Coin Photography Question??

I use the program that came on the EOS Rebel CD that came with my Rebel T3i. These cameras are old and really affordable now. This is mounted on a copy stand with four common LED bulbs from Ace hardware. They can be lifted and adjusted in and out. They're plugged into an American DJ strip down below so I can switch off whichever lights I want.

The camera plugs into an old laptop with a USB. It allows you to see the image full screen. Going one step further, you can hit a magnifying glass button and it zooms in on the coin giving a close up view that allows you to see the slightest bit of it being out of focus. In that view I adjust the bellows on the camera up or down until it's razor sharp.

Once I close that window, the overall view adjusts and is perfectly sharp. Then once Im satisfied with the light on it, I go up and click the shutter button on the right corner and it snaps the picture and saves it on the computer. Then I save it on to a flash drive and move to a better computer to crop and adjust on photoscape. Whatever I want to do with it.
This setup keeps the camera perfectly steady during the shot. Everything is set before you push the button on the computer to take the pic. This setup wasn't hard to do.
Note this is not using the lens that came with the camera. I use either a Nikkon or Schlecter Componon-S on the bellows. These lenses allow you to keep the camera high away from the coin and allows light to get to the coin. Focus is obtained by adjusting the camera itself up and down on the rail and final focusing is done with an adjustment knob on the bellows.

I only use the original lens for larger items such as currency that requries me to zoom out. The camera still does a great job. Have thought about upgrading to a T7i but don't really need to.

 

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A few recent examples. Only two lights on this because silver is so bright.

This last one I just did a closeup for my reverse proof set registry for main photo. I will add that when your hands are free and you only need to push a button on the laptop screen to take the photo, you can hold a white sheet of paper over lights like a diffuser and can affect the look of proofs with that as well. On this reverse proof eagle you can see a little bit of white creeping up on the bottom of the shield. I was holding a sheet of paper over near the front lights to give it that look so it wasn't all just black.

 

I run the same program, I love my T3i.

 

I grabbed one of the most reflective coins from the cabinet. Gemini token.
This is indirect lighting.



This is direct lighting. In my world.

 

looks close to the same copy/camera stand as mine.

 

It's an old testrite. Found it at an estate sale for $5.

 

mine a freebee, discard from an old work place.

thanks for the lighting pic, showed me something. at least something to investigate.
trying to get my magnifying lamp back.

 

back to the OP's original question/topic.....may i be so bold as to say it (the foto) looks out of focus, and that if it were focused it would look maybe fine? it (the foto) reminds me of mine, until i went old school manual focus lens. phone and cameras auto focus seemed to mess up stuff. a good stand or something is good also, remote shutter= steady, not blurred.

 

I use my phone

 

I wish that I could get that good of a photo with my phone.

 

This is why I went the laptop route for my image screen. I used camera screens for years and found myself redoing photos a lot because they were out of focus. I couldn’t tell on the little screen. When the coin fills a laptop screen and you can zoom in and focus it while zoomed in to get it even tighter, it’s one and done every time now.

Regardless of how you shoot proofs, a white piece of paper held above will brighten up the fields and actually show the surfaces instead of the standard just being black photo. Works on all metals too. Makes the pics look more interesting and brings out details. Instead of reflecting things you don’t want, try a blank sheet of paper. May take some trial and error to get it right.

 

If anyone’s wondering what I’m using on my Canon T3i body here’s an image of the parts. I can’t take credit for this as there was another thread many years ago on here that got me to buy these lenses and the bellows. It was a great tip I wanted to re-share. The rear of the bellows spins 90 degrees into the camera body and clicks just like the stock lens and has an adjustment knob on the side.

The two different lenses I use are this Nikon El Nikkor 75mm f/4 for larger coins. Or if I need to take a pic of a half dime or want a closeup of a date, I swap out for this Schneider Kreuznach Componon-S. 2.8/50 made in Germany. They were inexpensive and work fantastic for coins. You just have to find the right bellows for your camera which also has the right diameter for the lenses to thread into.

 

may just get one. the one i would require is cheap on the bay but the shipping is holding be back from an impulse buy. wondering how much better than a macro lens .
note: i'm using a mirror less camera, no mirror like a slr, the sensor sits right behind the lens. with the proper adapter you can use just about any slr lens from most all brands. down side is they increase the magnification of the image 25%. down side of a macro lens is that its so close to the subject it be comes hard to light as the lens is in the way. clip one on your fone and see how close you can get.

 

Cool. If you’re wondering about the stand offs for these different lenses, in the first pick at the top of the page I shared with the flowing hair on the laptop, that is the Nikon lens and it’s in focus 11.5” away from the coin. This can take pics of smaller stuff too but works great for larger coins/medals of this size.

I forgot the front ring on bellows actually has a button on it to release the ring so you can put different diameter adapters on it for whatever lenses you want to use. Here’s a pic of it off the bellows with the Componon-S screwed in.





Heres what the Componon-S does. From front of the lens to the Lincoln cent was 4”. It fills the screen and is in focus there.



In the last picture I didn’t move the camera at all and just adjusted the bellows down to 2-3/4” away from the Lincoln and you can look on the laptop to get an idea of the magnification it gives you. It’s in focus here as well.

 

It’s hard to do a straight on photo. Angle or magnify the closeness while pulling away from the coin itself. Then of course you have to crop it to bring the photo in closer. I put against white background usually.

 

I love the EOS Rebel software. I wish I had gone with a bellows but had already bought a Sigma 150 Macro.

 

I use dynamic axial lighting for many of my proof coins. It's excellent at balancing and directing the light on the coin's surface.

 

For taking photos for online sales, I use this rubber coupling sleeve (for plumbing) and a "smartphone ring light" that has a clip at the top to hold the light onto your phone:

I don't usually use a smartphone for photography, I just shoot through the hole. I have to elevate either this rig or the camera (via tripod), but it works well enough. This isn't my idea. I probably got it from someone here at CT.

I've also used the slanted glass and black velvet trick with light coming through a white screen for photography of coins for website or publishing:

Also not my idea, nor my photo. Probably got it from someone here at CT. My rig doesn't look as sophisticated as this, but I copied this same setup almost exactly. I don't have a digital SLR camera, just a decades-old 14 pixel compact digital camera.

I've also used the three Janso lights against various backgrounds for larger items, like slabs.