Coin videos

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Clavdivs, Jul 15, 2020.

  1. Clavdivs

    Clavdivs Well-Known Member

    As most of us have seen on Facebook, Reddit and here on CoinTalk many collectors are using short videos to display their coins. Many sellers have now added short videos on MA-Shops and VCoins.

    The videos are great for showing how the coin looks in hand (literally!) .. here is an excellent example of the benefits: compare the still photo at the top of this page to the video that included at the bottom of the page.
    https://www.ma-shops.co.uk/harlanberk/item.php?id=9884

    In the video you can view the silvering and really understand what you are purchasing.

    Also as you see in the Harlan Berk video clip it seems that a whole new line of work has opened up for hand models...



    -What do you think of the videos?
    -As discussed previously some do not like seeing coins "in hand" as it can be distracting (not all of us get manicures).
    -Also holding a phone in one hand and the coin in the other while filming is not the easiest thing to do well.
    -How would you improve them?
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2020
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  3. shanxi

    shanxi Well-Known Member

    But the coin in the video is not the coin above the video, which is for sale. :wideyed:

    EDIT: Link was changed now
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2020
    Clavdivs likes this.
  4. toned_morgan

    toned_morgan Toning Lover

    Well to answer your very true points at the end, 1. they are very good and usually help the buyer be confident in what they are purchasing, 2. I always wear rubber gloves, and if not I always give myself a "manicure" before filming, 3. I use a DSLR on a tripod which frees my hands completely, and 4. I usually improve my videos by cropping in to reduce the amount of empty space, by color grading and making the colors and luster pop more, and also by editing the sound / putting music.
     
    Carl Wilmont likes this.
  5. Clavdivs

    Clavdivs Well-Known Member

    Another example is the recent Galerius that I purchased (and have already shown):

    The VCoins picture:
    upload_2020-7-15_11-15-6.png

    My quick video shows the coin in hand:


    Big difference and perhaps the coin would have sold quicker with a similar video.
    But as you can see my video goes in and out of focus, poor back ground, not a hand model (lol) and could use improvement.
    Any ideas on what set up would be best?
    You are correct - that is odd... I have corrected the link
     
  6. Clavdivs

    Clavdivs Well-Known Member

    Fixed with another example...
     
  7. Clavdivs

    Clavdivs Well-Known Member

    Can you post an example of your work?
     
  8. toned_morgan

    toned_morgan Toning Lover

    I'll make one now... :brb:
     
    Clavdivs likes this.
  9. Numisnewbiest

    Numisnewbiest Well-Known Member

    That's exactly why I like coin videos more than coin photos for those being offered for sale. I've only ever had a total of seven ancient coins (one at a time), and out of those seven only two looked like what I was expecting with the seller's photos.

    Videos, on the other hand, can show the coin being rotated slowly in the light to see what it really looks like from different angles, in the best light, in the worst light, and in-between. Photos tend to be shown only in the best light, and probably have been edited quite a bit, too. That's perfectly fine for display photos, but not very genuine for a coin sale. I think videos are the only way you're going to see an honest look at a coin, warts and all.

    I currently have my Vespasian dupondius on ebay with a short video (also posted on the "Auction Listings" board here) - I used my camera on a tripod pointing down at a table top, put the coin on a piece of black foam pad to keep it from sliding, and zoomed in enough to where I could keep the coin in focus as I slowly rotated it in the light. Nothing had to move except the coin, and even that was only very slightly. It would be best if I could set it up with the foam pad resting on some kind of "pivot point". It's not a pro-level video by any stretch, but it beats any attempt I did at a still photo, and it's as honest a look at the coin as I can do (and yes, it's a very dark coin).

     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2020
  10. toned_morgan

    toned_morgan Toning Lover

  11. Clavdivs

    Clavdivs Well-Known Member

    Really nice job and nice coins!
    The tripod really helps ... and a lot easier to manipulate and display the coins in slabs (more to hold on to) but the glare is a challenge.
    Thank you for posting.
     
    toned_morgan likes this.
  12. toned_morgan

    toned_morgan Toning Lover

    No problem!
     
  13. DonnaML

    DonnaML Well-Known Member

    These videos are becoming more and more common, especially in the Facebook ancient coin group to which I belong. They are definitely helpful in presenting a more realistic view of a coin than a still photograph.

    I am too much of a coward to have been the first one to mention the major issue I've been having with a lot of these videos, but since others have brought it up, I will too:

    Please, please make sure that you have clean and trimmed fingernails -- and, especially, please get rid of those ragged yellow cuticles and hangnails (especially around your thumbnail)! -- before making a coin video. If you can't bring yourself to do that, wear latex or nitrile gloves. It's way too distracting for me, and I don't think I'm unusually fussy.

    Also, I've made it clear in the past that I have no problem with handling ancient coins. But I do try my best to hold them by the edges, and not put my thumbs directly upon them. So, assuming that you can't use your other hand to rotate the coin because you're using it to hold the camera, please learn to rotate the coin horizontally with the tip of your middle finger, instead of rotating it vertically, which inevitably results in a shot of your thumb planted right in the middle of the obverse or reverse. Why would I want to buy a coin from someone who's careless enough to do that, and possibly leave a thumbprint?
     
  14. Clavdivs

    Clavdivs Well-Known Member

    Well here is an attempt to address a couple of these issues..
    -No hands!
    -I edited out the coin transition for obverse to reverse

    Not sure it is as effective but just a trial run.. still very difficult to keep things steady and in good focus.

     
    Fugio1, Justin Lee, DonnaML and 3 others like this.
  15. Clavdivs

    Clavdivs Well-Known Member

    So that little crappy video was shot with my iPhone (on a tripod) with the coin sitting on a ping-pong paddle with a bit of black felt attached... and some modeling puddy keeping the coin in place. I tried my best to move the coin to catch the light - yet keep the coin in focus (not very easy to be honest).

    Dumb I know - but an experiment.

    Benefits?
    -no distracting background/hand

    Problems?
    -You can manipulate the coin quicker and at more severe angles by hand - and catch more light to show more of the coin's actual appearance...
    -I think the hand in the shot actually gives the viewer a bit of perspective as to the coin size which is just more information for the viewer to process. This is something I did not expect.

    So - a silly experiment but I did learn something...

    @Justin Lee suggested instead of moving the coin - move the light.
    Maybe? Can someone else give that a try and post for us?
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2020
    Justin Lee and DonnaML like this.
  16. Justin Lee

    Justin Lee I learn by doing

    Ok, I'm up late, @Clavdivs I saw your post, and thought I'd give it a shot... :D Here are my test results:
    [​IMG]

    Edit: this was my lo-fi setup... Set the phone on the widemouth jar, a little felt under the coin, and a cheap (like <5 bucks) cellphone halo light I moved in an arc slowly above/around the coin.
    [​IMG]

    I thought I'd try a could more coins with different metal/fabric:
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2020
  17. Justin Lee

    Justin Lee I learn by doing

    To take this to the next level, we could make it interactive and tie a slider bar to a direction of light across the coin and the viewer can scrub the slider at their leisure back and forth to see how the light hits, pause and examine at certain points, continue when they want, or just scrub back and forth like we would rotate the coin in our hand to catch the light in real life say on a bourse.
     
    TIF and Clavdivs like this.
  18. Clavdivs

    Clavdivs Well-Known Member

    Pretty good results. I've also wondered about using Javascript ... I have seen photos (not of coins) with light that could be moved around a photo with a mouse. Not sure how realistic it would look with coins but interesting.. here is an example

     
    Justin Lee likes this.
  19. TIF

    TIF Always learning.

    I've tried a few in-hand videos. As @DonnaML points out, having clean hands with trimmed nails and cuticles is a good idea. My hands are always a bit beat up... chapped, callused, etc... so I'm not that happy with the videos. I could've done more than just clip my nails too but I'm not keen on manicures and such.

    For these videos I affix the phone to something stable. It's still very difficult to move the coin in a non-jerky and pleasant way.

    One of these days I'll rig up a better system. Maybe a black platform resting on somewhat loose ball joint would be good. The platform could be moved smoothly with hands (with calluses, ragged cuticles, and dirty fingernails) out of sight. You could get fancier and have it motorized but that's probably overkill :D.

    One-handed:


    Two-handed: (yuck-- looks like an octopus handling the coin)
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2020
  20. john65999

    john65999 Well-Known Member

    looks a lot better in the video, for sure...
     
    Clavdivs likes this.
  21. Clavdivs

    Clavdivs Well-Known Member

    Something along these lines would be interesting to see and test. Its amazing how easily and quickly our fingers can change the angle of the coin - not easily replicated.
    I was also surprised at how shaky my hand was when I reviewed a few takes.. not something I really noticed before.
     
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