Macro camera..

Affordable macro camera…..Ol man wants to buy

Rich

 

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Do you mean a macro lens to attach to a digital SLR or a cell phone with close up abilities? My avatar image was made with a half decent cell phone. With good lighting on the coin and using books to raise the phone above the item to be photographed and which will hold the phone steady when you press the shutter button you can get close up images. These images were taken a few days ago with this technique.

 

Affordable might mean one thing to you and something very different to me. Can you be more specific with the price range you have? There are generally pretty good options at a wide range of price points.

Also, do you need the camera as well, or just the lens? If you are starting a new system from the ground up, that could take us in very different directions.

 

I use a Nikon Coolpix 18.1 megapixels digital camera, which I bought new in 2013. It was relatively inexpensive, perhaps $150 or $200 brand new. I don't know, if prices of low end digital cameras have increased or decreased, since 2013. It has a macro button, to turn the macro mode on or off. I use macro mode, when I take photos of coins. It has a lens, which moves forward 1.3 inches, when I turn the camera on. It's worked well for me. I'm guessing, that there are many digital cameras, which have a macro mode, which are relatively inexpensive. Here are a few photos, which I've taken, of 2 of my coins.

Byzantine Empire. John VIII. AR Stavraton. Minted 1425 AD To 1448 AD. Constantinople Mint. Sear 2563. LPC Page 172 Type 1. Maximum Diameter 23.0 mm. Weight 6.76 grams. Obverse : Jesus Christ Bust Facing Front, With Halo. Reverse : John VIII Bust Facing Front, Wearing Crown With Pendilia, With Halo, "IWAN" Greek For "John" In Outer Legend Clockwise Starting At 12 O'Clock.

Latin Empire. Billon Trachy. Minted 1204 AD to 1261 AD. Constantinople Mint. Sear 2035. Maximum Diameter 20.5 mm. Weight 1.15 grams. Obverse : Jesus Christ Full Length Facing Front, Standing On Dais. Reverse : Emperor Full Length Facing Front, Right Hand Holding Labarum, Left Hand Holding Globus Cruciger. The coin has been clipped, which is typical.

 

I also use a Nikon Coolpix. Mine is the 995 model. The macro setting works very well, and the swivel body makes my results fully sufficient via simply resting the body upon 2 short-stacks of books with the coin in the middle.

It's not that I wouldn't like to have a newer/nicer camera, but at this point what I have works quite well for me... and... uhhh... I'd rather spend my always too limited hobby budget on coins or books than a camera.

Here's a link to a review written just a few years ago on the Nikon 950 which was the slightly older sister to the Nikon 995:
https://www.dpreview.com/news/66092...design-coolpix-950-remains-fun-and-impressive

 

Man that brings back memories; I purchased the Coolpix 990 model way back when. It was the best digital camera available and as I recall I spent around $1000 for it at that time.

 

Rich, how much do you want to spend? A real DSLR + macro lens will run you at least a couple hundred. I'll be the contrarian here but I wouldn't bother with a point and shoot if you're at the point you're unsatisfied with cell phone pics.

Just the other day I posted a crude setup to take pics with a regular phone. The results are meh. I'd rate it a 4 out of 10.





Same coin shot off my basic DSLR setup and it's significantly better (though still quite a bit shy of a perfect 10 out of 10)




So the question could be "how good do you want your pics to be?"

Rasiel

 

@rasielsuarez - Good comparison and contrast between the two! (I see your cat photo-bombed you, though.) ;-)

Below is a picture of a quick set-up I use with my Samsung S23 when I'm in a hurry. Below that picture is the result, which is also just about a "4".





Although it's not an excellent photograph by any means, it is as good as I need it to be for just cataloging/documenting my own coins. And it's fast to set-up and tear-down. (Especially when I'm already sitting there with my phone and an empty mug of coffee.) When I want a better quality photo I whoop out the Nikon and some lighting. But that takes more time to set-up.

 

Yep, that sure does the trick! If you want to knock out the background it's easy to do on https://www.remove.bg/

Rasiel

 

It really boils down to:
Maybe you have a capable camera and not using it correctly.
I bought my dslr, almost 10 years ago,and it still makes me work for a good shot. Maybe you just want to learn a new skill?

 

I have a Sony, which forces me to use Sony/Minolta lenses. It takes excellent pictures, but I don't want to dump money into an old camera.

Next one will eventually be a Nikon/Canon.

 

I use an old Canon Eos 400D with a Canon 60mm Macro lens. It is a relatively cheap setup and suffices for now. I might upgrade the body to a more modern version soon.
My results are good enough for me.
These images are cropped, reduced to 40% original RAW size and then placed side by side. No other post processing.

 

Per the Coolpix 995, do you use a tripod? If so, what? I'd like something similar to Rasiel's. I have a taller tripod, but the camera just droops down (until stopped by the legs) if I try to put the camera horizontally.

 

I recently posted a thread about this topic:
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/wh...ou-recommend-for-a-nikon-d3400-camera.408575/
you may find some answers there.

 

I have a spare tripod if you need or someone else needs one

 

As it happens my old SLR is getting a little bit temperamental and I am waiting for a replacement Canon Eos 250D (Rebel SL3) to arrive. I will be able to continue to use my existing lenses. I will update you on my updated images if people are interested. I am not expecting there to be a massive change other than a much higher pixel density due to the much newer sensor (24.1 MP as opposed to 10.1 MP).

 

Very nice thanks

 

Thanks, I have one.

 

Here is the first image with my new camera.... reduced to 40% original size


and a cropped centre from the same photo around the head at full size

 

What camera body / lens did you use?