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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2046692, member: 19463&quot;]<a href="http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-reviews/nikon/coolpix-8800/nikon-coolpix-8800-review.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-reviews/nikon/coolpix-8800/nikon-coolpix-8800-review.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.steves-digicams.com/camera-reviews/nikon/coolpix-8800/nikon-coolpix-8800-review.html</a></p><p><br /></p><p>The Coolpix 8800 is perfectly capable of taking good coin photos.&nbsp; Read the review above and learn to use the controls.&nbsp; I once used a Nikon Coolpix 990 (vintage 2000) which is the camera used for the illustrations for Victor Failmezger&#039;s book on Late Roman bronzes.&nbsp; 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).&nbsp; 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&#039;s built in screen is what you want.&nbsp; The camera has a Best Shot selector for sharpness that will take several exposures and throw out all but the sharpest one.&nbsp; 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. </p><p><img src="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/camcomp.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; If it requires an accessory, you might have trouble finding it ten years after the camera was new. </p><p><br /></p><p>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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; More a problem is the angle will be different causing different reflections on bright coins as shown on daveydempsey&#039;s&nbsp; George V.&nbsp; If the light is far away (like the sun) the only problem would be the angle.&nbsp; I don&#039;t ever use direct sunlight but do like the effect of sunlight diffused by clouds and open shade.&nbsp; That is where we benefit by setting up the camera and evaluating what you see versus what you want to get. </p><p><br /></p><p>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.&nbsp; 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).&nbsp; &nbsp; After you have done all you can do with the camera and lighting, the next step is processing as covered by JA.&nbsp; The closer you get to a great photo before you process, the easier it will be to do that processing.&nbsp; The Idea is to tweak not to resurrect.&nbsp; I ususlly reshoot coins several times (often after showing them here for the first time) changing things more than improving them in many cases.&nbsp; That is another hobby.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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