a chance post a pic. Which camera are your BST images from?
what size coin and focal length?
and what are you trying to emphasize? color - luster - eye appeal - marks
are coins in slab? using autofocus or manual?
I feel your frustration as I frequently am upset with my results as well
trying to get too many done as quick as can
and then trying to decide how many need reshot
The Penny Lady®
1) A second light from a different angle would likely help the lighting improve.
2) The process by which you are focusing? I would stick to the simplest method available (I think you said camera control pro?). Look through the viewfinder and use the green focus light in the viewfinder to help.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
The photo on the right appears initially more attractive but is soft and lacks good detail. The left pic is harsh and appears to have a diffferent lighting angle.
Could you explain exactly what lens you are using?
<< <i>You want to know what really sucks? I'll tell you! I have a $1000 lense, a $300 copy stand and I take better pictures with the cheap lense that came with the camera holding the slab in my hand. Sigh... I give up... >>
I've been eye-balling the Carl Zeiss Macro lense for my camera....like you said its expensive
My cheap work around that works pretty darn good is only about 30-50 bucks depending on brand.
its a set of 3 and they screw into the threads on the lense that came with your DSLR
<< <i>Any progress?
The photo on the right appears initially more attractive but is soft and lacks good detail. The left pic is harsh and appears to have a diffferent lighting angle.
Could you explain exactly what lens you are using? >>
It is the AF-S Micro Nikkor 105mm 1:2.8G ED lense
Two things about the picture on the left.
It looks to me like the dentils are in better focus than the field. This means you 'missed' focus a little bit; it is set too close.
Try this: Next time, take five pictures. Refocus every time. It's hit and miss; hard to fix that. But with five attempts, you are guaranteed that one of the photos will be better than the other. As you get more practiced, you will get better at nailing the focus. The aperture value of "8.0" will definitely help here. If you are shooting at "2.8", then that explains your focus problems.
Do not use autofocus. Autofocus, when presented with a range of subjects at different distances, will tend to focus on the closest one. Always control focus yourself; turn the AF off. Turn the "IS" or "VR" off too. Coin photography is manual.
It looks to me that you are using only one light, set to one side. I see one pair of luster bars. Add a second light and reposition them until the coin looks better. You should look through the viewfinder as you do this so that you see what the coin looks like prior to snapping the shutter. Light position is extremely important. By position, I mean location, angle, distance...everything.
I'll suspect that with work, you can get a clear sharp picture that more than fills your entire monitor.
(i'll take the fact that I have not been warned yet about posting here...that PCGS does not mind folks trying to share information as to how to use photo equipment to photograph coins. either that or the warning isn't comin<NO CARRIER>
You have the right tools there. good luck.
Both A and B are out of focus but it is more detrimental to A because, while the blemishes are brought out by the severity of the contrast, the fields are not accurately focused to offset the effect by showing off the coins skin.
Finally the soft lighting gave additional blur/smoothness to the appearance of the Picture B due to its reflection off the slab.
Yes, B certainly looks better and may be even more perceptually accurate to the coin-in-hand. However, A is clearly more technically accurate even if less flattering. There is a happy medium to be achieved between the two pictures which will have far more to do with shot setup than which camera you use.
Edit: typo.
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Thanks, glad someone appreciates simplicity!!!
The Penny Lady®