Selfie ringlight?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/36-LEDs-Fil...hash=item465c039578:m:mQ-m-1Q1g3A7irJQisI9Ryw

Several sellers are offering this 'toy' which I suspect could be adapted to good effect for use by those who take coin photos with their phones. Does anyone have any experience with it? The intended use is selfies using the weaker camera while I would prefer coins be shot using the front facing unit (possible with a phone??? How is this connected to the phone?) I could spend $7.89 and find out but I was hoping one of you shoots more selfies than I do and might know.

 

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Hey Mentor, that light might be a total winner? (but I'm probably the lone person on this planet that doesn't own a cell-phone) ... so I prefer the wear this as-you-go version (maybe it's the miner in me?)



FYI => I may actually buy a phone someday soon (I'm still weighing the pros and cons)

 

no phone....how do you possibly function? do you also own a horse for major transportation?

 

sled-dogs, my tech-reliant friend



Yah, I actually hate seeing the rest of the planet lookin' down, glued to their palms (sure, maybe I'm the one that can't function?)

 

@dougsmit
Hi, Doug,
You know more about the subject than I, but my experience has taught me that while the 'light-rings' illuminate the subject (coins) extremely well, the resultant image appears to be two dimensional, (to me).
I prefer the light to come from the side (slightly) to provide 'shadows' to the shot, that make the image more three dimensional. You can move the light (or the subject around) to get the best effect in 'highlighting' the profile and making the subject stand out.
What are your thoughts.
P.S. Buyer Beware! The photo (in the ad) is the same one that has been 'photo-shopped' (brightness) rather than examples of different photos taken on the different settings.

 

Steve: I knew this was the wrong place to try to suggest something. I decided to try using my wife's Galaxy 7s with my old fluorescent ring light (not wishing to tear down my regular set up just for this). It has a 6" diameter which is too wide to work right with a phone that has to be so close to shoot a coin. To make the light not come so harshly from the sides, I backed off a few extra inches but the small diameter of the toy would make this no problem as long as you phone can focus closely. This is uncropped but reduced with a small section of the uncropped image dropped in at the right. This is hand held so should be fuzzier than if you laid the phone on a support (pile of books?). I suspect this would also work on a small camera lens (point and shoot size - not a DSLR).

Topcat7:
Rings vary on effect depending on which coin you are shooting. Good ones sometimes have adjustments allowing one side be brighter than the other. Other models can simulate that effect by placing a layer or two of toilet paper or non-yellow tape over the parts you want to darken. Moveable lights are better if and only if the mover of those light has a clue where to move them. Certainly the ad is there to sell junk. I can't help but think this has a chance. Anyone have a family member who would like to upgrade their selfie quality if the coin thing is a failure?

The circle is the tin can around the CDR spindle that holds the coin above the black background. I did not try it on white or a hand as some prefer.

 

aaaahhh, now I get it (thanks)

 

I am curious?
I would be very interested to know, if your light source was directly above the coin, how did you get away with it not lighting up the inside of the can?
(If my light source is too high, the inside of my can (black foam beer can holder) is illuminated as well.)

 

Don't do it!

 

The can diameter is smaller than the ring diameter so the light from the ring illuminates the side walls of the can about half way down but leaves a shadow in the middle. A smaller ring or a higher position of the ring would require using a smaller diameter can.

I was once told that there are many people into both physics and ancient coins. I am not a physics nerd but just a general purpose nerd who loves questions like that. Yes, ring lights make it very hard to keep the background black. If I could overcome the other problems I would stuff a black hole down the can but fear a coin might fall off the post and come out in another dimension. I apologize to anyone who took this last part seriously. If Neil DeGrasse Tyson can have a TV show merging Pop-Culture and Astrophysics is it so bad to want to merge Astrophysics and coin photography?

 

It's more likely that rather than falling into a different dimension, the retained quantum information describing the coin would be inscribed on the surface of the black hole, possibly as a "soft photon". Alas, due to Hawking radiation, in several billion billion billion (etc.) years, the remnants of the coin will likely evaporate away entirely (potentially violating the requirement for preserving information and calling the information paradox into question, but I digress). Therefore, in the interest of archival storage and preservation of the coin, I'd advise against utilizing a black hole in any capacity despite its convenient ability to avoid shadows.

 

Are we still talking about the attachment for the phone? I'm not sure about other phones, but the iPhones front camera is pretty bad. I don't think you can zoom with it. Also most people that take selfies use a stick that attaches to the bottom of it which makes them look pretty dumb. (sorry for the people that use it) I think its going to be hard taking pictures of coins that way.

 

It occurs to me that a 'conical' shaped 'can' (megaphone style) with black card on the inside surface might alleviate that problem?
Have you tried this, (before I waste my time and effort)?

 

I haven't taken a selfie in four years (using a tablet to show me with a bass trumpet). I wouldn't know if that light would work or not. Seems like a good idea.

I am the youngest one here, and I have a flip phone. I have no need for one of those silly smartphones (though I have come close to admitting I need one; they can be handy ouside of WiFi).

 

I cant even bring myself to say or type the word

 

I may be close to one of the oldest here, and I can't imagine what it was like when I didn't have a cell phone, let alone a smart cell phone.

 

Since I last posted I reconstructed my shadowing rig using a black plastic flower pot with an enlarged hole in the top. The larger size and tapered sides corrected the light bounce problem so there was no need to trim around the coin except to remove the top of the pot that showed in the corners. The top hole is on a separate disk of pot material (I have a hundred of them so I can make various diameter holes). I need to test this with more coins before going public with it. The secret is safe here. No one reads deeply into this thread, right?

 

Yeah it just looks like its clamp on and you could flip it either way. I use my phone, maybe I'll give it a try.

 

Buy cutting a square hole in a square pot, I don't have to 'trim' anything.

 

I decided to give a selfie light a try. I found a similar one on amazon. It takes 2 AAA batteries and has 3 brightness settings. It worked fine putting it on the side with the better camera on my Iphone6, its just a clamp. First impressions were it doesn't work well with glossy/shiny coins. It seems using the lamp + selfie light work well but I'll have to mess around with various coins and lighting.







My original lamp only Pic.

More lamp pics at different angels.




Lamp pic