Lighting for Coin Photography

Just curious about the lighting setup that you all are using for coin photography. I am mostly interested in the types of light bulbs you are using, i.e. LED, full spectrum, etc.

 

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I use 50mm diameter Angel Eyes ringlights, masked-off from 4-7 and 11-1. This mimics the "smile directors" concept I described on another forum. You can make actual smile directors from Jansjo LED gooseneck lamps. You can also use the Jansjos without the smile director masking for general lighting as long as you add a good amount of diffusion.

Do a Google search on "coin photography smile directors" to see what they are and how to make them.

 

I use a 150 watt GE Revel lamp, dimmer controlled.
It's in a wall mounted swing arm fixture.

 

I use two (sometimes three) Jansjo lamps masked with some vellum over the bulbs. Most of my shots are taken with the lamps positioned at 10 & 2 o'clock but there are time when I have to fiddle with the lamp orientation in order to bring out the best shot.

 

What does the vellum do? The Jansjo lights are LED so I would imagine any other LED would be similar. Im curious about the effect of the vellum - does it diffuse/tone down the light or create a different effect?

 

Indeed......it does diffuse the light a bit. Without the vellum I wind up getting 'hot spots' on the coin.

 

I also keep the lights high and close to the camera.....

 

Mark Goodmans' book Numismatic Photography is a good volume to have in your numismatic library.........

 

I use an OTT-LITE with a white light tube.
Goodman indicates that it's close to the same as sunlight.

 

I used to use Verilux goose neck lamps (true light also) but I found them too cumbersome to maneuver........