OK I have some coins i would like to share, but I can't seem to take a good pic of them to share. How do you guys do it? I use the macro setting and I also use the auction setting on my cam but I get nothing but a fuzzy pic. Are you scanning them? or what?
Well you don't have to zoom all the way. With my old camera 3 mega pixel I zoomed all the way, and still I had to crop the picture. Now with the new camera(9 mega pixel) I zoom until the coin gets fuzzy then back off until it is clear. Then I still have to crop the picture. It takes some work to get them decent.
I've been fiddling for a while with my pic taking. I personally like the Canon Powershot series of cameras as they are fairly idiot proof and take a nice pic. I have a tripod that I keep on the lowest setting and some setup lighting, put that bad boy in macro mode and click until I see something I like. Then its only a matter of cropping and posting.
It depends on the camera. We have a digital camera at work that's like a 1st generation with barely anything for user options. The best photographer in the world would not be able to take a good pic of a coin with it. Same goes for many cameras. There are limits with what you can expect so you should always list the camera you're using. I use a Canon S3 IS. It took the pic in my avatar. White piece of paper for the background. Custom white balance set. Instead of auto, I set it (the wheel on top) to 'manual'. Normal macro (as opposed to super macro). Attach a cheap macro lens onto it. Use the direction pad up down, left right to set the right ISO and aperture (until the light looks right on the back screen and the histogram is in the middle). Zoom as needed. Hold in the manual focus button on the side of the lens, while I again use the directional pad's up and down to help focus. If it doesn't quite get it, I slightly move the camera forward and back until the image is sharp on the back screen. Halfway depress the shutter button to let it focus. It beeps. Then I depress fully. Pic taken. No tri-pod used. Then when I add the pics to photobucket, I edit them to adjust the size and also click auto-fix and it takes the haze off the pic making it look much better than what I put on there. About the best I can get with this set up:
BTW, those three shots are just using natural day light through a window. No flash. And I would not be able to get an in focus close up this close,without the macro lens, which I steal off the back of the wide angle I use from time to time. When the camera is fully zoomed, it's horrible at focusing, unless I use the extra lens. Hope this helps.
