What kind of camera do you use to take pictures of your coins? I've tried everything I can find to get a clear picture and have not been satisfied yet! :headbang:
Sony Cyber Shot. get any recent model and you have to be all thumbs not to be able to take a good picture. Just make sure it has Macro. Having said that, it's also important to remember that it requires time, proper lighting, etc. There ain't no "point and shoot" when it comes to taking coin pictures... Errrr.... Unless you're getting an e-bay auction ready...
I have a Sony CyberShot digital camera. Its more than capable of taking great closeup pictures of coins. Thats what I used to take the pictures in my CoinTalk Album. I'm still not that great at it but I'm getting better.
I use a Canon PowerShot SD850 IS, digital Elph. It has 8.0 megapixels, 4X optical zoom, and optical image stabilizer and many other features that I cannot even begin to understand. The image stabilizer works pretty good, but if you are as shaky as I am you might want to invest in a tripod and a remoted tripper, or use the timer feature the camera already has. My camera came with a Zoom Browser program in which you can export your photographs for further study... and then to photoshop or whatever your photography program happens to be. Two extras I opted for was a larger memory card, and a second battery which can be a very good investment because you will have a recharged battery backup if you are taking a lot of frames of a number of coins. There are much nicer 35mm cameras designed for macro, but they tend to get rather pricey. A good idea is to take coins with you to the store and try out the different digital cameras to see which one would fit your needs. Of course they will try to sell you a much more expensive camera and gear, but sometimes you can get the features you really need in a less costly unit. Good luck on your hunting... jeankay
I use a Canon PowerShot A560 IS, digital Elph. It has 7.1 megapixels, 4X optical zoom, and optical image stabilizer and many other features. Essentially the same as jeankay's, but costs less and uses standard AA batteries
I use a Canon S3 powershot. You have a little more control with it than a point and shoot but it's not as expensive as a SLR (Rebel XT, etc.) Guys in my reef forum convinced me to get it. It's a larger camera. You can't stick it in your pocket but it also has a larger lens to gather more light. It is 6 megapixel and 12x zoom. I usually use it on manual mode and set the custom white balance before taking a shot. (It can just be a point and shoot when you want it to be though) I purchased a wide angle lens for it off ebay for about 50 bucks. It has a macro lens that unscrews off the back and you can use by itself, on the attachment over your normal lens. The camera by itself doesn't focus well in macro mode in my experience. So when I take a pic of a coin, like the one in my avatar, I go by a window in the middle of the day and use natural light whenever possible. I set a white sheet of paper down, go to custom white balance, focus on the paper, press set and now colors are true for that given light, at that time. (If you wait 5 minutes, the light has changed and you should do it again.) This works much better than your cameras auto WB. Then I attach the macro lens (without the wide angle), hit the macro button once, zoom where I want it, then hold the manual focus and adjust. If it isn't quite right (or there isn't enough adjustment), I can back the camera up slowly or drop it down until the coin shows up perfectly clear on the screen. Depress half way to let the camera do it's final focus, then snap the picture. Then I'll put the picture on photobucket and edit. The autofix is incredible and takes a lot of the haze off my pics, making them look much better. If you want any more info, shoot me a pm. Edit: It has the IS (image stabilizer) also which prevents blurring a picture if your hands are shaking. And it uses 4 AA's.
I use either my scanner (Epson Perfection 4870 Photo) or my Canon EOS 30D. Photography is my other hobby.
I currently use a Sony DSC-F828 its the fourth camera in the series I have owned. I started with the 515. By todays standards at 8megapixels is a little outdated but the carl ziess optics are great for macro shots. One day I will switch to s DSLR but not for a while yet.
Nikon coolpix P80. It's an 18X zoom with image stableization. It's also a 10.1 megapixel. I used the Panisonic Lumix 18Xzoom (I don't remember how much megapixel this one had). And the Olympus something. But none of them worked.
Check out Silentviolents "George Washington Blowing a bubble" post and see his pics. This is about what I'm getting with all this $$$ spent on the top of the line technology. Grrrrrrr :headbang:
The Nikon P80 will do as well as most any camera on coins. It's a great camera. It shoots in macro as close as 1 cm. Every camera takes time and practice to learn. It takes less time to learn an SLR but they cost much more.
Not sure if you guys know about Mark Goodman and his web site. It's a great learning tool. http://www.coinimaging.com/
Yep ! He also has a book coming out - eagerly anticipated. Ditto on the Sony Cyber Shot. Double ditto on the "gotta have macro".
I bought a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H7 8.1 Mega Pixel and it's awesome for taking close-up shots. :kewl: Simple to use (once you figure it out) and the only problem I have is the K size of the pic. When I take a close-up of one of my large cents, after cropping, I save it in the lowest quality and best compression and it still far exceeds CT's limits so I end up having to upload it to a image host to post on here. So there are some drawbacks to quality cameras. But the results are well worth it! :thumb: Ribbit
