Got my New Digital Camera!!

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by rbm86, Aug 15, 2004.

  1. rbm86

    rbm86 Coin Hoarder

    Well, I finally joined the ranks of digital camera owners. The one benefit of waiting this long is that 5-megapixel technology is relativly affordable now -- I got a Nikon Coolpix 5200.

    Took pix of my 80-S Morgan last night -- came out pretty good, but I need to experiement with lighting some more!! Should be fun once I get the hang of it!! :D
     

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  3. National dealer

    National dealer New Member

    Very good choice sir. I use the Nikon 4300 and 4500 series. Very useful cameras with lots of range. Photographing coins is one of the most difficult things to capture correctly. I am sure that I am not the only one looking forward to seeing more pics here.
     
  4. National dealer

    National dealer New Member

    One other thought. Make sure that you use different backgrounds, and different angles. Taking photos can certainly be both fun and educational. Remember to always experiment.


    A good quality editing program is also a must. I highly recommend Photoshop. They offer several good economic versions. I have heard many good things about their Elements 2.0
     

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  5. rbm86

    rbm86 Coin Hoarder

    Thanks, ND. Take a look at my post again, I attached the pics after editing the file size -- had to reduce it.

    I just used the Microsoft editor -- not too bad, but I will try others -- including the one you recommended.

    One thing I did get was a 512k card and card reader -- makes downloading a breeze -- the card reader acts like an external hard drive.
     
  6. National dealer

    National dealer New Member

    Nice pics. I found a neat little program called avatar capture on the web that allows very easy resizing photos with minimal kbites. The program has a 30 day free trial and costs around $20 if you like it. Works fantastically and I highly recomend it. You can keep the pixels large while reducing the overall storage size.

    http://www.pcworlddownload.com/system-utilities/screen-capture/avatar-capture.htm
     
  7. jimmy_goodfella

    jimmy_goodfella New Member

    i use my scanner now for coin photos i seem to get much better pictures than with a camera.
     
  8. susanlynn9

    susanlynn9 New Member

    Don't you have difficulty with the copper coins? I found that they came out very dark and flat on the scanner. If you found a way around this, please let me in on the secret. Right now, my husband has to take all of the pictures because I am so phenomenally bad at it, but I think I would have better luck with the scanner.
     
  9. CohibaCris

    CohibaCris New Member

    rbm, pretty good pictures. I assume you are already using a tripod, given the still quality you are getting with that camera.

    The trick with the yellow tones is setting your shutter speed, film speed and White Balance setting in manual mode. I use 2 cheapo desk lamps with the monster flourescent frosted bulbs to bump up the volume of light. I also use a black leather matte to step up the coin without reflecting the matte.

    Right now, I use a 10/22 with the WB set at +2 in the flourescent mode. That killed the yellowing for me.
     
  10. rbm86

    rbm86 Coin Hoarder

    Thanks for the tips, Cohiba.

    Where do you find something like the "black leather matte" you are referring to? I have been experiementing with different colors of cloth as background.
     
  11. CohibaCris

    CohibaCris New Member

    Ask silly as this may sound, I had a office pad portfolio that I bought at Office Depot.
     
  12. National dealer

    National dealer New Member

    Good copper pics huh?
     

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  13. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    Hmmmm - considering the pics - you might wanna get yourself a job selling coins Nd. Oh yeah - you got one of those already :rolleyes: Nice pics there ;)

    Now to the camera. With the Nikon Coolpix - you can make adjustments to shoot in just about any light. But as a general rule of thumb - it is not always necessary. Different types of bulbs will produce pics with different light tones. Incandescent produces yellow - fluorescent produces blue - or yellow depending on if you have coll white or warm white fluorescent bulbs.

    I have experimented with just about everything there is - from a flashlight to a Coleman lantern. And in each case - I have been able to produce quality pics with the Nikon. You just have to adjust the settings properly for each type of light.

    But there is an easier way - just use the right type of lightbulb. GE makes a bulb named Reveal - it produces a sprectrum as close as you can get to natural light. Using this bulb you have to make far fewer adjustments on the camera.

    But hey - whatever works for ya ;)
     
  14. susanlynn9

    susanlynn9 New Member

    Were those from the scanner or a camera?
     
  15. CohibaCris

    CohibaCris New Member

    Those are pictures from ND, or so I am guessing from the shadows cast. The scans typically do not cast any shadows.
     
  16. Tallpaul000

    Tallpaul000 Searcher

    One nice thing about camera shots is that they reveal errors that might not be noticed on first inspection. I found some doubling on the date on one of my BU morgans that I didnt see at first until closer inspection of the photo.
     
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