I don't understand what the problem is.

f-stops (or aperture) measure the size of the opening in your camera's lens. A lower number f-stop (say, 1.4 for example) means a really wide opening in the shutter, which means more light will get in to the picture. A higher number (say, 24 for example) means a much smaller opening and less light.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Oops, meant to say f stop should be lower. Shows what happens you post before fully waking up.

 

http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-reviews/nikon/coolpix-8800/nikon-coolpix-8800-review.html

The Coolpix 8800 is perfectly capable of taking good coin photos. Read the review above and learn to use the controls. I once used a Nikon Coolpix 990 (vintage 2000) which is the camera used for the illustrations for Victor Failmezger's book on Late Roman bronzes. I took those images while lying on my back following leg surgery with the camera hooked to a TV and set on manual so I could adjust the preview on the screen (what you see is what you get). I always recommend shooting with manual exposure selecting a relatively small aperture (for this camera f/5.6 would do) and manually changing the shutter speed until what you see on the TV or the camera's built in screen is what you want. The camera has a Best Shot selector for sharpness that will take several exposures and throw out all but the sharpest one. It also has a BSS for exposure which I do not recommend using since you will be setting the exposure manually to what you want.


A problem with this type camera is that the macro works mostly at wide angle settings but coin photos benefit from being a bit farther from the subject so the lens does not shadow the coin. The 8800 has a feature where you remove a front ring on the lens and could add a close up lens that might allow using the lens on its longer telephoto settings but I have not touched that model and do not know how it works. If it requires an accessory, you might have trouble finding it ten years after the camera was new.

The is a law of physics called inverse square which holds that the intensity of light falls off with the inverse square of the distance. If you place a light very close to a coin, it is possible that the nearest edge will be lighted brighter than the farthest by enough that it will make a visible difference. More a problem is the angle will be different causing different reflections on bright coins as shown on daveydempsey's George V. If the light is far away (like the sun) the only problem would be the angle. I don't ever use direct sunlight but do like the effect of sunlight diffused by clouds and open shade. That is where we benefit by setting up the camera and evaluating what you see versus what you want to get.

I am not saying you could not take better pictures with a state of the art digital SLR but the 8800 is a very capable camera and easily usable to take better photos than 99% of those we see online. I would spend money making a good solid camera support (wood works - $10 will cover it) and buying good lights (The halogen in my photo above gives off too much heat so I now use compact fluorescents with daylight balance and an Ott light (according to how the mood strike me on any given task). After you have done all you can do with the camera and lighting, the next step is processing as covered by JA. The closer you get to a great photo before you process, the easier it will be to do that processing. The Idea is to tweak not to resurrect. I ususlly reshoot coins several times (often after showing them here for the first time) changing things more than improving them in many cases. That is another hobby.