Hey guys. I can have ither one of these cameras. One on the left is a Nikon D50 with a 70-300mm lens. The one on the right is a Nikon B80 with a 18-135mm lens. I don't have the manuals on either one of them, therefor I know nothing about them. Can you guys help??
If by 'B80' you meant to say 'D80' that is the choice worth 3x the other. If it actually is a B80 then we are talking something old (film?) that I don't know. The picture is unclear but I imagined I saw 'D80'. http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/994/cat/37 http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/183/cat/37
Neither lens will go super close as it is but would accept an accessory that would make it great for coins. The 18-135 is a much more versatile lens covering a lot of space from wide angle to moderate telephoto while the 70-300 is all telephoto and would suggest buying a second lens for wider work. You could achieve close focus with extension tubes or an add on close up lens (either made by Nikon or a third party seller). I prefer extension tubes (and use Kenko brand) but [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]there are a total of several different close-up attachment lenses from Nikon. These are the No. 0, No. 1, No. 2, 3T, 4T, 5T and 6T close-up attachments. They have different magnification values (also known as "diopters") and fit two different thread sizes, namely the 52mm (No. 0, No. 1, No. 2, 3T & 4T) and 62mm (5T & 6T) sizes. The 'T' models are higher quality and cost more. You would need to know the filter size on the front of the lens. [/SIZE][/FONT]
No. Lenses focus more closely when they are placed slightly forward from the normal position. Some models do this internally so you never see it while some get longer as you focus. If you want to focus more closely that the lens allows, you simply remove the lens and place an extension tube on the body and then replace the lens. Then instead of allowing focus fom, for example, 5 feet to infinity, the lens will then focus from 1 foot to 5 feet. If you want even closer you add a bigger tube until you are focusing on the front glass of the lens which is totally useless. Because various lenses require different amounts of extension to achieve what you want, they are often sold in sets of three to make it easy to pick what you need for each job. Zoom lenses and tubes make an easy way of shooting coin sized objects but the image quality may be a little less than a genuine dedicated macro lens although the difference probably won't show until you are making huge enlargements. I have 12x18" prints from my Canon zoom on tubes that are fine to my standards. You will certainly need a way to mount the camera securely for coin photos. You can not hand hold accurately at that range despite what some people claim. Using a $2000 camera handheld can give worse results than a $100 camera on secure support. I have several pages on coin photography but my coins are different from yours and I am no expert on lighting modern coins! http://dougsmith.ancients.info/ph2008.html The above page shows my rig after I bought the 'real' macro lens but the one below shows my old digital Canon and the zoom on tubes along with sample images. http://dougsmith.ancients.info/ph2004.html
Very useful information and great photos. It never occurred to me to rest the coins on a vertical dowel.
