I think that they scan their coin, then attack pic to their post. I have 2 scanners, and 2 computers, but you would know that niether of them work with either of the comptuers lol.
I use a camera, a Minolta DiMage with 10x optical zoom. I also use a GE Reveal lightbulb. Sometimes, I will use an additional magnifying lens (3x and/or 7x) for super close-ups. A tripod is a must with this type of photography. You can get set up for under $400. One of the things I do is set the photo size to the largest available, then use only the center third of the screen for my picture, whether it is the entire coin or the close-up detail. The details tend to get fuzzy outside that area on close-ups. I use the round mask in the software to crop the coin, leaving no background to distract. I start by aligning the west and south edges of the mask with the edge of the coin, then start a new mask from that point and align the other 2 edges. A trackball mouse is almost a must for this because it is so hard to keep a regular mouse on point when you align the the first 2 sides of the mask with the coins edges. Hope this all makes sense.... Good luck!
O boy, the answers to this question will be interesting I however will give you of the best advice, Keep it simple, don't spend alot of money it is not necessary-- 1--I have a digital camera, altho I have bought a much better scanner, I get superb pics with a digital camera--2--DON'T use the camera's flash!! 3--Get a tripod-- 4--Lighting is the trick-- 5--The camera MUST have the "macro" functions-- 6--Most of the best pictures I have taken I am inches away from the coin--Like trying to get a picture of a beautiful flower if you will-- 7--Take many pictures!! for practice!! With a digital camera it's cheap---Doesn't cost anything - 8--The best pictures I have ever taken was at night--the sun is down-- The more you do the better you get--Also there are a few webpages with tips, I believe we had a recent thread on this subject also, don't remember title because I didn't need to read it, I already take great pics--but it took practice--I musta took couple thousand pics before I got really good, also pics between silver and gold little different--The first picture I took with flash when I played it back blinde me LOL--all I saw was a "sun" if u will, flash is a no-no--At least for this amature coin photographer--
In the past I used a digital camera. Bad thing was it was an outdated Sony with only 1.8 megapixel and no macro. I achieved very good results with an inexpensive set of close-up lenses that could be screwed into each other to increase magnification. After buying my new HP scanner I discovered that I could achieve pretty much the same photo results with it. Just a simple increase in the resolution before scanning and I found that I could zoom right down to the mm. Rpm's showed up very clearly. I scan into Corel Photo Paint where I can crop, resample and pretty much do anything I want to the scan. I'm sure that the better mega-pixel cameras will give better results but for those of us that have older dinosaurs, you just have to be inventive.
Lighting...lighting...lighting! (more diffused, the better!) Macro lens is a must! Here is a good link: http://www.tabletopstudio.com/documents/coin_photography.htm
