I use a Sony Cybershot. I do want to go up the food chain in the semi near future, but for now this little cheapy serves it's purpose.
Thank you, the colors were really nice in hand.....I had an extremely hard time catching the pinks and blues. But it was listed here in the For sale, then ended up on the bay for big bucks. Like $16 big bucks.ended auction
get a Canon DSLR, Then get a Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Manual Focus Lens for ~ 1000$ to be able to use the lens you need a macro flash, get MR-14EX ~ 550$ or MT-24EX ~ 800$. I did not use the lens but I heard it is extremely difficult to use, but it is as close as you can get for a macro lens. ------------------------------------- I use a 5 years old Canon 400D [XTI], and a sigma 150 mm macro for macro shots, for larger shots I have a canon 17-85 mm lens and a wonderful sigma 70-200 mm f2.8 lens, I bought the camera and lenses before restarting to collect coins and it have been more than 2 years since I bought my last piece of photography equipment, so if you buy quality equipment you will not need to upgrade for a very long time. robec I use a different approach, keep the coin at the floor level, no need to use a table .
Hello again Lukeauggie, Did you check your existing cameras to see if they include a macro feature so you can take close-up photos of items? All the replies to your original post provide good information but we have not yet heard back from you in this case. If you have macro capability, then we can focus on the techniques you can use to get good coin photos that reproduce what the coin looks like in-hand. Several good techniques have been mentioned in this thread already. Very best regards, collect89 P.S. Here is a pretty coin photo.
I apologize for late reply Collect89, been working. Wow there was a lot of replies in general. Thank you very much for the replies. As to answer your question Collect89 my cheap camera did not have a macro feature, and since it broke recently I figured I might as well ask about reasonably priced cameras that is able to show detail of the coin. I have a few that I believe are nice coins through coin rolling, but not sure. I do believe lighting is a big issue, as well I need a stand to.
Right now a Canon Power Shot A570 IS. Its nothing fancy and old but it gets the job done, most of the time.
If you had a shaky copy stand like I did before I repaired it use the self timer feature for 5 or 10 seconds. I still use it to insure well focused pics. Also, for those Canon Power S3 IS users--- that's one fine camera. It can be had used for a very decent price. here are pics my son took with his S3. In the first pic there is a hawk on top of right hand tree. 2nd pic zoomed.
I use a (tall) tripod, and attach the camera to the computer and focus on the screen. I get much better results than my eyes through the viewfinder could ever hope to accomplish, and I can sit back in the chair. But you're right, it would be a real challenge to take full-slab shots or shots of Morgans/Ikes/etc. through the viewfinder.
I've just recently started the tethered method. I took a little getting used to, but it is saving on the eyes as well as the back. I'm still a little clunky at it, but I'm starting to get used to it.
Ok I picked up a camera as well as a gorilla stand. Also picked up and led desk lamp 22 watts with magnifying glass in center. I will post pictures shortly and tell me what you think.
I got a Panasonic Lumix FH2. very reasonably priced at $80 with 14.1 megapixel. The sales guy suggested as some of you have stated is lighting is important. He felt as well as I that the auto macro lens is enough to do the job. I also bought that magnifying desk lamp, which already broke. So i bought just a 2 nice fluorescent lamps for 20 each. I also got a gorilla tripod which can hold your camera from anywhere. Its pretty neat. Anyways I tested it out and Here are a few coins I recently discovered from coin rolling. Tell me what you think. This is two 1998 lincoln pennies. The top is the wide "AM"
Here is a 1971 P 6FS. Its a little rough but I still think its a couple bucks. Right? I have other coins but to much space, that's why I had to crop these pictures. Should i just do it by link, how do I do it. I am a noob sorry. : )