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First coin macro shots. Advice from the experts???
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<p>[QUOTE="Eric Babula, post: 3645475, member: 85976"]Ok, I’m a complete novice at macro photography of coins, so please be kind (well, you don’t have to – I’m a big boy – I can handle it!)! Up to now, my only coin pics have been either from my cell phone (hand-held) or my point-and-shoot (w/ tripod). Not conducive for really good pics, for sure!</p><p><br /></p><p>I don’t need to be a professional, but I want to learn to take pretty good pics of my collection. My camera is not the best (Pentax K100D), but it’ll have to do for now. I just bought a new macro lens (Phoenix 100mm F3.5 – didn’t want to spend a ton, since I may end up getting a new camera at some point in the next year or so), as my zoom lenses were not doing the trick at all. I have a copy stand and 2 goose neck lamps, which I set at about 10:00 and 2:00 to the coin. Put the camera on macro mode, with manual focus, and a 2-second delay, auto white balance (could probably do custom white balancing). No other settings, yet. Not sure if I can hook the Pentax K100D up to my laptop with LiveView, so I focused through the little viewfinder.</p><p><br /></p><p>Attaching a few of my first pics (took about 100 shots last night just to test), completely unedited (oops, except for cropping), so you can see the pic as it came out of the camera. To be honest, these are tons better than anything I’ve done with the cell phone or point-and-shoot! So, already I’m happy and can see good things in the future with lots of practice and experimenting! But, I know my pics can get better with time.</p><p><br /></p><p>Any advice from the coin photographers out there would be appreciated. A few questions:</p><p>1. Does anyone know if you can do LiveView and remote control on a laptop with a Pentax K100D? If so, how?</p><p>2. I see that I’m getting some clear sections and some blurry sections of the coin (esp noticeable on the Cent reverse). Do I play with Aperture to get more crispness across the entire coin? Do I have to have my camera on Macro Mode, or can I set to Aperture priority, instead?</p><p>3. Looks like blast white dimes are going to be a particular challenge – I should be able to get better than this. Do I need to change lighting? </p><p>4. Colors actually look pretty close to actual coins in hand, just coming out of the camera. What’s the preference for lighting? I’m using LED bulbs, 10W (60W equiv), 5000K. Or, doesn’t it matter with white balancing?</p><p>Ok, that’s enough for now – probably more questions to come, pending responses. Thanks in advance for any advice!</p><p>[ATTACH=full]978867[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]978868[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]978869[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]978870[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]978871[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]978872[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]978873[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]978874[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]978876[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]978877[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Eric Babula, post: 3645475, member: 85976"]Ok, I’m a complete novice at macro photography of coins, so please be kind (well, you don’t have to – I’m a big boy – I can handle it!)! Up to now, my only coin pics have been either from my cell phone (hand-held) or my point-and-shoot (w/ tripod). Not conducive for really good pics, for sure! I don’t need to be a professional, but I want to learn to take pretty good pics of my collection. My camera is not the best (Pentax K100D), but it’ll have to do for now. I just bought a new macro lens (Phoenix 100mm F3.5 – didn’t want to spend a ton, since I may end up getting a new camera at some point in the next year or so), as my zoom lenses were not doing the trick at all. I have a copy stand and 2 goose neck lamps, which I set at about 10:00 and 2:00 to the coin. Put the camera on macro mode, with manual focus, and a 2-second delay, auto white balance (could probably do custom white balancing). No other settings, yet. Not sure if I can hook the Pentax K100D up to my laptop with LiveView, so I focused through the little viewfinder. Attaching a few of my first pics (took about 100 shots last night just to test), completely unedited (oops, except for cropping), so you can see the pic as it came out of the camera. To be honest, these are tons better than anything I’ve done with the cell phone or point-and-shoot! So, already I’m happy and can see good things in the future with lots of practice and experimenting! But, I know my pics can get better with time. Any advice from the coin photographers out there would be appreciated. A few questions: 1. Does anyone know if you can do LiveView and remote control on a laptop with a Pentax K100D? If so, how? 2. I see that I’m getting some clear sections and some blurry sections of the coin (esp noticeable on the Cent reverse). Do I play with Aperture to get more crispness across the entire coin? Do I have to have my camera on Macro Mode, or can I set to Aperture priority, instead? 3. Looks like blast white dimes are going to be a particular challenge – I should be able to get better than this. Do I need to change lighting? 4. Colors actually look pretty close to actual coins in hand, just coming out of the camera. What’s the preference for lighting? I’m using LED bulbs, 10W (60W equiv), 5000K. Or, doesn’t it matter with white balancing? Ok, that’s enough for now – probably more questions to come, pending responses. Thanks in advance for any advice! [ATTACH=full]978867[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]978868[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]978869[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]978870[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]978871[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]978872[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]978873[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]978874[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]978876[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]978877[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]
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First coin macro shots. Advice from the experts???
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