Coin photography by jtlee321

No, holding the coin on a small black pad in one hand, and the camera in the other. It has worked for me, so I have never gone to a better setup. The camera was under $100 (and they don't make it anymore, so I bought a spare a few years ago for like $25 or something in case it breaks, haha). Like I said, it does not really capture vivid toning though, which is why I use the ipod for those.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

There's a cool little Chrome Extension called "EXIF Viewer" which I employ. It shows the EXIF data for an image on mouseover, if it's still embedded, which it is in jwitten's images so I know what camera he's using.

Like many point-and-shoots, it does not offer a manually-adjustable aperture so he's kind of stuck with depth of field as it is. However, the pixel density is relatively low at 5MP, minimum focus distance is only 3", and it certainly seems worthy of inclusion on the list of P&S cameras appropriate for coin photography.

Jwitten, it'd be a lot of work for your camera, but if you go to a solid vertical camera mount and axial lighting, it should capture the toning nicely. Toning is quite sensitive to lighting placement and angles, and you just haven't hit on the right combination yet. I expect it's capable of the job.

 

Ya, I hold the point and shoot directly under lights (and I feel like the camera is closer than 3 inches to the coin!), with the light reflecting directly into the camera off the coin, whereas I have more a side lit shot with the ipod. That probably has something to do with the colors they pick up.

 

What dave is referring to with axial lighting, is the use of a small pane of glass to reflect the light down onto the surface of the coin. Here is a diagram of what axial lighting is. One thing to remember however is when shooting a slabbed coin, axial lighting becomes very tricking and sometimes no possible, due to the plastic surface of the slab reflecting the light directly back into the camera lens.

 

Very attractive photography. Makes the coins really "snap out" at the viewer.

 

To add one little (imperative) detail, you have to block any_other_light from hitting the coin aside that which the glass reflects onto it. That means something solid between the light source and the coin, and not allowing any of the light which went through instead of reflecting to bounce off of something else onto the coin.

Exposures will be long, ISO will be high. There isn't much light reaching the coin, and less reaching the lens.

I ordered a piece of beamsplitter glass today, and have a couple odd ideas in mind for how I'm going to implement it. This will be fun.

 

You're correct. But for my uses, I actually use a combination of axial and traditional lighting to bring out the color and luster. With true axial lighting, the luster will appear dead. So I bring in a light source at high angles to bring out the luster that is lost. I refer to it as hybrid lighting.

Dave, I've been on the fence about ordering a some beam splitter glass. Will you let me know how it goes? The big thing that I don't like about shooting through glass is the slight distortion it creates which decreases sharpness. I'm curious if the beam splitter glass will be of high enough quality to help reduce the issues I've been having with shooting through glass.

 

Kool extension. Thanks for the 'in'. Now I don't have to download (photo) and save it and then open it in Photoscape to get that info.

 

I'll PM you when it arrives and let you see the first work. I got 1/8" rather than 5/32 with distortion in mind, and 60/40 T/R, the most reflective I could find for less than like $400/sqft.

I'm thinking one Jansjo in a tight spot configuration (via Ray's "Smile Director" technique) should do for luster - it'll create a delineation across the face of the coin.

 

I've never gotten much mileage out of axial lighting. Too many coins are slabbed, for which it doesn't work well, and it's awkward to set up for just those few that aren't. (And if you've seen me shoot coins at a show, you know I have a high tolerance for "awkward.")

 

I saw you shoot a coin with your magic Canon P&S. You walked up, casually faced the camera down and nailed a Morgan toner in a huge room with a thousand overhead lights. The laws of physics don't apply to you.

 

I had forgotten about that until you brought it up. That was probably at FUN 3 or 4 years ago. I wonder if I still have the picture. A couple other "through the case" shots I did were at the 2011 ANA show. The Smithsonian had a 1933 Saint and an 1849 $20 on display, and I had my decent camera at the show. I brought my tripod in one morning and set up in front of the coins to take some pictures before the show opened to the public. The exhibit person tolerated me doing that but reminded me that I couldn't use the images in any commercial endeavor. Pretty good result, even though it does show off how abused the 1849 $20 was.

 

Doh! make that 3 Rosies

 

The tracking shows that the package should arrive tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing what I get to shoot. I should have images ready tomorrow for you.

 

Yeah, it was one of Russ' Morgans at the 2013 show. I was sitting there running a couple $G's worth of dSLR/macro lens hotness, a T2i and Canon 100mm Macro, struggling to get the color amidst all that overhead lighting, and you just made me totally facepalm with that punchy little Canon P&S. Admittedly, yours was the best camera Canon had in the P&S category - which is pretty dang good - but all the same it was a Humility Moment.

 

Cool!

And TJ1952, I like the USB microscope you have, any sample pics?

 

Sure. Stby.....

 

Justin just called me with an update. He went to the PO to pick up the package and somewhere along the lines, the envelope tore and 3 of my coins are now missing. 2 Rosies and my beloved Morgan are somewhere between here and the west coast

 

One of your Roosie's, the Lincoln Cent and the Morgan are what's missing. Two of your Roosie's made it.

This is super sad to see. It's a reminder to alway's ship coins in a padded envelope and not a standard #10 envelope. Luckily he shipped them insured, but it does not get the coins back. My stomach dropped when I saw the envelope in my P.O. Box.

 

Yikes. Sorry Charlie. Hope you don't get any guff with the insurance claim. USPS has been getting bad lately