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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;-jeffB, post: 1393866, member: 27832&quot;]First, I have to say that I&#039;m astonished you&#039;re using a Canon 100mm macro and ring-flash for dental photography. I use that lens for general macro work, and I love it, but I&#039;m pretty sure I couldn&#039;t get my mouth around it (no, I&#039;m not going to try) -- if someone tried to use it to photograph the inside of my mouth, there&#039;s no way they&#039;d get an unobstructed view, never mind getting in light from the flash. And with the narrow depth of focus inherent to macro photography, I can&#039;t imagine getting a sharp image over more than a tiny section of a tooth.</p><p><br /></p><p>My dentist uses a wand camera with a business end that&#039;s not much bigger than a molar. I&#039;m sure its images wouldn&#039;t fare well if you blew them up to poster size, but they&#039;re good enough for video and frame-capture, and the smaller sensor size means it&#039;s much easier to get your area of interest in focus.</p><p><br /></p><p>The requirements for coin photography are different in a number of important ways.</p><ul> <li>You can position a coin flat and parallel to your plane of focus, making it much easier to get the entire coin in focus.</li> <li>Coins aren&#039;t surrounded by other tissue that blocks your view and constrains your angles of viewing and illumination.</li> <li>Coins don&#039;t drool -- they aren&#039;t covered with a reflective, glare-inducing layer of liquid.</li> <li>Coins hold still.</li> </ul><p>Given these differences, I think most of us use a copy-stand type arrangement -- either a tripod or a rack that can hold the camera steady, pointed down at a flat surface, with lighting arranged around it. Since coins don&#039;t move, you can use conventional lighting with a longer exposure. This makes it easier to see what you&#039;re going to get, and gives you a LOT more control than a ring-flash or even multiple slave flashes.</p><p><br /></p><p>Coin photography has its own challenges -- capturing luster and toning, for example, can lead to some pretty esoteric lighting arrangements. As for the camera itself, though, just about anything with macro capability should do the trick; you just need to pick one with image quality that makes you happy.</p><p><br /></p><p>That&#039;s my take, anyhow. Please note that I&#039;m not a professional numismatist, photographer, <i>or</i> dentist. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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