How make those extremely Closeups of Coins

Hello everyone, How can we make those extremely close up photos of the VAMS and Errors where Die Cracks and other aberrations need to be shown in a photo.

 

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I am wanting to know how to get extreme close ups of Mint Marks on a Lincoln Penny. I have a Nikon Micro 105 close up lens but am unable to still get those really close ups even with the built in magnification. I have hear of extension lens and bellows just not sure which would be best for my equipment. Any and all information will be appreciated.

 

There are a few ways to produce close-ups:
1. Use a camera with a macro lens and bellows.
2. Use a camera that has, both, a zoom and super macro function.
3. Use a stereomicroscope with either a binocular or trinocular set-up with a camera attachment.
4. Use a USB microscope.

NOTE: #1 & #2 will also require a good copy stand and adequate lighting options.

Chris

 

Just a 105 mm macro Lenses will not take the very magnified shot of say the Mint Mark on a Lincoln. USB from what I have seen are very grainy and color incorrect. This is from what I have seen. I have seen information on extension tubes and bellows and not sure which one to use with my setup

 

These are 100% crops of the closest I could satisfactorily focus a Canon 100mm Macro, on an 18MP T2i sensor. They are completely unprocessed; I could improve the sharpness in post. Close enough for die cracks, you think?

 

That is very good for what I am looking for .. I guess I must not have the correct lens. I am stuck with a Nikon D7200 with a Nikon Micro 105mm and thought I could make it work but have found out I can't. now I need to know how to improve my photo to have the magnification you have

 

Looks like one of those times before I purchased all my photo equipment I should have got Canon . But now I got to make due with the decision.

 

I'm not a big fan of many of the USB scopes mostly because they are low-priced which reflects in the quality of the shots. I think Alan @coinzip might be able to help you with the best kind of USB scope.

I'm partial to a stereomicroscope, but when I bought mine, they cost more than $800. Mine was a binocular scope, but now, the trinocular scopes have come down considerably in price, and you can find them for less than $800.

Here are some photos I took of Morgan dollars with my old stereomicroscope.

Typo correction: $600 should be $800

Chris

 

Canon and Nikon are essentially the same. You absolutely should be able to do the same thing as @SuperDave above. What he did is make use of the pixel real estate of the camera to give apparent magnification. You can do the same thing with you Nikon. Simply take a photo of the coin you want as close as the lens can possibly focus at the highest resolution setting of the camera. In post production you simply take a 100% crop of the areas of interest.

I'm shooting on a Nikon system and have plenty of resolution to work with. The images I post here in the forums are only 25% of the actual resolution of the original.

 

That 105mm lens focuses down to 12" correct? So can you shoot a shot as close as SuperDave's and post a 100% for us to see?

 

@cpm9ball those are great photos. I am wondering if there is anyway to add to my equipment to get similar results. I had a Summit 3.0 by OptixCam for interface to a microscope but the software quit working when I moved to Windows 7. I am now on Windows 10 and still doesn't work Even when it did the images were very grainy.

 

The minimum focus distance rating of your 105 is the same as Canon's - about 12". I have found that time and again to be conservative on Canon's part; I was about 10" if I recall (those were shot on the bourse at Winter FUN 2013). However, you have 24MP in hand by comparison to my 18MP at the time, and one of the points of my post was that megapixels are an acceptable "magnification" all their own.

 

Something like that it is a long distance Macro lens

 

I'm not following your terminology. Are you saying your lens won't focus from 12" away? If not, what is the minimum focus distance on it?

 

My scope came with a camera attachment that slipped over one of the eyepieces and connected directly to my computer via USB. I no longer have this scope, and I've been looking for a new trinocular scope to replace it. When it comes to taking close-ups of coins, you don't really need one with 2500x magnification capability. One with 80x maximum is all that is really needed.

Chris

 

All other things being equal, the farther away you can place a lens while still achieving sharp 1:1 of the coin on the sensor is a great boon to your lighting options.

 

Getting focus using a copystand and manual focusing with cropping looks like this

 

As well as depth of field..

 

I am getting it to focus as well as I can see though the view finder. I do not allow the camera to autofocus

 

looks to me like maybe a very stable micro adjusting mechanism may be needed then taking my cropped picture?