Camera question

I want to start taking photos of my coins and was wondering what kind of camera would you recommend? How many mega pixels is best and what about lenses? My budget for one isn't very big at the moment, but would like something decent to get me started. I appreciate any suggestions and help. Thank you.

 

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Virtually anything will do a good job. Most cameras will do a far better job, if properly used, than you will ever need.

The solution is not in the camera but in how you use it, and how well you understand what you are doing.

Briefly, you do not need many megapixels, and you do not need vast expense. You should have a lens with macro capability, the ability to focus on nearby objects down to a few inches, and it helps to have a manual setting facility where you can chose aperture and other settings for the peculiar requirements of coin photography.

For most people, for most purposes, a fairly simple camera from a good maker will do all that they'd ever get from a top of the line camera at ten times the price, and most lenses will do as good a job as you'd need without spending huge amounts of money on for example, image stabilisation or even autofocus.

It is also very difficult, short of physical abuse,to 'wear out' a camera.

My advice would be a ten year old Canon or Nikon or other reliable make, buyable secondhand for a fraction of the cost of a new equivalent. And not the top models, either.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Canon-Digit...616?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35e39a4f80

Picked at random from ebay listings, more than you'd ever need in capability and a fifth of the new price.

This advice is by no means exclusive to any particular brand or model, the principle is economy, capability, and most of all, an understanding of what you are doing. It's the user that matters, not the kit.

Use a bit of the money you don't need to spend on a camera on a decent tripod or camera stand and a couple of lights, because a really rock steady camera will help more than a million dollar lens, and coins can be hard to light for the best appearance.

 

I have a few cameras, including digital SLRs, but for coin pictures I've had the best results and fewest hassles with a relatively inexpensive Canon Powershot G16.

 

Whether you buy a new or used camera, I'd also suggest that you get a copy of Mark Goodman's book, Numismatic Photography, 2nd Edition.

Chris

 

It can be overwhelming to choose a camera for specific needs, especially if you are not too much of a photographer to begin with but know you need something to get a specific job done. For in depth review of features and specifications of cameras and lenses, I strongly urge you to visit dpreview.com and look up any of the models you consider buying, before you buy, to get an idea of the range of features and how they perform based on knowledgeable user feedback. And post any questions you have here too when you start to narrow things down or find something you don't understand.

 

Great book. It really helps with teaching the options to imaging coins. Even with a low cost camera, good images just take practice. If you go to a DSLR with a nice lens and a stand, it takes less practice. The big issue is how close the camera is to the coin. The more room you have the more options you have with lighting. Can't help but say this.
Buy the book before the camera.

 

Since I have been doing photography for a long time, my suggestions might be criticized as overly complex. For that reason, I wrote a special page for simplified photography. While I use and recommend a dslr camera as shown on the page, I really believe that the stand and other things discussed on the page and those linked to it will do more good than buying an expensive camera. If budget is a problem, I would certainly consider used cameras. The one I use for coins is not my best DSLR or even my back up camera but one from 2003 which is still very capable for photos I desire.
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/coinphoto2011ez1.html

Advice: Practice a lot. Experiment and reshoot to see what gets better and what does no good. The most important part of the camera rig is the photographer.

 

Wow! Thank you for all the great responses. I dont have any real experience with photography and you have all helped tremendously and looks like I have a lot of stuff to help get me started. I think ill take the advice of reading up before getting started. Thank you all very much. @dougsmit , your page has been a great resource to me and i have learned a lot from it. I'll definitely take a look at your articles on photography. Thanks everyone!

 

Thanks for all the info Doug. What f-stop are you typically shooting these coins at?

 

yah, I merely buy coins with sweet photos ... it saves me on frustration

 

With my DSLR, I use f/9 or f/11 but suggest f/5.6 if you are using a small format point and shoot. Stopping down more can lose sharpness to diffraction.

 

Doug points out an important difference between dSLRs and most point-and-shoots: you may not have a "manual" setting on the inexpensive cameras. In other words, you might not be able to manually set the aperture for the lens, which is useful when shooting higher relief ancient coins. I've used both point-and-shoots, and higher-end dSLRs, and found completely manual cameras can produce better results, especially in regards to details and better tonal range. For dSLRs you can spend a lot, or you can buy used gear from places like KEH which does a very good job for macro work.

 

While I agree that dedicated macro lenses are great for coin and I use a Canon 100mm macro for my coin photos, one point of my page was that you can shoot good pictures with the kit lens that comes with most DSLR's (often 18-55mm). These can not fill the frame with a small coin but that is not necessary since there is enough image quality to spare to allow cropping. Eventually you will probably want to buy a macro lens, extension tubes or accessory + diopter close up lenses (one, not all) but that should not stop you from using the DSLR you have for shooting vacations and kids. Coins are not the easiest thing to shoot with any camera but a little practice and paying attention to details will do wonders without spending huge amounts.

 

Currently I am using my Samsung Galaxy s5 smart phone camera,

Generally I just lay the coin on a piece of blue card stock and paint in the standard black background.

 

Looking forward to someday being able to take quality, hopefully, pictures of my coins and I have a lot of resources to help get me started now. Which I've already begun diving into. Once again thank you everyone for all the help. @dougsmit, I really like the the CD case spindle trick for propping up the coin. I'm definitely gonna give that a try when the time comes. Like I mentioned, I'm new to photography so I'm gonna have a learning curve including understanding some of the information, but I'm looking forward to educating myself in that respect as well.

 

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/diffraction-photography.htm

The above is a resource for figuring out where diffraction will limit sharpness of images. It depends on the size, not number, of pixels on the sensor. For most dSLR's, f/8 is perfectly free from diffraction but f/11 is so little affected that it is OK to use to gain the additional depth of field. Point and shoot cameras with small sensors and large numbers of pixels have such small pixels that diffraction come in much lower, even at f/4. It is not a perfectly simple call but first requires knowing the camera involved and its sensor size. The site above gives results for many common cameras so you can select the one nearest to what you own and find an aperture that makes the bright central part of the blur fit inside one box. ...or you can shoot at several apertures and choose the one that gives you the most pleasing results.

 

I'm just diving into a few coins, I can't resist. Did some tests this afternoon, and a couple things became clear, that I don't think were mentioned in this thread.

Firstly, I had much better results shooting raw, rather than jpeg. Raw allows a much deeper color palette, and when many of the colors are so close together, it is quite noticeable. I "knew" this, but had never experienced it myself.

Secondly, I tested using "live view" (i.e. camera in movie mode, allowing zoom and focus on the back screen) for focusing. The results don't even compare. It is far easier to nail focus this way. Not all cameras will have a live view, but if you do, use it!

Results from this first session attached. I'm sure it can get better, but I'm pleased so far.

 

Dave, are you sure the image captures the way the coin looks in hand?

To me there seems to be some basic issues in your image with lighting, reflections and refraction on the slab surface and highlights showing the color of the light source caught on the edges of the coin's devices, which are a different color than the gold of the coin. The images appear, on my monitor, to be a murky yellowish-green and not a rich gold as I know these coins to be in character.

I have the sense that your lens was focused more on the plastic of the holder than the surface of the coin, which is one of the tricky parts of shooting coins through holders. Have you tried tilting the slab a little to eliminate some of the reflections, such as placing a coin or two under one edge of the slab? It helps sometimes.

I have live view on my camera and the results vary dramatically from what I can see compared to what ends up being captured. I'm not sure I'm a fan of it, but I haven't shot with my camera linked to my computer for immediate display on the monitor. This I believe is much superior, but still have to figure out the set up and software to use.