A new toy for photographing coins

I am never satisfied with my coin photos and reshoot many several times before I get it 'right' or give up (more often the latter). I saw a toy for sale on eBay so I decided to try one. There is no magic bullet that will solve all my problems but this has some features I like. It is a ringlight with 144 LED's of daylight balance with a nice feature of being dimmable. My experience with my old fluorescent ringlight was good but its single brightness did not do well when trying to use it in conjunction with another light to get the balance I wanted. It arrived today so I have not learned to use it or tried with a variety of coins. In general, I expect it to be best for higher relief silver and harder to control with dark bronzes with low relief. Time will tell.

This light was advertised as an accessory for stereo microscopes (which I have so I can use it there if it is a flop on the camera). The description said it would fit up to 62mm diameter which is exactly what my Canon macro measures. The images below show my previous image of a Maximinus Alexandria tetradrachm (shown here before) above the new light result. The pseudo axial light of a ring really emphasizes letters in the legend. The bottom image used the Ott light desklamp at full power and the ring turned down to about a quarter (it has no scale on the dial). Second guessing, I might try even less ring. I'll have to reshoot some other coins that I think might benefit from the toy and, maybe, a few that I'm doubtful it would help but that could stand a better photo anyway.

Opinions welcome.

 

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Love it... almost like mine

 

I like both (the coin itself rocks) ... hmmm, but I'm not sure which coin I'd pick due to the photos (I really do buy the photo ... I'm that guy)

... ummm, I like that the bottom photo shows the legend a bit more clearly, but the bright-light probably tricks my eyes into thinking that the bottom coin is a bit more worn than the top photo (the top photo has that sweet green patina-look that everybody seems to like)

Honestly, I like the photo that makes the coin look 'honest" ... which of those photos is closest to the real-deal, my friend?

Oh sorry => great photos (and congrats on purchasing your new toy ... I'm sure that you're very excited ... congrats)

 

I have one of these too...sometimes it really does help, but I haven't quite got the hang of it 100% yet...practice, practice, practice makes perfect

 

Both are nice pics, though I prefer the 2nd.

 

Second coin have lot more details and more brightness!

 

The second makes the details stand out more, but I do think the first one seems more natural and prefer that one myself.

 

Each pic shows different details... but the camera & ring setup is like.... the Death Star!

 

Bottom photo is brighter but shows slightly less detail. I'd have to go with the top one.

 

agree with zumbly...

 

hmmmm...i don't know. which one captures the "in hand" look more? that would be the one i guess.

 

Nice toy! Better pics!

 

Pretty neat! The details in the bottom coin really stand out but at the same time it almost has a photo-shopped look to it. I would like to see a shot of a Byzantine cup coin though.

 

I prefer the second image. The different lighting brings the coin to life, especially the reverse.

 

The second image has clearly more clarity, more details and more brightness. The first one might look more attractive, but I don't know why I have this feeling when looking at both of them.

 

I'm curious -- which of the two pictures above represents the color more accurately?

 

Crisp pics....like them!!!!

 

The second seems to be sharper, but like others, which is the closest to the actual coin?

 

The look of an actual coin depends on the light in which you are seeing it. The second photo captures the color a bit better but may have a bit too much blue glare. The top looks a bit green to my eye on my screen but your computer may differ. It takes practice to get such things right. I really like the world in digital photography after spending so much of my life in film photography. I remember some of the really stupid things we had to do to make the best prints when I was working in the lab (1969-1988) and would give anything to have had the controls then that we have now.

 

This coin came today. It is the first new coin I've shot with the new light but nothing to compare it to with the old setup. I bought it because the metal looked healthy for a 2nd century billon and it was not overpriced. I like this photo better than I do most first efforts. I probably have a thousand coins that need reshooting worse than this one.

Hadrian, Alexandria, 4dr, Serapis seated, 25mm, 13.20g, Emmett 892.12
The seller IDed it as Trajan but a lot of people have that problem since the right legends starts TPAIA. Of course anyone into these would see the face is not Trajan---right?