Does anyone have any suggestions on an inexpensive camera that can make large clear photos of coins (esp small ones like silver three cent pieces). Or if there were any old threads on this subject ... link here. I have had a few hand held digital cameras (my iphone and a small digital kodak) but they dont do a good job magnifying small things ... also i want to get away from taking hand held photos I have seen a setup where you put a small tub over the coin with a hole cut in it ... then put the camera (through the hole) pointing down ... seems like a good inexpensive method open to any suggestions from the photo experts!
Any point and shoot camera with a macro function should take decent coin pictures....you need a copy stand or tri pod and a good light source or 2.
I used to use a cannon powershot IS100 and it did a pretty good job for the price....but of course the smaller the coin, the closer you are going to have to get the lens so from a macro standpoint...I don't think you will be able to get enough light to the surface to have really good images of coins that small.
DSLRs are becoming much more reasonably priced these days. Look into a canon 30d or a nikon d40. Either can be had for less than $300 used if you do some looking.
I also had this same question. Always thinking my camera wasn't good enough. Then I took some advice from other CT members about lighting and such. Thats when I realized I didn't need some awesome camera! I use a $100 GE point and shoot camera and it works great. Here is a link to the thread about getting better shots: http://www.cointalk.com/t157050/ Here is an example of an image taken with my "crappy" camera: My point being that lighting and technique is just as important, if not more important than the camera itself.
