No more complaining about GC photos? Phil Arnold Joins GreatCollections

It looks like people might be able to stop complaining about the GC photos.

Phil Arnold (the man behind the PCGS TrueView photos) joins GreatCollections as Director of Photography:
https://www.greysheet.com/news/story?title=phil-arnold-joins-greatcollections-as-director-of-photography

 

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Although some photos might become too optimistic? I was one of those that liked the GC photos as they were (especially for the consistency). We will see how things change going forward.

 

Phil will have some limitation that was a luxury at PCGS. He will be shooting through the slab almost 100% of the time now. It won’t make much of a difference on non toned coins, but colorful proofs, PL and many MS coins will be a challenge. With PCGS he didn’t have slab glare to contend with…….those days are over. His photos will still be top of the line, no question about that. Colorful proofs will show the most noticeable difference.

 

You are correct that taking photos through slabs will be a challenge. He did some when people sent old holders in for just the TrueView photo but now almost every coin will be like that.

 

Not sure how I feel to see any changes right now but Phil is really good. After a lot of study of the quality of GC images, I sent in about 70 coins for auction. Many have nice color and I had worry the images would not show the real look of the coins. Maybe this will be a good thing. I guess I'll know soon.

 

Phil will do a better job bringing out the color than the previous GC photos.

 

Very interesting to hear. I am a huge fan of Phil's work. The only cost to me is that hard-to-see toning on some coins will probably be more readily noticed--less cherrypicks for me perhaps! Ha

 

I’ve never been negatively surprised after receiving a GC coin in hand. For True Views, however, I always find myself looking at a non TV photo to get an accurate representation.

 

I have one specific coin in my collection where the true view is overly generous compared to the coin in hand. The coin could look that way in a very specific light at a very specific angle I suppose. You can tell it was a dark coin, but it is much darker coin in hand. Still a nice coin, but if a person was buying strictly from the true view, I think they'd be a little upset when the coin arrived.

True view


My feeble attempt

It's quite possible the coin darkened too overtime.

The GC photos are not great, but I have gotten several that were a nice pleasant surprise when they arrived as far as toning, so I think this will be an advantage for GC with their toned offerings.

 

When ever you are photographing a coin with a macro setup and 2-3 lights the fields almost always brightens up more than if you have the coin sitting on a desk with the ceiling light or a desk lamp as your lighting. About the only way not to have the fields brighter with the macro setup with multiple lights is to have the lights facing away from the coin or backing them away. With this brighter look also comes any color (provided it’s there).

 

I enjoy images that bring out the color. It's really nice to have a few sets of images, shot in different ways. That gives me a better understanding.

 

I had not been perusing GC a lot lately but today is a cold and wet day, spitting rain and snow, so is a wonderful day to watch the Vikings and look at coins. Many coins in GC have the “Great Photo” on them now. I am impressed with the quality of these pictures. This is making my window shopping/ tracking list/maybe I’ll bid on it list so much more enjoyable!

 

I noticed some GC listings come with additional high quality pics now. I’d say that‘s an improvement as long as the colors aren‘t completely off.

E.g.
https://www.greatcollections.com/Coin/1495477/1822-Capped-Bust-Half-Dollar-NGC-AU-55-Toned

 

I just noticed the extra image on some coins. I hope that becomes the normal on all coins.

 

This is a huge positive, as GC has had some fabulous high end coins, where the images did them absolutely no justice. In addition, coins that were not as attractive as originally thought often looked better on the website than in hand. GC never intentionally misrepresented coins with juiced photos, as they are far too professional, but coin photography, as we all know is a very fine art. Kudos to getting superior photography, and this is excellent news.

 

Delighted to hear it. GC has been far too fine an organization to have allowed such subpar photography. A very positive change.

 

Dream on