my new ancient coin camera setup

not sure why i did this but hey it worked. better then anything else ive tryied
top light off

top light on





view of top part big light is mostly used for a stand





and heres what the picture looks like
(should have adjusted the focus a little more)





and without

 

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I knew I would be able to find a purpose for my Red Book, once again.

 

lol it was sitting near by so i used it the flash light is suspened using a rare earth magnet i salvaged from a dead harddrive and the strawberry jar is a old jar i found in my grandfathers tackle box that I use to store half dollars that i spend. It disapates the light so its not directly on the coin

 

Well, not sure I like your new setup...maybe it's just me...

Q

 

so why the jam jar on the light?

 

[quote="strawberry jar is a old jar i found in my grandfathers tackle box that I use to store half dollars that i spend. It disapates the light so its not directly on the coin[/quote]

 

I am not sure what type if imaging device that is, but the first thing you should do is get rid of that little cap you're setting the coin on, or at least cover it.

 

i plan on it thats the cap to the jar and the camera is a $5 webcam

 

oh sorry, i missed that...interesting.

 

the flash light is a brite led $3 flash light from walmart

 

Heres my set up.

 

Here's a setup which is working well for me. I cut a hole in the bottom of a translucent storage bin to make a light diffuser. Various stacks of books are used to bring the coin closer if needed. Sometimes I drape a white dishtowel over all or part of the tub. I usually shoot with flash and have a separate spot which I move around until the illumination most accurately reproduces the in-hand look. Shooting in daylight with the flash and supplemental light has given the best shots (the living room is very bright during the day).

The camera is an old entry-level dSLR with macro lens.

It's always a work-in-progress though. If I were a good enough photographer I'd shoot with the coin elevated against a matte black background-- then I wouldn't need to painstakingly photoshop out the background (I like the look of uniformly black backgrounds better than white).

After trying many arrangements, I'm currently shooting against a white background which I turn black in postprocessing.


I should upgrade the camera body to one which supports live viewing on a laptop. THAT would be very handy.

 

TIF that is an awesome painting in the background.

 

Thanks Whizbro, I painted it. I have several in the series. That's one of my favorites.

 

That's awesome. I don't want to derail the topic anymore just thought I would point it out. My sister draws as well and my favourite picture in my house she drew. I would post it but we are talking about camera set ups darn it!

 

Since this seems to be the place to show our photo rigs, I took a new shot and updated my photo page (where the letters are explained) . Still, the secret of good coin photos is buying the right coins.

http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/coinphoto2011ez.html

 

Nice coin support, very clever with the interchangeable dowels.

 

OK I'll add my 2 cents. After you've been hearing so many different advices you'll be completely lost I guess...

I use a black background, and in order to have it out of focus put the coins on a little wooden piece. A plastic “cache” maintains the background dark.



I’ve built an alternative to a tripod on which I just have to put the camera (it’s not the actual camera I use on the pic, of course, as I needed it to take one…)

The light is either natural light or white (they have to be VERY white) low energy light bulbs. Depending on the natural daylight which is subject to quick variations, I make several attempts an choose the best result. The best I ever get is in daylight on a grey snowy day when the natural light is even


The settings on the digital camera are as follows:

- Balance on EAB (in French, I don’t know the name in English, it should be something like “automatic white balance” or similar)

- Manual settings as I want the light to be optimized on the coin rather than on the background. For that I underexpose a bit

For the pictures themselves, I use Gimp2 as software, crop and rotate if necessary, put obverse and reverse together on the same image. Adjust contrast and luminosity. I slightly change color, coin in hand to stay the closest as possible to the actual color of the coin in natural light (don’t forget electric light changes colors appearance).

Well, in theory, it’s very easy. In real life it needs a little practice to put everything in order

Have a nice time

Q

 

go ahead

realy cool setups guys

 

go ahead

realy cool setups guys