Any Tips for Taking Better Photos of Coins?

I'm having a blast playing with this tool. I never knew that you could do this. I am going to take a break now.

 

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Nice! Now make sure you've got the coin squarely facing the camera. See how the left side is much sharper than the right side? That probably means that the coin was tilted relative to the camera. Get the coin and camera lined up right, and it can be that sharp from edge to edge.

 

Good suggestion, thanks. Anything else I could try? Do you know if PhotoScape has a way to put a shadow around the coin?

 

Although I once would have considered it heresy, I bailed on CaNikon and went Sony as well. Short my lusting for a larger format (hello Fuji?), I see no reason to go elsewhere or ever looking back.

Perhaps I should have clarified, but what I meant to ask is if either of your adapters allow for focuing past infinity. Short going Novoflex, it seems many of the more affordable adapters are ever so slightly short and therefore do not allow for a hard stop at infinity. Shimming is an option, but not one I'm overly enthusiastic about having to do, so I've been trying to discover which are of the proper thickness; hence my question.

Beschoi (K&F Concept) are quite nice for the money, but those I have go well past, especially an OM mount. The same can be said for Fotga and one other I forget at the moment.

 

Try changing the color of the background you are shooting on to white, black or grey.

In my experience silver colored coins look good shot with a black background. Copper or gold colored coins look good when shot on a med grey background.
A white background is good to use for manually adjusting your white balance, and is a decent all around shooting background if you have lights you can aim.

Now if you are talking about the fields of your coin not looking right, this could be due to white balance. If this is off it will completely change what your coin actually looks like in hand...especially if it is toned. Changing the color of your background will also help with this but nothing will replace getting the white balance right.

 

Good question. Now I need to check carefully. I know they're close to dead on, but I haven't yet tried racking all the way to infinity to see if it's really there.

 

If you do get around to it, please do let me know; I would very much appreciate it.

While most are far from costly, I've simply grown tired of rolling the dice and cannot stomach having to pay up to (or in some cases well top of) $200 a pop for Novoflex.

 

The back ground will definitely effect the white balance on your coin. This color is reflecting back to your lens. If you are using an auto function setting? It can screw with the color of your coin.
I tend to like using the Manual function, it is easier to pull the "as True colors" from my coin, Lighting is a very big part of your finished product.

 

I agree.

I recently started reflecting my lights (jansjos) off a home made white board. This seems to work well with undiffused lights. Here is a recent photo of mine using this method.
I did a manual white balance adjustment on my Canon for shooting this coin. Used Photoscape for trimming and combining. Then ran it through Gimp 2 for the scaling feature.

 

Will an AI lens work on my camera? (D3100). AF would not work, but MF would, right?

 

I believe so, yes. The biggest issue with your camera is the fact it does not have an internal focusing motor and means you're rather limited in what AF lenses can be used as intended (with AF). That said, you may want to make sure your camera will be able to meter with said lens. I've read contradictory information on this with some claiming such cameras will and others that it won't, so better safe than sorry. Good luck.

 

I've been doing some research here, and I think that the 105mm Micro would be the way to go. The regular AI lenses look cheaper, so I will probably see if I can get one of those.

 

You don't need to go Nikkor unless you want to. There are other fine macros in F mount that can likely be had cheaper to significantly so depending on which version of the 105 you're considering. Instead of going into detail, I can explain if you want.

There are other non-macro options as well, but is a personal decision.

 

Some are thinking of spending a lot of money on close up camera lens, when I think the the money would be better spent for a stereozoom microscope and extra oculars and auxillary lens. Magnification and optics are designed for sharp close ups, and the user can tell depth much easier as it is binocular and "3D" vision. One lens can be adjusted for so if you are just near or far sighted, you can adjust them so you do not need eyeglasses. Also one can actually search for varieties a lot faster. I shot many sharp photos by using a point and shoot , before I got my camera with removable lens. IMO Jim

 

I agree, Jim, unless you're speaking of the more recent USB-connected digital type. Good old-fashioned high school biology type scopes are what is needed, WITH binocular vision and a good variety of low power objective lenses.

 

A stereoscope IMO is a "must have" for variety collectors. I'm not sure how I could do the roll searches I do without my 'scope. I use a B&L and would highly recommend this to any searcher. Today they can be purchased so very cheaply that they are within reach of most folks, and they offer great value of enhanced experience.

And of course you CAN take pics with them. Image quality can be acceptable for sharing on the web but is fairly limited due to the intentionally large DOF.

The suggestion of using a stereo biology scope with binocular head is a good one, since the optical quality is far superior to stereo types. So if you are looking to do "all-in-one" this may be a good solution.

 

Hang on, all the "old-fashioned high school biology type scopes" I've seen are monocular...?

 

Yes, most from my era certainly are, but one school around here was auctioning off older stereo ones. There was a 5 per lot minimum, and I didn't want to mess with them.

 

Like what?

 

I bought a Nikon 55mm Micro-Nikkor lens, and it is awesome! It is the AIS version. Here is a photo I took a moment ago and edited. What I read about it is correct - it is extremely sharp! I am very pleased with this lens. Thanks to all for the replies and recommendations!