Taking Pictures of Coins

Sorry Rob, I’m not sure where you are going with this. I’m sure you are both very knowledgeable people. I hope you both are having a great weekend.

 

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It's simple. "Both" of us think your snide comment " I'm looking for advice not a lecture" was inappropriate and unwarranted. You enjoy your weekend too.

 

And that’s fine, I still stand by my comment. At no point was I complaining about how to use equipment or cropping, he came off as a grumpy old man and so do you. Again, that’s fine, it’s my opinion which doesn’t make it wrong or right.

Rob, I think it’s best we drop it here please.

 

Fine by me, but we still believe you are in the wrong regardless of your reasoning.

 

How about this? I haven't taken any photos yet so I don't know squat, but I saw this.
https://www.wizardcoinsupply.com/lighthouse-phonescope-macro-lens-for-smartphones.html

 

Photographing ancients is probably completely different from photographing Morgan dollars, but I'll still give you my tips. First if you want to properly "digitize" your collection, invest your money into a DSLR (Nikon or Canon with at least 20 megapixels) and invest your time into research. Go onto Youtube and just watch every video about photography that you see. The best channel that I would recommend is Potato Jet. He's funny too, so time flies when you watch his videos. For lights, get at least two lights with movable arms and then switch out the bulbs to the brightest and whitest bulbs you can buy. I have three for good measure! Then get yourself a good tripod. I have the Zomei Q666 which is $50 on eBay and it is rock solid. You need a tripod because you don't want the camera shaking when you take a picture. Quick tips: black out your room and get as little spill light from the window / door. Also, put your coin on a plain white background, whether it be a piece of paper or your desk. Let's get @jtlee321 in here.

 

Ya, looking back at it, it may have come off a bit harsh. Take it easy mate.

Looks viable, thanks for sharing

 

The world would be such a better place if more people would get this.

Coming back to the topic, my setup:
- iPhone X
- Daylight (makes A LOT of difference)
- Put the phone on a jar or something where you can keep it still. This will function as a tripod.
- Use the EarPods as remote shutter.
- Edit with GIMP.

Probably not auction grade, but I'm quite happy with this one for example:


And of course, practice. If you see my website there are many shots I'm not proud of, but I'm slowly replacing them with better pictures.

Shinny coins are more difficult to shot than matte ones. What also helps is to have a solid, not reflecting, contrasting background. I use white background for brass, copper, and zinc coins and black or dark colour for silver, nickel, aluminum coins.

I hope it makes sense.

 

Great quality. What software do you use to crop? I find cropping ancients a bit harder because they are not round.

The change in background for metal type seems obvious now that you said it.

 

GIMP, it's like Photoshop but free.
https://www.gimp.org/

 

nice

 

Without wading into the personal conflicts on this thread, I'll offer the best advice I can:

1. You need more light. Your pictures are underlit, and, especially when photographing small items like coins, you need enough light for the camera to work properly.
2. Some of your coins look tilted. That is, the coin is not parallel to the working plane of the lens. That is going to mean some parts are in focus, and some parts aren't.
3. Your pictures are mostly out of focus. That may be because you are too close, may be because you are too far away, or may be because you are using the wrong mode on your phone. I don't have an iphone, but see if your camera app has a "macro mode."

Here are some more tips: https://www.imore.com/heres-how-take-fantastic-macro-shots-your-iphone

 

I would recommend taking the coins out of the 2x2s when you photograph them (At least the examples you have shown in this thread had them still on 2x2s), and taking a looK at Doug‘s website where he has a series of articles on this topic, most of which I have found to be quite useful.

And as others have said, practice makes perfect. I am still not satisfied with my photos - I took this dumpster-fire of a photo yesterday:


But in the same session, took this rather good photo:

 

I’ll add that I just use a cheap pocket camera (not a phone), two led lamps, and a home built wooden stand.

 

I agree that they need to come out of the 2x2’s. I now live in a place with a very humid climate, and I am extremely paranoid that if I take them out they will react with the humidity and become damaged (obviously not the gold coins). Am I over reacting?

 

Yes.

The gold coins are incredibly unreactive, and humidity will not affect them.

The silver coins are reactive - however, 2x2s are not airtight. If you live in a humid environment, you need to have a desiccant in the box or area where you store the coins. The humidity inside and outside the 2x2 are currently about the same.

The bigger concern with removing coins from a 2x2 is to avoid staple scratches or marks from handling them.

 

i’ve been collecting nearly 20 years. All ancients. I’ve had maybe two coins that have had bronze disease. I have around 200 coins. I live in Tennessee. Plenty of humidity here. In short, I don’t think you have much to worry about. I have even speculated that flips might even trap moisture. I keep mine in trays.

Regarding the macro lens you posted, that looks like a device used to capture high detail than for an entire coin. But perhaps it can do both.

 

I'm a bit late to the discussion. I didn't read every word of it, so I'll respond in general.

You won't get auction company-quality photos with a phone. They invest more in their equipment. There are macro lens attachments for your phone, but they will make working distance your enemy. Don't shoot through 2x2s.

You said you are looking for advice, not a lecture. My advice is to watch this lecture:
https://archive.org/details/FUN11010. It's a bit dated with discussion of specific camera models at the end, but all the other information is what you need, even if some of the camera-specific icons and settings are different.

 

SEARCH: PHOTOGRAPHY on the Ancients Forum of CT.

Additionally, GO TO DOUG SMITH's site (yeah, our @dougsmit ). He has an enormous amount of great tips, techniques, etc. on Coin Photography. https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/

Honestly, I regret that I have not the time to spend on Doug's pages YET. It reflects in my poor photography. HOWEVER, he is regarded as one of the best and most knowledgeable.

Simple. In the future explore using the SEARCH function in the upper right hand of the screen. A lot of questions and answers have been done over the last several years that I have been here.

Best,
Brian

 

I use my printer and scan them. I then use Photoshop to combine the scan of each side to combine them into one Jpeg. The results are not as good as a good camera but it is easy and they are consistent.