Featured A new piece of kit for coin photography....

Just got a new phone. Droid turbo 2. 21 MP camera. Beyond impressed with it. Takes better photos then my point and shoot in macro mode. I've been using my phone recently for photos

 

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I'm working with another guy on the forum who's using one of those. Excellent coin camera. Now, about getting the whole coin into the picture....

 

Was showing someone how close up of the DD . Really really good picture taking abilities on this phone.

 

Definitely an article that should be in the Featured section. I've messaged Peter.......

 

Does the tethering software allow you to look at the coin real time on your computer screen?

 

Indeed it do.

 

Yes, in conjunction with the Live View function of the camera. It's a macro shooting game changer, being able to view the image (or part of it, at least ) on your monitor to sharply focus it. Without, the bellows/duplicating lens system is far more difficult.

 

I wonder if you'd be inclined to discuss the lighting used in more detail? I have found that in the main, different lighting is required for different coins / colours and certainly for proof / dull finish coins?

A very special write up. Thank you.

 

Thank you for the kind words, and it was pleasing to see this on the CT front page. Tonight after work I'll write something up regarding basic lighting.

 

Just what I was looking for. Awesome. Hey Dave I have an older Canon Powershot Pro 1 with a 7.2-50mm canon lens on it. Any hope with this setup? The camera is 8MP.

 

OK. Lighting.

As much as I emphasize the fact that coin photography is a skill, not a talent, and as such can be taught/learned by anyone, lighting is a bit more of a black art.

The basic rule of thumb is, you want two lights at roughly 10:00 and 2:00 to the coin, as close to the lens as physically possible so that they can be as perpendicular to the coin as possible. This eliminates shadowing and illuminates the largest-possible percentage of the coin's surface. After all, detail is what we wish to present when offering images of a coin for evaluation. I personally - at the moment - use two Jansjo gooseneck LED table lamps, something like $10 each from Ikea. Here they are, flanking my imaging rig:



They have the advantage of very small size and infinite adjustability. You can get them very close to the lens (while remaining above the lower lens glass, so nothing reflects into the lens).

Lustrous silver is harder than anything else to light, so that's where we'll begin.

Direct lighting best presents luster, and diffuse lighting best prevents dark/light areas like so:



You can tell that's a pretty lustrous coin, but it's losing detail in the darker areas and a bit overlit where brightest. This is where diffusion - the practice of inserting something a little translucent between light and coin - comes in.

There are those who advocate "light boxes," milk jug domes, and the like for shooting coins. I'm not one of them. They block too much light, make it too lacking in directionality, to ever present luster from being accurately depicted. You end up with something like this:



Lovely detail, no luster.

You can employ anything from a layer of tissue paper to carefully-designed vellum cutouts with painstakingly-placed slits (I hope @rmpsrpms sees this and mentions his Smile Directors) to achieve that balance between direct lighting and diffusion, but I can't be more specific than that because all lighting differs.

How much light? Well, my two Jansjos are rated as "40w equivalent" bulbs, and are capable of throwing enough light that exposures can be 1/150 or faster with lustrous silver. If you're using a solidly-placed rig and a remote shutter, there is no reason you cannot shoot as slow as 1/4 or slower. My previous go-to lighting before the Jansjos was two 50w Halogen GU16's intended as track lighting, and you couldn't tell the difference between the two systems aside the Halogens meant exposures in the 1/800-1/1000 range at the lowest ISO, and the made the coin too hot to touch after the shoot.

After lustrous silver, nothing else is difficult to light. Lustrous nickel? No diffusion, no problem (aside a scratched slab):



Lincolns? No biggie, Red or Brown:





Circulated coinage is essentially childs' play.

Proofs can be fun; I took a kitchen ceiling fixture with a Circline circular fluorescent, cut a hole in the center and poked the camera through. Worked well:



Toning is a subject for a thread of its' own.

 

I somehow missed this thread when it was first posted.

@SuperDave , you're living up to your namesake here! Super post!

I'm a convert to this method back in 2011, and I have never looked back. As Dave said, it's not a magical or necessarily "easy" method (you need to understand some optics and how focal length affects image size, etc), but it is as flexible a method as there is around to get great coin photos.

 

If nothing else is proof of the quality to be found in this method of imaging, brg5658, your work is. Nobody is better at it than you.

 

Thanks for the informative post. I wonder if you have any suggestions for a set-up when the the normal range of images required is from a single worn "slabbed" coin to an entire large selection of coins ranging from chromed to virtually black with various degrees of use/abuse?

I've included images which generally span the spectrum. However, normal requirements are a full slab detailed image to a close-up coin detailed image, within the slab.

Just curious how you span this wide spectrum with your equipment. My experience is that it requires many empirical set-ups which generally require compromise.

Any enlightenment would be appreciated.

 

Thanks for the informative post.

 

Your experience is correct.

The macro setup I'm describing isn't capable of a full-slab image. For those, I switch to (in my case) the stock Canon 18-55 taking lens, without the bellows. A one-lens solution is possible employing one of the much more expensive bespoke macro lenses in the 90-100mm range which can focus on their own, but that defeats the whole purpose of the system I'm discussing here.

Only the finest of the duplicating lenses I'm talking about can exceed the quality of a bespoke factory Macro lens. The Componon-S is probably up to it. The appeal of the system is that the whole thing, including camera, can be had for less than the cost of one of those lenses. A Canon 100mm Macro will shoot everything you show above - if you can get the lens far enough away - for $600. Plus a camera.

 

Am I missing sthg?

How is the bellows + 50mm option cheaper than a 100mm microNikkor at $65-$100?

 

The 105mm Micro-Nikkor is indeed a bargain, but the low-priced option is the manual focus version, which can only go up to 1:2 magnification natively. Today, these would not be called "Macro" lenses since they can't achieve 1:1, although you can add extension tubes or bellows to get there. Another disadvantage of the 105mm Micro-Nikkor and indeed most "dedicated macro" lenses is their large diameter. This is somewhat limiting in the lighting that can be applied. Many folks have overcome this with Axial lighting, or more recently hybrid systems like DOAL.

The main advantage the bellows system has over the dedicated macro lens is the ability to go to higher magnifications. Many folks are attracted to bellows systems because they want to image die varieties and errors, and their dedicated macro lenses are not up to the task.

 

Ha, @SuperDave , you jest. I'd say you, @rmpsrpms , and @robec are better than me just for starters. And, many others have spent more time working out the science behind this method, so I can take really no credit for the grunt work.

I will just say that once I was up and running (with connectors, adaptors, etc) and spent 1-2 weeks fiddling with things, I was finally happy with my photos. The learning is continuing some 4+ years later -- but I'd say I was 95% there in 2 weeks with the help of you and @rmpsrpms . Again, truly great post, and thanks for sharing this knowledge here!

 

For full slab shots, why do you even need a macro lens to begin with? I would think the purpose of such a shot is to capture the coin in the slab for auction or insurance purposes, for which you don't need incredible detail or anything. I would think the bellows setup could take a good picture of the label of a regular-sized slab, at least, right?