Taking decent pictures with USB Microscope

Sorry for the short and unhelpful answer, the Nikon vs Canon thing always irritates me. There is absolutely nothing that makes a "Nikon" better or worse than a "Canon". Each manufacturer works to be the best they can, and is constantly in competition for consumer dollars. If one was indeed worse than the other in general in any significant way, it would go out of business.

That said, Canon cameras which would be purchased by most amateur coin photographers, ie the non-professional ones with smaller sensors, have a couple distinct advantages over their Nikon counterparts specifically for coin photography:

1) They come with excellent free software for controlling the camera from your computer ("tethering"). Similar software from Nikon costs hundreds of dollars.
2) They have electronic shutters that eliminate both mirror slap and shutter shake, so produce sharper images. Higher end Nikon cameras also have this feature.

These are the reasons I recommend Canon cameras for coin photography.

 

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Don't get me wrong, I hate the Canon VS Nikon thing as well. I own both. I have a Nikon 35mm SLR and the Canon DSLR, I love them both. I used to shoot Ektachrome alot with the Nikon, but I just don't use it anymore. Probably hasn't been out of my case in 5 years.

I've never tried tethering my Canon, that's something I may want to look into.

 

Are you using Live View at least? If not, you can't make any judgements about sharpness.

 

I really haven't tried to use it to take pictures of coins yet, but I plan to use live view, I want to get a sort of copy stand built setup with a light source. Then I can use my remote shutter release and play around with some settings from there.

 

The canon cameras are preferred by most astronomy photographers also as it is easier to remove the internal IR filter and use it like so , or replace with a specialized filter. Maybe this can be done with nikon also, but I am not aware of it.

 

Back in the days of film, I used to do coin photography with a Nikon camera. Of course, film coin photograhphy was a pain in the neck because of manual focusing difficulties at around f/8 with a blacked-out split-image focusing prism (and also no immediate feedback, no auto white balance, etc.)

Around 1998, I stopped using film, and started scanning in coins -- the average scan at that time was better than all but the best film photos. (My modern scanner is terrible for coins, though).

Around 2004 I got a Canon 10D and tried a few coin test shots, but focusing was even worse, with the crummy viewfinder screens (no split-image prism at all). You did get immediate feedback, though, which helped. And, no more film. I continued scanning coins before they went to SDB.

Everything changed when I got a Canon T2i with tethering and magnified live view on the computer monitor. The resulting photos were so much better than the scans, and there was no longer any problem focusing. Also, by that time focus stacking software was commonplace, for closeup shots. I stopped scanning coins, and eventually had to reshoot everything.

BTW, I used to do astrophotography with an H-alpha modified 30D, but thankfully I missed out on astro with film.

TL;DR -- use a DSLR with tethering and liveview for focusing.

 

I've tried to upgrade my T2i a couple times now...I bought a Sony A7R3, which is a brand new and high end camera, but it did not live up to its promises of high resolution, and I sent it back. Then recently I bought a Canon 5DSR, another high end camera, and it also failed to wow me, and I sent it back as well. I'm sticking with the T2i until it breaks.

 

Rmps helped me out a while ago. I started with nothing, spent ~$200 on gear (the camera being the bulk) and I can now take semi-professional photos. I have a tripod duct taped to a table and two desk lamps. It's not nearly as stable as a copystand, but it's getting the job done for now.

 

Ya I could probably use one of my tripods for now, the copy stand idea appeals to me because I can make one that's stable but takes up less room. Space is a premium in my house with 3 kids. I just need to draw up some plans and figure a good way to mount the camera. Think I might play with some ideas this weekend if time allows.

 

Doug, I took a look at your site and how you built the copy stand. Great write up! It gave me a couple of ideas on how I can build something for my Canon Rebel XS. Time to get to work I suppose! Out of curiosity I think your write up says your using an 18-55 kit lens. I have a similar lens, where do you have the lens set when taking pictures? Is it better to be more telephoto to avoid and distortion caused by the wide angle or does it not matter to much in this range?

 

You can't get much smaller footprint than this:

http://www.macrocoins.com/example-system-4.html

 

Just as another food for thought type option or whatever, below is a photo of one I cobbled together some years ago. I had foolishly sold off all of my film equipment, including a proper copystand, and simply didn't want to cough up for a proper replacement. The base, old tripod head, etc, I had around the house, meaning I only had to buy the square aluminum tube along with the piece (for porch railings iirc) to attach it to the base. In total it was only $10-$15 or so, and when used with a camera very similar to yours it was really very stable.

 

Is this the "macro stand" you mentioned earlier?

Also, could you clarify exactly what you meant when saying the a7rIII didn't live up to expectations regarding resolution? Was this in a general sense or only for your coin photography?

 

That would be ideal, but not in the cards for right now. I did try putting my tripod on the table, clamping a desk lamp to it and snapping a few shots. That might just work for now, especially if I use my remote shutter release. Although the pictures I took weren't that sharp, but I really wasn't trying, just threw it in program mode and took a picture to see if the setup would work for now. Now it's time to see if I can tether to my laptop and what the best settings are for good pictures.

 

If you post your pics here we will give you feeback and advice on how to improve. Do publish the following parameters:

- Mode (I suggest Av, which fixes the aperture and adjusts other parameters for proper exposure)
- Aperture setting (I suggest f8 for Cents, f11 for Dollars on the XS)
- Light types, diffusion method(s), clock positions, height above the coin, and angle vs horizontal
- Picture Style (I suggest Neutral)
- Picture Style sub-settings (I suggest 0,-4,0,0)
- Exposure Compensation (I suggest -2/3 EV if your lighting is fairly even)
- Use Live View and view on-screen
- Do your critical focusing using the zoom window (+ magnifier button)

 

A copy-stand is on my to-get list, but it seems like something I might be able to pick up on the cheaps once yard sales start happening. Here's my ghetto rig:

 

Thanks, next time I get a few minutes without little hands grabbing for my tripod I'll take a few pictures and post as many parameters as I can. Thanks for the suggestions! This type of photography is new to me, I'm more of an outdoor photography kind of guy, lol.

 

Well I had a few minutes tonight to pull out my tripod and mount my camera on it. I grabbed a clamp on desk lamp that has a 23w CFL bulb and attached it to the tripod at a high angle, non diffused light. I snapped a few pictures on aperture priority mode, f5.6, ISO100, auto WB. I quickly realized after getting them onto my laptop that I have lighting issues first and foremost. I think I need two lamps and to diffuse the light through cloth or something. I'm not even posting the pictures, in fact I deleted them, they're an embarrassment to the photography community.

Unfortunately that's all the time I had before my 2 year decided he wanted to "help"

Any suggestions on lighting? type of bulbs that work best, how to diffuse the light? Even with the light 8-10 inches away and my lens at f5.6 I was still at like 1/10 - 1/15 of a second shutter speed.

 

I like to use the Jansjo LED gooseneck lamps from IKEA. I add diffusion to them to make them look "bigger".

 

I've been doing some searching and these lights have come up quite often, I guess I'll have to check them out.