Assistance from coin photographic expert...

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urbanchemist: Alright, that is something I don't want to attempt. However, I wonder if there is an app that can push the limit on smart phone to take really good picture of coin without doing what you recommend?

-jeffB: Right, it's not luck, but practice to become an expert. Yes, L macro or any L class are expensive ones and it's not what I am willing to spend, but hear me out and let me know which is sufficient?

EF 50 f/2.5 Compact Macro for $299.99
EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM for $469.99
EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM for $599.99

I can get best deal through ebay or amazon as new in box, but I want to know if EF 50 f/2.5 Compact Macro is good enough to get great quality without spend more on other two Macro USM? Only benefit to have USM lens are quicker AF and quiet motor. It's not necessary when I am doing at home and coin isn't go anywhere.

 

Derick: Your pictures are very clean and sharp. That's what I am looking for. urbanchemist was able to do that with his smart phone but require hack in program which could be hundred dollars mistake for me to attempt it.

 

These were taken with a Sony Alpha 55 and Sigma F=24 1:28 52 mm wide angle macro. I ordered the 100 mm and would try to get that crisp look for very small coins, which you cannot do with 50mm. The most important thing is managing the light so that the coin looks real as in hand. I could only manage that with diffused sunlight or OTT broadspectrum bulbs. They are just very expensive. I paid 20 dollars for each bulb. I consider the photography as a very imporant part of the hobby since one can either over sell or under sell you coins if the photograph does not represent the actual coin.

 

Derick: I am not concern about lights as I did work with crews on filming and understand how it worked. Softlight is my favorite set up. However, I did same on my coins, but the quality didn't came out very good due to lens itself. Thank you for letting me know that 100mm is better quality for close up on small coins.

 

Hi Aslpride, I too was thinking about buying a Macro lens for my coin photos a while ago. However, even the low end lens were out of my price range at the time. I was looking at short term alternatives and came across extension tubes. Many people don't like them, but I feel like they can have great effect on a low budget (~$15! http://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Canon-Extension-Extreme-Close-up/dp/B003Y60DZO) I am using a Canon t3 with kit lens (18-55mm EF-S) and for the price, my setup works fine. Extension tubes basically shorten the minimum focal distance of your camera. For example, here is what my pictures looked like before and after buying an extension tube, with no alterations/enhancements/cropping.


Also, something that REALLY helps is if you can get software that allows you to remote shoot with your camera from your computer. It came bundled with my Canon t3, and it is amazing. You can see exactly what you are shooting before taking the picture, allowing you to make minute adjustments with your lens.

My setup right now is Canon t3 with 18-55mm EF-S lens, with the Fotodix Extension tube, mounted on a tripod, with 2 Jansjo lamps from IKEA, connected to my computer through USB.

 

This might be a better comparison. Here are two pictures of the exact same coin (1998 WAM). The first picture is with a self-made copy-stand (priority mail box), no extension tubes, and not hooked up to my computer. The second picture is with a tripod, extension tube, and hooked up to my computer. Neither are altered/enhanced/copped. The third picture is the first picture cropped to show the comparison of the final products of each.

 

Just remember, not a zoom. Zoom not good for macro. Fixed 100 mm NB! Softlight is good, but remember that some UV is required to bring out the toning.

 

vtvick777: Thank you for suggest extension tubes. You are right, it's low budget, but effective. I just order it and will test with my coins to see the result. Regarding to software. Can you let me know what's name of software that allow you to see the coin on computer before taking a picture and is it Mac compatible?

 

The software I use is called Canon EOS Utility, and yes, it's Mac compatible. It's bundled with Canon cameras and it looks like if you are interested it can be downloaded for free online. I couldn't explain how to do it, but people seem to be having success with the directions in this article - http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/download-canon-eos-utility-lose-installation-cd-mac/

 

I think the tethering software for your camera comes with it in the box.

 

Ditto that, that's a heck of a phone. Also good job cropping out the background!

FWIW here's my formula, which uses a DSLR but otherwise is a very minimal setup, and will work with higher end P&S cameras as well so long as they have manual controls.

I've an old Minolta 100m f/2.8 macro and it spent the last 10 years in an untouched camera bag. For me it was the camera body that was expensive (not that the lens was cheap, but having bought it back in the 90's and used it heavily back then I've absorbed that pain already...). So I finally sprang for a Sony a57 body to accept my Minolta lenses last summer, mainly to photograph coins (caveat, most consumer DSLR's have smaller sensors than old 35mm film cameras, so the effective focal length of my lens isn't 100mm anymore). Honestly the macro functionality isn't really even adding much. When I photograph dollars or the occasional note I switch out the macro lens for the 17-55 lens that came with the body.

I use a tripod I bought for $45 at Best Buy and love it. I use two desk lamps with 60-watt equivalent daylight-balanced CFL bulbs. Every bulb is different - I find that with these, the red/blue balance is pretty good doesn't need tweaking, but all fluorescent bulbs give a green cast so I have adjusted my white balance for that. I generally position the lights at about right angles to each other with one at a higher angle to the coin (approx 75 degrees or so) and the other at a lower angle (30-45 degrees). I manually set the ISO on the camera to 100 (that is a comparably "slow" speed) and set the aperture to f/9.5. Of course, the camera flash is off, and I use a remote trigger - basically a button attached to a wire that plugs into the camera, so that I don't shake the camera when snapping the photo. You can get the same benefit by using your camera's timer so you aren't touching the camera when you snap the picture. I place the coins on a plain white sheet of paper, although I've experimented with using some of the lens-cleaning cloths I have accumulated as colored backgrounds.

To get even better images, I'd upgrade to a lightbox. There are many DIY tutorials on how to build your own lightbox, and also fairly inexpensive rigs can be found (check out B&H Photo/Video - I've been buying from them for 20 years and they are still the best IMHO). The basic idea is to totally diffuse the light into even, white, and generally shadowless light without washing out the details of the coin. For me I'm more constrained by space and the fact that I've gotten satisfactory results. I'd like them to be better, sure, but is it worth the time and money? 80/20 rule...

I hope this helps. As said I'm no expert on this subject so YMMV but this formula has worked pretty well for me.

One last piece of advice - get an "eye-fi" memory card. You stick that baby in your camera and as you take pictures, they automatically are sent over your local wifi directly to your computer. I never have to deal with taking out the card or plugging my camera into my computer to get the images. It sounds like a silly point, but once I started using it I could never go back! Its great to be able to snap a picture, have it instantly on your computer so you can view it in your photo viewer of choice, rotate and crop it etc, and if you aren't happy, just take it again. Really streamlines the process.

Some of my pics:

 

Now that's a nugget of information I'd never have known! :smile Can you elaborate? Thanks Derick!

 

This is only my humble opinion. I have tried different light sources with my pics including diffused cool white, warm white and so on and have found that sunlight and broadspectrum light brings out the colour best. with lesser extent the broadspectrum. I think that to some degree the UV found in sunlight interacts with the different "toning compounds" to enhance the colour of those compounds. Below is a coin taken with normal diffused white and diffused sunlight. With sunlight I use a 18% grey background to play with the exposure.

 

On this coin below the diffused sunlight made it look very red, so I used broadspectrum with near UV wavelengths. You can see the diffuser at the back.

 

Let me rephrase, UV or near UV.

 

I'm pretty sure that actual UV has nothing to do with bringing out toning color. As far as I know, none of the simple metal salts responsible for toning are fluorescent. Cameras without UV filters have some sensitivity to UV wavelengths, but if anything that would make the resulting image less realistic (because your eyes won't perceive those colors), and less sharp (because the UV won't be focused as sharply as the visible wavelengths).

I would definitely expect sunlight to provide better results than other light sources. The colors from toning result at least in part from interference effects, and as a result they represent pure colors, not the mixtures of red/green/blue that you see on a computer or TV screen. If your light source (say, a CFL or LED bulb) doesn't produce a smooth spectrum, it will produce smaller amounts of some colors and larger amounts of others. So, for example, a coin might show a smooth shading from blue through yellow under sunlight, but it might show bands of bright blue-green and yellow separated by dark bands under CFL light.

I'm a huge fan of LED lighting in general, but for shooting toned coins, it's probably not the best choice. Today's LED bulbs have a big spike in the blue spectrum, a pronounced valley in the blue-green range, and then a smooth curve peaking in greenish-yellow/yellow/orange. It looks fine for most things, and it's probably better than most CFLs, but it's not going to produce the same results as a halogen bulb or sunlight.

 

Wonder how fingerprint detection is done under UV light? But, yes, your explanation is good and make sense. I will give the halogen bulb a try.

 

Buy Mark Goodman's book and read it. This shot was from a Nikon D60 camera, which is a DSLR discontinued in 2005, using a 105mm lens. If the image shows up small, click on it to see it larger.

 

rsand: Thank you for share your experience. We will benefit from everyone's input in it. Your coins looks sharp as well. I will do my experiment when I get extension tubes from ebay that I ordered.

I have one concern about eye-fi memory card. When I learn about it, I was excite to have it because it easy to use and don't need to pull out SD card to transfer images. However, I read the feedback on it's product. Too many said that it has short lifespan. Some of them said it will stop function after 300 to 1000 pictures. That is what stopped me from buy that product. Do you have that problem with your eye-fi or you haven't use that much? My class 10 SD card did stop function after 12k snaps. Let me know on that one, thanks.