Coin photo opinions

Proper lighting in paramount. I found this to be true through my own experimentation with the iPhone. I started out with 3 Jansjo lamps, and it worked quite well. However, the phone's reflection was a problem as it created a shadow spot on the coin at the 6 o'clock position. This was never a problem with circulated coins- only lustrous, mint state coins. Proofs were a nightmare. So I added a fourth and then finally a fifth Jansjo lamp over time. Now this may seem kind of crazy, but 5 sources of light is almost required for my particular setup. If you would like, CoinLover67, I can take a picture of my setup to show you how crazy it looks. Just let me know. I can put it together tomorrow and post it here. It has changed since the last time I took a picture of the contraption.

In the meantime, here are some examples of some of my coins, taken with an iphone 6S Plus, except for the first image, which is from an iPhone 4S.

Morgan - iPhone 4S and 3 Jansjo lamps:



Morgan - 4 Jansjo lamps:



Some Ike Dollars taken with 5 Jansjo lamps:

 

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Thank you all for the tips, for the Jansjo lamps is there anything special about them in particular or can I use some desk lamps I have already?

Sent from my ZTE B2017G using Tapatalk

 

The only real selling point of the Jansjos is the small size of the light itself - they're only 1.25" in diameter - and their gooseneck maneuverability. These features allow you the most adjustability for changing lighting needs and you can get them as close to vertical above the coin as any light out there.

There's a tradeoff in the relatively small amount of light they throw.

 

I'd add to this that because they are LED, they run very cool. This gives you options for diffusion that you don't have with incandescents or halogens. And you "must" diffuse them because they act as a point source, which creates problems for false colors and such at large apertures.

 

Good point. I've completely forgotten the damage caused to my hands by the MR16 Halogen flamethrowers I used before the Jansjos.

 

I just about spit out my coffee reading your post.

 

You know those huge solar power fields which employ mirrors to focus the sun's energy onto a tower and heat water for generation? Like that.

 

Your phone should have a setting for releasing the shutter to speech. For instance
say "whiskey or cheese" and it will take the pic.