It seems like the best way to take a picture of a toned coin is with a lot of light on the top. However to take other pictures of coins, I have to move the lights back on the sides, and the detail of a toned coin diminishes. I would just keep the lights at the top, but it makes pictures of other coins look horrible. Anyway to find a good tradeoff between the two so I don't have to move lights around?
Tried doing morgan dollars, which seem to be one of the hardest coins to photograph. This didn't turn out too bad, but the shadow at 6 o'clock annoys me.
The only way I can see to do that with the setup you have is to have 4 lights, and only turn on two at a time, depending on what you are photographing. That way you can do either toned or not. Not trying to be smart about this, but if the only issue you have is moving the lights depending on the coin you are photographing, that might work.
What you need to do, for toned coins, is reflect light off the coin -- like a mirror -- into the lens. That will bring out the colors. Personally, I would lose the light box, which only diffuses light and makes capturing the color harder. If the coin is not all in focus that's because the coin isn't parallel to the camera.
What Leadfoot said and, Do you use a dslr with a macro lens?, if you do you take some pictures at f 5.6 and see if the out of focus spots improve.
My camera is a Canon Elph 100 HS. As expensive as it was, it has no manual control over the F Stop or Focus. I'm thinking that perhaps my lens is not very big and the part where it's out of focus is the curve of the lens. EDIT. I think that might be the case. The bottom of the coin being out of focus does not happen on smaller coins.
Again, the (primary) reason part of the coin is not in focus is because it is not perfectly parallel to the camera. The reason you don't see it so much in smaller coins is because all things being equal the coin is "off" more in the larger example. The "curve" of the lens has nothing to do with it. There are two easy ways to solve the problem, otherwise you'll continue to battle it.... First you can use a level (a simple bubble level will due) to level your table, then do the same to your camera. Vertically or horizontally both work, depending on your setup. The other way to solve it is to buy a copy stand (that has a fixed base and telescoping camera mount). I suppose a third way would be to "eye" it, but that will not be consistent or repeatable like the two former examples. Lastly, increasing the f-stop (i.e. decreasing aperature) will help, but not solve the problem. Personally I use a tripod and bubble level -- and with some practice you can get even the largest coins perfectly sharp from edge to edge: Hope this helps...Mike p.s. the other factor that causes your photo to be out of focus is the depth of field. Specifically DoF is very "thin" causing any angular difference between the plane of the coin and the plane of the sensor to result in an out of focus subject. Depth of field is dependent on two further factors -- magnification factor (a function of subject distance and lens focal length) and aperture (larger aperture (i.e. lower f number) = thinner focal plane, smaller aperture (i.e. higher f number) = thicker focal plane). You can read more about depth of field here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field You can also get a good book on coin photography here: http://www.amazon.com/Numismatic-Photography-2nd-Mark-Goodman/dp/193399004X p.p.s. just wait until you try and take a photo of a coin in a slab slightly tilted, and none of the above methods work and you have to go back to your 'eye'.
Detecto I do a lot of coin photos. I spent a year reading forums and books, learning how to take coin photos before I was happy with pictures I can take now. I made a camera stand and placed two lights on adjustable stands. I can add more lighting but so far I have not needed to. Attached are pics of the set up. You can also play around with different type bulbs and wattage. Good luck Big Ed
I had trouble with the whole coin NOT being in focus (okay in the center but losing sharpness out toward the rim). I had two problems contributing to that, both as a result of the camera being too close to the coin: 1. Depth of field - I stopped down the aperature but to compensate I had to lengthen the exposure time. That helped some. 2. I moved the camera further away from the coin. That improved the geometry of the exposure. The two adjustments corrected my problem.
