Log in or Sign up
Coin Talk
Home
Forums
>
Coin Forums
>
Ancient Coins
>
An Unfair Comparison in Coin Photography: iPhone vs DSLR
>
Reply to Thread
Message:
<p>[QUOTE="Orielensis, post: 4189085, member: 96898"]Coin photography still is relatively new for me. I started it only about a year and a half ago, largely due to the influence of this forum. Since I am also doing a tiny bit of landscape and animal photography, which mixes well with another favourite activity of mine, hiking, I already knew the basics of handling a camera but had never done any macro photography before. 18 months later, I’m still light-years aways from the coin photography masters on this board ([USER=19463]@dougsmit[/USER] , [USER=83845]@Curtisimo[/USER], [USER=56859]@TIF[/USER], to name just a few), but in most cases I manage to produce acceptable results.</p><p><br /></p><p>Generally, I shoot all my coin pictures with the same DSLR (digital single-lens reflex camera) I also use for outdoor photography. For those of you interested in the technical details: it’s a Canon EOS Rebel T6s equipped with a Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens and a cheap 13mm macro extension tube. Mostly, I shoot in aperture priority mode with f/10 at ISO 800. At some point, I’ll hopefully have the space to house an actual copy stand and build a better lighting set-up, but due to the insane California rent prices, I am at this point confined to my kitchen window as a light source and mount my camera on a generic backpackable tripod that I bought for animal photography and bird watching.</p><p><br /></p><p>In the last weeks, I needed my camera equipment at work and kept it in my office space. (The word “office,” though technically correct, feels like a boastful exaggeration – the space I work in closely resembles Harry Potter’s ‘Cupboard Under the Stairs’.) Yet, last weekend, I wanted to take pictures of some relatively new acquisitions. Since my DSLR was out of reach, I tried the method often recommended in this forum: I placed my iPhone 8 on a tin of crushed tomatoes with the camera facing downwards, arranged the coins under it, and took pictures. As easy as that.</p><p><br /></p><p>Honestly, I was surprised by the quality of those pictures considering the very basic means I used. Still, when I brought my camera back home with me this afternoon and there still was enough daylight, I used the opportunity to take more pictures. Comparing the results is, at least to me, quite interesting – thus I thought I’d share them with you. The first picture each is the iPhone, the second picture is the DSLR. I didn't do any digital image manipulation apart from size-reduction, cropping, and combining the pictures.</p><p><br /></p><p>1. With bright silver, the iPhone produced acceptable results. Yet, colours are a bit misrepresented due to (I assume) some automatic “correction,” and there is much blurry glare. The DSLR obviously did much better, but I’d say the phone didn’t perform too badly:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1076029[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1076028[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">Septimius Severus, Roman Empire, denarius, 197–198 AD, Rome mint. Obv: L SEPT SEV AVG IMP XI PART MAX, head of Septimius Severus, laureate, r. Rev: IOVI CONSERVATORI; Jupiter seated left, holding Victory and sceptre. 17.5mm, 3.30g. Ref: RIC IV.1 Septimius Severus 130. Ex Pegasi; ex FSR 111, lot 257.</font></p><p><br /></p><p>2. Greyishly toned silver with a lot of contrast was easy to photograph with both cameras. Here the iPhone, apart from slight overexposure, did not perform that much worse than the DSLR set-up.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1076021[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1076020[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">County of Mansfeld-Eisleben, Johann Georg III, AR ⅓ Taler, 1669 AD, Eisleben mint. Obv: (anchor) IOHAN. GEORG. COM. IN. MANSFELT. NOB ; 1/3; St. George on horseback r., slaying dragon with lance; on horse’s saddle blanket, arms of Mansfeld-Eisleben. Rev: (anchor) DOM. IN. H. S. ET. S. FORTITER. ET. CONSTANTER; 16-69; crowned coat of arms of Mansfeld-Eisleben; AB-K for moneyer Anton Bernhard Koburger. 32.5mm, 9.12g. Ref: Tornau 493; KM #118. Ex Tauler y Fau, auction 49, lot 2701.</font></p><p><br /></p><p>3. Colourful toning constituted more of a problem. The smartphone camera automatically oversaturated all colours, making this bracteate look very weird.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1076023[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1076022[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">Abbey of Fulda, under Heinrich IV. von Erthal, AR bracteate, ca. 1249–1261 AD. Obv: Abbot seated facing holding palm branch and book; in Gothic polylobe and double pearl border; around outer rim; H-V-H-V. 29mm, 0.52g. Ref: Berger 2293. Wx “HC Collection;” ex CNG, e-auction 459, lot 579.</font></p><p><br /></p><p>4. The iPhone didn’t have too much trouble with bronze coins showing a lot of contrast and sharp details such as this Ptolemy. The DSLR outperformed it, of course, but not by too great a margin.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1076025[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1076024[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">Ptolemy VIII Evergetes II “Physcon”, Ptolemaic Kings of Egypt, AE30, ca. 145–116 BC, Alexandreia mint. Obv: diademed head of Zeus-Ammon r. Rev: BA[ΣIΛEΩΣ] ΠTOΛEMAIOY; two eagles with wings closed standing l. on thunderbolt; in field l., cornucopia. 30mm, 27,7g. Ref: Svoronos 1424b; Lorber/Faucher series 7.</font></p><p><br /></p><p>5. Yet, less well-defined contours, as seen on this Commodus sestertius, always appeared mushy in the iPhone pictures unless I took extreme angle shots. I find such coins generally hard to photograph and am not particularly good at it, but taking a passable picture with the phone seemed almost impossible.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1076027[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1076026[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">Commodus, Roman Empire, sestertius, 183 AD, Rome mint. Obv: M COMMODVS ANTONINVS AVG PIVS; laureate head of Commodus r. Rev: [TR] P VIII [IMP VI] COS IIII P P; Roma, helmeted, draped, seated l. on shield, holding Victory in extended r. hand and vertical spear in l. hand; in fields, S-C. 30mm, 25.14g. Ref: RIC III Commodus 369. Ex André Cichos.[/TR]</font>[TR]</p><p><br /></p><p>In conclusion, it’s on the one hand remarkable that a simple smartphone camera can produce better coin pictures than we find in many pre-digital printed catalogues. On the other hand, the automatic adjustment features that make smartphone cameras easy to use for snapshots soon get bothersome when it comes to coin photography. Although I’ll admit that I had underestimated the iPhone camera and that it can produce quite attractive coin pictures, I’ll continue to stick with my DSLR.</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Please post your own coin photography experiments, experiences, and advice!</b>[/tr][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Orielensis, post: 4189085, member: 96898"]Coin photography still is relatively new for me. I started it only about a year and a half ago, largely due to the influence of this forum. Since I am also doing a tiny bit of landscape and animal photography, which mixes well with another favourite activity of mine, hiking, I already knew the basics of handling a camera but had never done any macro photography before. 18 months later, I’m still light-years aways from the coin photography masters on this board ([USER=19463]@dougsmit[/USER] , [USER=83845]@Curtisimo[/USER], [USER=56859]@TIF[/USER], to name just a few), but in most cases I manage to produce acceptable results. Generally, I shoot all my coin pictures with the same DSLR (digital single-lens reflex camera) I also use for outdoor photography. For those of you interested in the technical details: it’s a Canon EOS Rebel T6s equipped with a Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens and a cheap 13mm macro extension tube. Mostly, I shoot in aperture priority mode with f/10 at ISO 800. At some point, I’ll hopefully have the space to house an actual copy stand and build a better lighting set-up, but due to the insane California rent prices, I am at this point confined to my kitchen window as a light source and mount my camera on a generic backpackable tripod that I bought for animal photography and bird watching. In the last weeks, I needed my camera equipment at work and kept it in my office space. (The word “office,” though technically correct, feels like a boastful exaggeration – the space I work in closely resembles Harry Potter’s ‘Cupboard Under the Stairs’.) Yet, last weekend, I wanted to take pictures of some relatively new acquisitions. Since my DSLR was out of reach, I tried the method often recommended in this forum: I placed my iPhone 8 on a tin of crushed tomatoes with the camera facing downwards, arranged the coins under it, and took pictures. As easy as that. Honestly, I was surprised by the quality of those pictures considering the very basic means I used. Still, when I brought my camera back home with me this afternoon and there still was enough daylight, I used the opportunity to take more pictures. Comparing the results is, at least to me, quite interesting – thus I thought I’d share them with you. The first picture each is the iPhone, the second picture is the DSLR. I didn't do any digital image manipulation apart from size-reduction, cropping, and combining the pictures. 1. With bright silver, the iPhone produced acceptable results. Yet, colours are a bit misrepresented due to (I assume) some automatic “correction,” and there is much blurry glare. The DSLR obviously did much better, but I’d say the phone didn’t perform too badly: [ATTACH=full]1076029[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1076028[/ATTACH] [SIZE=3]Septimius Severus, Roman Empire, denarius, 197–198 AD, Rome mint. Obv: L SEPT SEV AVG IMP XI PART MAX, head of Septimius Severus, laureate, r. Rev: IOVI CONSERVATORI; Jupiter seated left, holding Victory and sceptre. 17.5mm, 3.30g. Ref: RIC IV.1 Septimius Severus 130. Ex Pegasi; ex FSR 111, lot 257.[/SIZE] 2. Greyishly toned silver with a lot of contrast was easy to photograph with both cameras. Here the iPhone, apart from slight overexposure, did not perform that much worse than the DSLR set-up. [ATTACH=full]1076021[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1076020[/ATTACH] [SIZE=3]County of Mansfeld-Eisleben, Johann Georg III, AR ⅓ Taler, 1669 AD, Eisleben mint. Obv: (anchor) IOHAN. GEORG. COM. IN. MANSFELT. NOB ; 1/3; St. George on horseback r., slaying dragon with lance; on horse’s saddle blanket, arms of Mansfeld-Eisleben. Rev: (anchor) DOM. IN. H. S. ET. S. FORTITER. ET. CONSTANTER; 16-69; crowned coat of arms of Mansfeld-Eisleben; AB-K for moneyer Anton Bernhard Koburger. 32.5mm, 9.12g. Ref: Tornau 493; KM #118. Ex Tauler y Fau, auction 49, lot 2701.[/SIZE] 3. Colourful toning constituted more of a problem. The smartphone camera automatically oversaturated all colours, making this bracteate look very weird. [ATTACH=full]1076023[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1076022[/ATTACH] [SIZE=3]Abbey of Fulda, under Heinrich IV. von Erthal, AR bracteate, ca. 1249–1261 AD. Obv: Abbot seated facing holding palm branch and book; in Gothic polylobe and double pearl border; around outer rim; H-V-H-V. 29mm, 0.52g. Ref: Berger 2293. Wx “HC Collection;” ex CNG, e-auction 459, lot 579.[/SIZE] 4. The iPhone didn’t have too much trouble with bronze coins showing a lot of contrast and sharp details such as this Ptolemy. The DSLR outperformed it, of course, but not by too great a margin. [ATTACH=full]1076025[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1076024[/ATTACH] [SIZE=3]Ptolemy VIII Evergetes II “Physcon”, Ptolemaic Kings of Egypt, AE30, ca. 145–116 BC, Alexandreia mint. Obv: diademed head of Zeus-Ammon r. Rev: BA[ΣIΛEΩΣ] ΠTOΛEMAIOY; two eagles with wings closed standing l. on thunderbolt; in field l., cornucopia. 30mm, 27,7g. Ref: Svoronos 1424b; Lorber/Faucher series 7.[/SIZE] 5. Yet, less well-defined contours, as seen on this Commodus sestertius, always appeared mushy in the iPhone pictures unless I took extreme angle shots. I find such coins generally hard to photograph and am not particularly good at it, but taking a passable picture with the phone seemed almost impossible. [ATTACH=full]1076027[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1076026[/ATTACH] [SIZE=3]Commodus, Roman Empire, sestertius, 183 AD, Rome mint. Obv: M COMMODVS ANTONINVS AVG PIVS; laureate head of Commodus r. Rev: [TR] P VIII [IMP VI] COS IIII P P; Roma, helmeted, draped, seated l. on shield, holding Victory in extended r. hand and vertical spear in l. hand; in fields, S-C. 30mm, 25.14g. Ref: RIC III Commodus 369. Ex André Cichos.[/TR][/SIZE][TR] In conclusion, it’s on the one hand remarkable that a simple smartphone camera can produce better coin pictures than we find in many pre-digital printed catalogues. On the other hand, the automatic adjustment features that make smartphone cameras easy to use for snapshots soon get bothersome when it comes to coin photography. Although I’ll admit that I had underestimated the iPhone camera and that it can produce quite attractive coin pictures, I’ll continue to stick with my DSLR. [B] Please post your own coin photography experiments, experiences, and advice![/B][/tr][/QUOTE]
Your name or email address:
Do you already have an account?
No, create an account now.
Yes, my password is:
Forgot your password?
Stay logged in
Coin Talk
Home
Forums
>
Coin Forums
>
Ancient Coins
>
An Unfair Comparison in Coin Photography: iPhone vs DSLR
>
Home
Home
Quick Links
Search Forums
Recent Activity
Recent Posts
Forums
Forums
Quick Links
Search Forums
Recent Posts
Competitions
Competitions
Quick Links
Competition Index
Rules, Terms & Conditions
Gallery
Gallery
Quick Links
Search Media
New Media
Showcase
Showcase
Quick Links
Search Items
Most Active Members
New Items
Directory
Directory
Quick Links
Directory Home
New Listings
Members
Members
Quick Links
Notable Members
Current Visitors
Recent Activity
New Profile Posts
Sponsors
Menu
Search
Search titles only
Posted by Member:
Separate names with a comma.
Newer Than:
Search this thread only
Search this forum only
Display results as threads
Useful Searches
Recent Posts
More...