Hey, I noticed some of you guys have some REALLY nice shots of your coins. what cameras are you useing? I have a decent digital, but the close up's look fuzzy. I really liked the shots of the 1943 ssteel cent error. WOW if I could get my shots to come out half as nice I'd be HAPPY. Maybe even some hints on lighting etc. Thanks everyone. PS. I must say...This forum is awesome. you people are very helpful.
Hello Mintne1, Thank you for the complement. I use a Canon 5 Mega pixel Digital and use the macro setting for close up shots. It really helps me when the camera is on a tripod as well. Any movement, and the shot will blur. I use paint shop pro at home and corel draw at work to crop the picture and compress it to a size I can post. I take a few different pictures with different lighting and flash to try to find the best combination. The different metals and finishes can make it tricky to get a true representation of the coin. I like dark backgrounds and as much natural light as possible. Good Luck and Enjoy
You can go here http://coinimaging.com/ for additional advise on taking photos of coins. As stated there, there will be a lot of trial and error to get it right as there are many camera and lighting combinations.
I used a 2001 Olympus Digital D-510 Zoom 2.1 megapixel camera to photograph the Roman coins in the below website: Roman coins website
I use a Sony Cyber Shot 6 mega pixel. I still havent perfected taking pictures of coins yet, Im still experimenting.
Plenty of folks use older 2 MP cameras & get excellent results so nothing overly fancy is needed. The biggest thing is using a tripod or copy stand and using you camera's macro mode (assuming it has one), even better if you can manually focus in macro mode. Doug Smith has some good photo info on his old site (even if ancients aren't your thing the articles can be useful)... http://dougsmith.ancients.info/ph2004.html http://dougsmith.ancients.info/ph2003.html http://dougsmith.ancients.info/photo7i.html http://dougsmith.ancients.info/990nikon.html http://dougsmith.ancients.info/photo.html http://dougsmith.ancients.info/neroduppho.html On Scanning... http://dougsmith.ancients.info/scan.html There might also be some info of use here... http://www.ancients.info/forums/showthread.php?t=978
I use my scanner for most shots, set it the highest dpi. It seems to work better than my camera. I do the same with sports cards. Plus they're already in the computer, saves one step. When you do use a camera a tripod is pretty much a must.That's the great thing about digital cameras, you can take a whole lot of photos untill you get just the right one. My microscope also takes pretty good pics, but I only use it for errors. Mattman
I use a Canon S3IS 6MP. Priced well under the expensive SLR type cameras but very close in quality. It has a macro setting for close up shots and a super macro for really getting close. Also has a built in lens optical image stabilizer for those of us with shakey hands. Runs on 4 AA batterys or AA rechargeable. Priced around $350 at Best Buy. Plus you can upgrade to a telephoto or wide angle lens. This is a great camera and for the money you can't go wrong. Happy Hunting Chuck
