I usually prefer coins shot on a black background but a friend who sells online prefers white so I threw together this rig. The background light box is an old 2 1/2 gal. aquarium I happened to have with a piece of glass over the top. A short dowel holds the coin off the glass so dirt and smudges will be out of focus. The coin is lighted by one daylight CF bulb mounted on a bar at the back so it can be adjusted right to left as needed for different coins. The background is lighted by a matching bulb at the left over which is a dark cloth to keep its light from going up to the lens or coin. For this photo it has been folded back so you can see it. The box under the aquarium is removed to allow shooting coins up to 50mm diameter and another box can be added for coins smaller than about 15mm. As shown, it provides decent results for midsized ancient coins. You might need to adapt the idea for other sizes but it is easier to add/remove spacers than to make an adjustable camera platform. The relative brightness of the bulbs might require some clean up of the background in postprocessing but this is easier than things shot on other systems I've used. Much of this was made from scraps I had but I would guess that everything shown except for the camera and lights would cost about $10 (new glass might add more?). Samples accompany.
Thanks for sharing your set-up I mostly use my photo editor to change backgrounds. How do you shoot coins with a black background? Edit: The Corinth Stater I posted yesterday was shot resting on red felt & was photo edited to a black background.
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/coinphoto2011ez3.html I shoot over a 'black hole' created by a tube to shadow the black background under the dowel or spindle. While I have used a variety of tin cans and other shadow devices, the best is a piece of black craft foam rolled in a circle and held together with a pair of rubber bands. I believe it is easier to keep light off a background than it is to remove it later. Details and photos are on the above page.
