New way to scan coins!

Assuming that it's not a composit photograph, the only way I can think of is to use a conical reflector with an interior mirrored surface and sides 90 degrees to each other. Placing the coin squarely in this would reflect the edge of the coin straight forward allowing the edge to appear to be connected to the front surface.

 

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You can achieve that effect by laying the coin in the convex reflector of a common flashlight and photographing it. Gravity being what it is ... I think the scanner is out of the equation since you'd have to flip it upside down.

I'll see if I can take a picture and post here.

Nightowl

 

Here's a picture of my recent acquisition. The flashlight relector needs cleaned up a bit, but you get the idea. The effect is more dramatic on a larger diameter coin ... because the angle of the reflector gets steeper as it gets higher, so the higher the coin sits, the better the angle of the edge.

Nightowl

 

Whenever I scan a coin, it always comes out blurry, even though it didn't move during any part of the scan. Any ideas anyone?

 

And this entire process is just to capture an image of a coin? No thanks. I wouldn't even attempt this using distilled water; let alone a cleaning solution. Most cleaning solutions instantly start to remove a layer of metal from the surface. I would go out on a limb and say there aren't any cleaning solutions that would be appropriate to use for the purpose of imaging your coins.

-LTB

 

Buy a small point and shoot camera with MACRO function and a timer function (around $100 or so) and a copy stand or tripod ($20-$60). I promise these will give you sharp pics!

 

Um.....do you think it's a good idea to be using water near/on electrical equipment?

 

Give up the scanner with water or cleaning solution idea and BUY A CAMERA! Camera's take fine pictures, better than scanners, and you don't have to worry about starting an electrical fire or ruining your scanner (or shocking yourself to death, or things like that). Plus if your camera goes on the blink in any strange fashion, you are not risking ruining your home or the electrical wiring in your home either.

Fun Fact: Coins are worth more if they are not cleaned and cleaning a coin can NEVER be reversed

 

have you tried putting the coin on a raised "stand" in the reflector? I don't have a flashlight to take apart and try this on yet.

 

Your scanner's focal point is probably set, by the manufacturer, to low. Like right to the lower surface of the glass plate.
This is fine for objects that lay flat against the top surface. But a coin due to its rim and high points is raised just that little bit to cause an out of focus condition. That's not fixable unless there is a software/programmable instruction or switch in your scanner to change your focal point.

This subject has been discussed in previous threads.

 

HAHAHAHAHA.....that's a cleaver idea!

 

I'd love to be able to take credit for the idea, but it's not mine. I picked it up on the halfdimes.com discussion forum. Studying the early type coins...sometimes correct attribution involves counting the reeds on the edge of the coin. The suggestion was to take the picture as I did, print it out, the draw a line out from each reed. That way you can count the reeds with less confusion.

I never tried a pedestal. In fact, those are the first pictures I took using the reflector. You have to be careful if using "focus regions" that you don't focus on the reflector. You need to focus the camera on the coin itself to have it as clear and sharp as it can be.

I just tossed those pics together for the sake of illustration. They were taken with an 89 dollar Kodak easy share camera.

Nightowl

 

For what purpose? Doing that would separate the image of the rim from the image of the coin.

 

Pics of coin and rim

I used a flashlight reflector like nightowl and this was my result. The only thing about it was that there was a bump (Shown in photos) on the bottom of the reflector, so it wasn't exactly like nightowl's photos.

 

It sounds like an all-in-one scanner/fax/copier/printer/make-a-cup-of-coffee machine.

Buying a good flatbed scanner will resolve this issue since your scanner, really is nothing more than a copier that makes the digital image available to the computer instead of to the printer with a short depth of field.

Below was done with a simple HP Flatbed (hp scanjet 3970):

 

In the UK the voltage is 240v, pouring water onto a live electrical appliance goes against everything I was
ever taught, you might want to also tell everyone how to knock up a cheap coffin prior to attempting this edge scanning trick :devil:

 

I'm not advocating the method but come on! Putting one or two drops of water on a scanner's flat glass is not "..pouring water onto a live electrical appliance..."