My new camera Nikon COOLPIX L840 -

I'm trying to follow your lead here Doug...and I'm trying to think of something to use as a tube...might have to make a trip to the craft store for inspiration because I'm at a loss for what to use around the house.

 

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Black construction paper works. A tin can with both ends removed and spray painted black works. A shampoo bottle made of black plastic works. Thin card stock (usually brown) sprayed black would be OK. Craft store foam sheets are just easier. Don't buy it online and pay more postage than you do for the material.

 

I see no problem with the Nikon L840 BUT it bothers me that none of the camera review sites bother mentioning the one feature that makes a difference for coin photos. Many cameras will focus very, very close to the front of the lens but some will only do this if the lens is set at a wide angle. It is not important how close you can get but how small an area is covered by the camera when set to the closest. If a lens has a focal length of 10 to 100mm and focuses to one foot at all focal lengths including 100mm it will shoot a smaller coin than a lens that focuses to one inch at 10mm and one yard at 100mm. My set up will fill the frame with a denarius at about 8 inches. My wife's camera will fill the frame at about two inches. That close makes it hard to get light on the coin from an attractive angle.

One trick is to add a close up lens to the front of the lens of a camera that won't focus close enough. That requires finding a close up lens threaded to fit your lens. If your camera has no threads on the front, some ill accept a slip on lens. It might be a good idea to take the camera to a camera store and ask if they can fit it. This should cost more for the service but if you can't otherwise figure out what your camera needs it might be worth it.