Coin Photography by Budget and Skill

While it may seem odd, sometimes a longer shutter speed will show less motion blur than a short because the jar from the mirror on a poor tripod support calms down a bit over a second while is still a problem at 1/30. That is one reason I prefer the new mirrorless cameras for coins (and most things, actually). It is also why I prefer wooden stands that dampen vibrations better than metal. Lenses all have an aperture where they perform best. For micro 4/3 cameras, I would expect that to be f/6.3 to f/8.

The Julia above is much better than most images we see here but there is always room for improvement if you want to put in the effort. Still, the easiest way to get good photos is to hire beautiful models like the Julia. Nice denarii with a moderate tone are easier to photograph than rough bronzes that only a mother could love. I have only shot one Julia Domna since I got my mirrorless camera.


and one Septimius (both Alexandria mint)


Both are cooperative subjects showing that, sometimes, less than perfect coins can be more photogenic than mint state coins with polished or rough surfaces. I need to buy a pretty coin that could make me feel better about my photography. Lately, what few coins I have added have been challenging at best.

 

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Honestly, that is short changing your photography. Those lenses have unacceptable distortion around the perimeter. You need a stand alone Macro lense. You can walk into B&H Photo of likewise Camera store and pick up a solid used for for a few hundred dollars and it is a lifetime purchase...

 

While I agree that a macro lens is better, the fact remains that coin photography is very forgiving of aberrations that degrade the corners of the image since round coins do not use that part of the image. I know nothing about micro 4/3 systems but would hope someone makes extension tubes that have electric contacts that would retain full diaphragm operations rather than the manual set linked above. Different lenses work differently when shooting very close but coin photography allows shooting stopped down to a point that makes many faults less of a problem. If shooting flat documents, flat fields are important. For coins, not so much. I have a 100mm Canon macro which is great for all uses but have done equally well with my 70-200 zoom on tubes. A lot depends on what you own for other purposes and how much you want to spend to produce 20x30" prints of 2x3mm sections of a coin.
I also most strongly prefer to use software to combine images of each side into one file. This is the ancient section so my example is ancient. I have no idea how to shoot coins without removing them from plastic cases.

 

Getting both side on one file is a script in the GIMP. So I don't worry about that. It is a single press of the button operation. We have the same macro lens as I recall, but I strongly disagree about the tubes and the distortions. From 3 feet away you are cropping down on the visual field and the coin is taking the whole lense. Put it on a 2 second delay, and snap. It is just not worth dealing with a cheap pop on magnifying glass. You can just use a magnifying glass. The cost differential for quality glass is nominal.

 

Where I live, it looks like macro lenses cost about $500-$700 CAD and higher. For me, and notwithstanding my avatar* (funded mostly by selling my own coins), that's a lot of money. I can tell that I definitely want a macro lens, but being able to afford one right now is out of the question. It may be out of the question for many months or even years, depending on what happens personally and in terms of the economy. But I would like to make it happen sooner rather than later--if possible. In the meantime, I've got a set of extension tubes coming this week that were only $40 CAD.
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*My avatar is actually the dealer's picture. I quite like the image.

 

Doug, which software are you using for that? I will eventually need to get software, too, but right now, I manually combine images of each side by pasting them into MS Word(!).

This was a very interesting exchange, Doug and cplradar. I'm sure that a macro lens is going to be better than extension tubes, but as for what will happen with the extension tubes themselves, I don't know what to predict. But I've got a $40 (CAD) pair that do have the electrical contacts arriving in the next few days, and I will be sure to post a few results here in this thread.

 

I purchased mine for less than 200 from the used section at B&H at
20 9th Ave, New York City, NY 10001-1614 - that was a few years ago and I was just looking at the receipt in the Camera Case. Look for used lenses. But even at $700 it is worth it. It is a once in a lifetime purchase and it will expand your parameters immensely. People spend hundreds of dollars on a disposable cellphone which is garbage.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1546555589...1291&msclkid=63ca59a738ec1dc7fffd38d111455831

 

That sounds like a great price. I would be surprised if I could come up with anything that affordable, but I will keep an eye out for a bargain. Unfortunately, I can't just walk into B&H as I live very far away from one. ;-)

The other thing that always worries me is: how do I know that the used equipment won't have problems that will negatively impact the image quality?

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/3039962711...3D%3D|ampid:PL_CLK|clp:2047675&epid=109977748

 

Camera equiptment tends to pop up. Just look around. People upgrade.

 

Look at this image. This coin is about half the size of a Dime. That is clarity. And that is after being stepped on by cointalks reimaging software.

 

That one [the second link] is just too expensive for me. $360 USD to CAD would be about $450, which is a lot of money for me up here.

 

To me, that looks like a Canadian 1935 silver dollar. They are 36 mm wide, which is several times the diameter of a dime. However, Canadian coins have no English on the obverse, only Latin. So it wouldn't be a coin, but rather some sort of reproduction, or maybe a medallion of some sort. For interest's sake, what's on the reverse?
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Update: I suppose it could be a coin from another place--maybe Straits Settlement?

 

It is a legal tender NZ six pence

 

I think that is the matching reverse.

 

Funny, just after I revised my post, I saw yours.