Sorry, but those pictures are like I'm looking through beer goggles. Can't see any details just blurred lines. Not going to get any confirmation or affirmation with those. Try again with lighting from both sides and camera straight on.
Chris can you translate your posted response so I can have a clear understanding as to what you mean.
I am having a hard time with this camera phone and have not yet purchased a more suitable set up to the images needed for you experts to evaluate the coins. I don't know any tricks to improve the quality any better. I am not sure why all jokes and wise cracks I am pretty serious about this and new at it as well. I am also pretty confident that the bulk of you experts have figured that out a long time ago. But yet no one has asked what type of set up am I using and no one has attempted to suggest or provide recommendations. As critical as the image quality needs to be I am just surprised that not a single expert that has recognize my lack of experience and substandard equipment by the photos I have been posting that this guy needs a little guidance. Instead posting wise cracks that are not informative to me or the audience. I think that if your expertise were displayed im every response that tho site would become much more informative, educational its been 6 months and not a single inquiry in regards to my technology. Would it be nice if every photo that was posted was crystal clear or at least was in the best quality it could be given that coin? You experts would be able to cut time involved by reducing all the redundant post. How about having a day dedicated to discuss equipment, technology and sharing of the challenges you guys have with the quality being posted day after day see after week. That's my suggestion and I hope things can improve. Thanks for the time you have taken to help educate me and make me a better collector.
I think that some are being rather polite as we have no idea how much you can spend to take photos detailed enough for identification as to mint variety or damage. If one said they have a nikon with a 55 micro/macro lens, we would discuss stability of the camera holder and light for the photo. When I saw it was magnifiscope ( and APP for certain phones/computers, I realized you were a victim of pixel interpolation by the app. If you magnify the image too much , the resolution of the product would have blank space because they have no true data, but the inventors, found they could guess estimate what the blank would look like and inserted these false data pixels inside true ones and it gives a fuzzy, hazy, no sharp lines or shape images. If you just needed identification of what a whole coin was, you would be OK, but if you wish to know if it is a variety ( most common thing here) , we can not tell by that type of image. No electronic magnification will be as sharp as an optical one. It may look sharp, but it is often still part fake because of the software. Hope this helps. Use the "SEARCH" box above to help/ Jim
Tips on photos: Find an object that has some mass to it that is about as tall as a optimal focal length for your camera phone. For instance, if your phone takes a sharp, clear image at 5", the object should be at 5" tall. The mass of the object allows you to steady your phone against it at the set focal length. Use the zoom of your phone's camera to capture closer images paying attention to sharpness of your image. Use diffused lighting from 3 positions at approximately 120° from each other. This will allow you to use lower, diffused lighting while minimizing glare and shadows. Use a solid backing of an appropriate color. When taking pictures of darker coins, use a lighter backing but be careful not to pick something that will cause light issues with your phone's camera because of reflection. Flat backing...not a glossy surface. For lighter coins, use a dark-flat backing. Crop your photos. All the distractions should be minimized. What I think is ideal is setting your phone on the object of mass and zooming in a bit so that the object fills the screen image on your phone. Take a picture there. Good luck on your setup.
To put it in more laymans terms ... let's look at your image (a) first, we know you have a singular light source, undiffused (more on that later) coming from the 11 o'clock position. This bright light is creating what is called a Direct and "harsh" light. If you look at the inside on the rim you can see how bright it is. You really cannot discern the shape of the inside rim at all. Now if you look in the top left you have the same problem with the coin's surface. And thus we have the same problem on the left side of each number in the date. The bright, reflective light obscures any ability of determining anything on that edge. Opposite the date number's it's a dark shadow, thus making it unable to determine anything there too. With lighting it becomes really easy: Go to a room that has bright lighting. Bright as in "bright" but nothing direct (ie, do not point a flash light at it). Remember we're not talking bright for your "eyes" but bright for a camera sensor. This does a few things (a) provides bright light, which (b) keeps shutter speeds fast which helps prevent blurriness from movement. put the coin on a piece of white or black construction paper, or copy paper. Yes paper, something with NO pattern on it. Patterns can confuse auto focus systems. If there is a light pointed directly towards the coin it HAS to be DIFFUSED. ie, something as simple as a piece of paper in front of the light (of which the light shoots THROUGH), square from a white shower curtain. Or even better, multiple lights Bounced off of a white piece of foam (that are in boxes when you buy something larger), or even white paper. If you look up what a "light box tent" is you'll get the idea. Using a cell phone is fine. If you follow the rules above you can get excellent images. The major mistake people make with a cell phone are: Too close, and thus the camera cannot focus properly. Look at the images. Use "cropping" to make the images larger, not getting way too close. put the cell camera on a box pointed down. Many ppl cannot hold a cell camera completely still (one thinks they can, but they really cannot if the light is poor). Hope that helps.
These guys know how to get pictures. However, they can provide details (also already here if you did a simple search) all day every day and people will still post bad pictures, lazy pictures, halfazzed pictures, non ENTIRE penny pictures, photo enhanced pictures, pixellated, and the most common "shot with a potato" pictures and then get butt hurt when VOLUNTEERS crack wise. People will literally barely take the lint out of the change they just yanked from their belly buttons and toss it in a pile, take a picture with a "Barbies First Selfie" camera and expect to be told its a ultra rare DDO. Take the jokes and criticism like a man and understand their perspective dealing with impatient "get rich" youtube junkies thinking they know something. Most importantly know this....everyone here has posted a garbage picture at some point in time. Trust me, your pictures arent special. Just dont be that guy who keeps doing it over and over and over and then whine about being ripped on.
