So far all of my budget has gone on coins, plus a few books and some grotesquely expensive but very good looking Abafil cases. What else do I need? Can anyone recommend a reasonable digital camera and electronic scales? I know this has been discussed before, but technology moves on. Appreciate the Forum’s advice. The coin isn’t mine, but it was the best numismatic illustration for ‘tools’ I could think of. It’s a Republican denarius of a type I’ve wanted for ages, but I keep getting out-bid. This one is in the British Museum. Please also post any better ‘tool-coin’ illustrations.
I have this scale: https://www.amazon.com/Precision-Function-Stainless-Weighing-Jewellery/dp/B07DQJQ64S/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1543169808&sr=8-6&keywords=digital scale .01g $7.99 I've used entry-level DSLR cameras before but the learning curve was pretty high and the humidity combined with careless storage led to their ruin . For the last few years I've been using a Canon Powershot with pretty good results and I'm more careful about storing it. My photos are not Doug-caliber but they're pretty good and I like not having all of the bulk of a DSLR and accessories. I shoot in manual mode and not terribly long ago learned how to white balance . If you don't want to bother with a separate camera, images taken with iPhones, when properly set up and stabilized, are better than a great number of coin images seen online. A copy stand is helpful. It's much cheaper to make one and not very difficult (scrap wood, black paint, and this $13 clamp). In addition to abundant ambient light, I use an Ott light when shooting coins (similar to this one). As for tool-coins, I have one of those tautological T. Carisius denarii but like so many it is (ironically) poorly made. Roman Republic moneyer T. Carisius, 46 BCE AR Denarius, 18 mm, 3.62 gm Obv: head of Juno Moneta right; MONETA behind Rev: implements for coining money: anvil die with garlanded punch die above; tongs and hammer on either side; T CARISIVS above; all within laurel wreath Ref: Crawford 464/2; CRI 70; Sydenham 982a; Carisia 1a ex Andrew McCabe Coins with Vulcan usually show his tongs, as do these: Roman Republic, Lucius Aurelius Cotta 105 BCE Fourree AR serrate denarius, 20 mm, 3.8 gm Obv: draped bust of Vulcan right, wearing laureate pileus; tongs and star behind; all within wreath and dotted border Rev: eagle standing on thunderbolt, head left; L·COT below, V to right; all within laurel wreath and dotted border Ref: c.f. Crawford 314/1c; Sydenham 577a; Aurelia 21b formerly slabbed Roman Republic, L. Caesius 112-111 BCE AR denarius, 3.92 gm Obv: bust of Vejovis (some references say Apollo?) from behind, head turned left, holding a thunderbolt, legend AP; dotted border. Rev: Lares praestites seated with heads left, dog between, bust of Vulcan above, with tongs behind; legend LA-RE; dotted border. Ref: Crawford 298/1. Sydenham 564. RSC Caesia 1
My rig consists of a Canon Rebel T6, an entry-level DSLR (You don't need to spend huge bucks on an outfit to image coins)... Promaster copy stand which my wife bought me for Christmas last year. (If you can get your wife to spend her money on your hobby, that'll cut down on your expenses.) And Paint.NET, a free, user-friendly image-editing software. (Again, you don't need to spend mucho bucks on something like Photoshop.)
i really dig @TIF"s set-up..here's the Missouri hillbilly way(altho i'll have to make other arrangements due physical restrictions of a pinched nerve soon), vintage Cannon A1000 which i bought for $30 used about 10 years ago, vintage lamp bought for a few dollars at a auction without shade.... a magnifying glass($1), plastic precision measuring apparatus that cost less than a couple of dollars thanks to a peep here that posted a thread on them. scales are from China and cost $7.00 from ebay and work great with several different weight variations ..where there's a will....
This just arrived this morning and already in love with it. I looked at copy stands, but I really needed a general purpose tripod and this works brilliantly due to being able to put it in a horizontal position. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GZJ2XRL/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 And this guy's video has a coupon code for amazon. I ended up paying $114 for it so it worked as of Friday. Skipping the camera because that's just an open-ended can of worms of opinions and need vs. want and what kind of pictures you are wanting to take. If you are wanting to get really really close and focus on a specific spot, you'll probably want to look at a DSLR and pickup a macro lens if you don't like the USB microscope route. Probably the 2nd best thing I picked up was this lamp because it is so movable and clamps. It has 2 lights. One fluorescent ring and the other a standard light socket for incandescent bulbs which can be turned on/off individually. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CLL1VS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Here's the scale I bought on eBay.... $1.00 (with another $2.00 for shipping). I wasn't expecting much but I bought it 4 years ago and it still works great.
My photos have always looked like rubbish. Over the years I’ve bought increasingly expensive cameras to get better photos. Never helped. This year I decided to fix the problem once and for all, and I blew my entire collecting budget on a 24MP Nikon DSLR, 90mm macro lens, copy stand, and halogen lights. My photos look like rubbish. It really is the photographer, not the equipment.
As far as scales go, you don’t really need great accuracy for coins. If you want an accurate scale, those made for reloading ammo are usually inexpensive yet surprisingly consistent and accurate, probably for legal liability reasons. A Valley Forge one I got off Amazon is within .01 of my lab balance in the coin weight ranges, which is more than adequate accuracy for coins.
No one believes me but I insist that you can get sharper, vibration free photos from a camera stand with no adjustments of height. TIF's stand is fine but making it possible to move the camera up and down greatly increases the cost and vibration possibilities over making a fixed camera position and a series of different length COIN supports. I really need to make one of these to photograph for the purpose here so I will have something to show every time this comes up. My old one looks trashy and lacks the important feature of several different heights of dowels which is how you change the distance between coin and camera. This old photo shows a CD ROM spindle from the day when everyone had a CDR drive and bought blank disks. So dinosaur I am! The measurements given here assume a low end DSLR like the Canon shown in the image. For a camera like TIF showed, the sizes could be cut down if storage space is a problem. I used leftover scrap oak flooring for this one but you could use any wood from framing scraps to ebony with equal results in terms of the photos. The quality of modern DSLR cameras is overkill for most coin uses so you can simplify matters by setting up for large coins and shooting loosely when doing small one like denarii. If you want more quality, you can buy accessories like extension tubes or even dedicated macro lenses. I use a Canon 100mm macro for my coin photos but you don't have to unless you plan on making 20x30" prints. The example here shows a fake (Slavey) denarius much reduced from the original full frame (upper left) and a cropped section of the image showing full detail (right). Most of our uses will allow this degree of quality loss without embarrassment. We usually just want a combined image of both sides merged (lower left) not blown up so much as to show ugly details that make our coins look worse than they do 'in hand'.
Anyone in the market for this type needs to be aware of this very common Cast FAKE. Roman Republic moneyer T. Carisius, 46 BCE FAKE AR Denarius, 18 mm, Obv: head of Juno Moneta right; MONETA behind Rev: implements for coining money: anvil die with garlanded punch die above; tongs and hammer on either side; T CARISIVS above; all within laurel wreath Note the obverse off center direction, the flaw left of the M in MONETA, the c shaped banker's mark on the cheek and the overall soft, soapy look.
I followed your example, Doug - but instead of different dowel lengths, I use Legos (the ultimate adjustability): What I need to work on it lighting. I have good lamps, but bad bulbs. I also need to find a good way to diffuse the light, but still have easy access to the coins on the stand. Here are some recent photos using this method, with some color adjustments:
