1945 War Nickel Polished?

SorenCoins · Jul 19, 2016

SuperDave said: ↑

The problem with zoom on smartphone cameras is it's digital, not optical. The camera is not physically changing the optics for greater magnification, it's just computing what the coin *should* look like if it were larger on the sensor. There's only so many pixels on a camera sensor, and the phone's processor is arbitrarily adding more based on what it thinks ought to be there in order to make the image larger.

Enlarging a coin image via digital zoom will always make for a less-detailed image, especially when done by the (relatively "dumb") processor in a smartphone by comparison to a desktop computer.

If we use the Morgan I posted above as an example of the best the phone's camera can do (and that was shot with a 4S, although the 5's camera isn't a huge improvement), a Nickel should come out around 550 pixels in diameter, sharply-focused. About like so:

View attachment 520189

Not huge, but large enough to get some information across.

Of course, it's not an "Easy Button" operation - you'll have to fiddle with focus distance, lighting and getting the camera square to the coin - but your phone's camera ought to be able to produce images quite good enough to get your point across.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all that information. I will no longer digitally zoom. Nice morgan btw.

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

SilverMike · Jul 19, 2016

Great tips here! I'm still learning how to take good pictures too. Thanks for the advice.

joecoincollect · Jul 19, 2016

I have an iPhone 3 I think. I'm pretty sure my pics aren't that good

ldhair · Jul 19, 2016

So many ways to image coins. It's all about practice and more practice.

SorenCoins · Jul 19, 2016

ldhair said: ↑

So many ways to image coins. It's all about practice and more practice.
Click to expand...

Practice makes perfect

Log in or Sign up

1945 War Nickel Polished?

SorenCoins Well-Known Member

Guest User Guest

SilverMike Well-Known Member

joecoincollect Well-Known Member

ldhair Clean Supporter

SorenCoins Well-Known Member

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

1945 War Nickel Polished?

SorenCoins Well-Known Member

Guest User Guest

SilverMike Well-Known Member

joecoincollect Well-Known Member

ldhair Clean Supporter

SorenCoins Well-Known Member

Share This Page

Useful Searches