Wannabe Photographer got a new Camera

Hello all! Are we ready for another photography thread? I hope so

My wife suprised me this Christmas with a new camera - guess she got tired of me taking hers. The camera is a Sony a6000 which came with a 16-50mm lens. This camera is way above my abilities and the manual pretty much tells you how to put the battery in and turn it on as well as numerous safety warnings. Not a lot of help. I have learned how to change things like exposure, aperture, ISO and there's a bunch of stuff I haven't figured out yet. Going to have to buy a book for this one.

I'm struggling with - I think - noise reduction and sharpness. The photos look decent until I crop away the excess and resize down to 900 pixels wide, and at that point everything starts to look grainy and not as sharp. I would appreciate any suggestions.

 

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Looks like a very nice present! Learning how to use it-- or any camera, whether it be high-end or point-and-shoot-- is going to take time and thousands of pictures . For me it is a continuous learning experience and I go through good periods and bad periods. Sometimes I have to just stop and try again another day.

For starters:

1. A copy stand is a must. Your best images will require a longer shutter speed and if the camera isn't held securely, the images will have motion blurring. You can buy one or make one.

2. Use the manual setting, which allows you to control the aperture, shutter speed, etc. For starters, try an F-stop of 8, shutter speed of 1/13, "film speed" (ISO) of 100. Adjust the shutter speed up or down as needed to control the resulting brightness or lack thereof.

3. Use a shutter delay. 2 seconds is probably enough. At these relatively long shutter speeds simply depressing the shutter button causes motion blurring so you need a delay. Alternatively, a remote control shutter release will work.

4. Lighting. You will usually need a light source in addition to ambient sunlight or room light. Doug has many good posts about this. I use an Ott light. It's fluorescent but has a rather white color.

5. White balancing. Your camera can do it automatically but there may also been a selection of presets such as "sunny day", "cloudy", "fluorescent light", etc. Once you have your lighting situation settled you'll want to try each of these while keeping other parameters constant, then see which yields the truest result.

Coin photography is a hobby in itself

 

On this site you don't need to resize your images. You can just crop them and upload. The software here will display them at a proper size. That way you still have the original large file on your system. It can be handy to have it in the future.

 

Thanks TIF. Doug's articles got me started and managing to get some decent photos using his methods made me want to pursue coin photography as another hobby.

 

I'm sure you'll figure it all out to your satisfaction. I'm of the opinion that you SHOULD resize the images for the forum. If you let the forum resize them, they're still way too big. I don't need to see the bacteria on your coins. I keep my pic posts between 600 and 1000 pixels wide.

If you're getting pixelation when you downsize, find the setting on the camera that allows you to take the largest possible image. Mine is 4 by 3 thousand pixels, or somewhere around there. If your original is at least that large, you won't lose any significant resolution when you downsize.

 

I agree with JA regarding resizing, primarily because massive images can slow down load time.

I disagree about final size though . Pictures displayed in a thread measure approximately 800 pixels wide. I want the images to be at least that wide. At 600 wide, when the image contains both obverse and reverse it can be difficult to see fine (and sometimes important) details. I routinely size my pictures to 1000 pixels wide, a good compromise. In the thread it displays at ~800 pixels wide but allows the viewer to click for a modest enlargement but is not so huge that it causes load time delays for most users.

Images that upon enlarging are so big that scrolling is required are also annoying, as are individually displayed sides in which I have to scroll down just to see all of one side of the coin.

 

I see what you guys are saying. Didn't think my images made folks scroll. They show for me at about 800 and fill the screen if you click on them. I need to take a look on a different system. When I use the bucket to host images they display between 600 and 800 but they wont enlarge when you click on them.

 

+1

 

Ummm, always use the seller's photos (yah, I'm coin-lazy)

... just jokes ... I'm glad to see that you scored a cool new camera/toy ...

=> cheers, jwt (you rock, my coin-friend)

 

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-alpha-a6000
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/sony-a6000/sony-a6000A.HTM
http://www.cnet.com/products/sony-alpha-6000/

The reason for poor user manuals is they cost money and no one reads them. Most cameras have them online and give you the address in the box if you want one. You can learn a lot about a camera by reading reviews of it online. Google the model name and look for sites like the above.

This is what is classed a 'mirrorless camera'. This is a breed with which I have no experience. They took the digital single lens reflex (DSLR) style that had accessory features allowing seeing the scene on the screen before exposure (Live View) and made that the only way to take photos. For coins this is fine but I have hesitations about it for some other types of photos. My objections will go away when they eliminate the 'shutter lag' or time between when you push the button and when the photo is taken. Coins don't move so the camera will be great for the purpose. I use the same camera for other stuff where timing is everything.

You might want a set of extension tubes for close work like coins. There are cheap and expensive ones. Both work with my Canon. I have no experience with Sony.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora...view/vello-extension-tubes-mirrorless-cameras
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/51269333

eBay sells a wide range:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...ubes.TRS0&_nkw=a6000+extension+tubes&_sacat=0
DO NOT buy the ones that are under $10 and provide no electric contacts . The above link shows both types but te description will say if the tubes maintain auto focus and diaphragm operation. The good ones will have a photo showing the little dots inside that are the contacts you need.


If you have read my pages you know I do not recommend buying a copy stand. They tend to be either expensive or spindly. You need stable. I cobble the things together out of scrap wood but people would take me more seriously if I made one out of furniture grade hardwoods with fine finish. For coins shot with a zoom lens camera, the stand need little in the way of adjustments. It is easier to make the stand without movement and have more than one dowel rod to support coins at different levels.


My most recent model requires being able to cut the two 45 degree ends o the 2x4 support but counterbalances well so it does not fall over with a heavy camera rig. the red v points to an accessory (eBay $13) focus rail which helps with macro but is less needed for whole coins. The extra piece of wood just left of the rail has several holes allowing mounting the camera at different heights if you find that easier than having more than one support. The one shown here is a CD spindle which is easier than my original dowels. This photo shows flash which I only use for super close images where any motion is deadly.

 

Most resizing algorithms reduce the sharpness of the image and benefit from applying a small amount of 'unsharp mask' after the resizing. This will seem too complex but it is the answer. The author below suggests a setting for web images of 400, 0.3, 0 which I consider heavy handed so I use 30, 0.3, 0. That will mean nothing to those who don't read the article.
http://content.photojojo.com/tutorials/photoshop-sharpening/

 

Thanks for both your posts @dougsmit I'll read that article once I get back from the cleaners...I always appreciate your input and am very grateful for it.

This feels like the pixelation problem. The large, original photos look great. I need to mess around with the camera now and see what that's all about.

 

I agree with this post. I use (70%, 0.2, 0) after downsizing photos -- some people think that "sharpening" is fiddling or creating something that isn't there, but it is simply fixing a photo after digital resizing algorithms add "haze" or softness. Sharpening won't fix an out of focus image, but it will certainly get rid of some of the digital relic softness of downsizing.

 

This is my first post. Too all of you thanks for the information on picture taking. I got a new camera last Christmas and I am still fighting with it.
I really like the mount you built, never thought about it. My camera came with a tripod but when I am taking a macro picture I always get a shadow from the tripod.
Michael Terry Anchorage Alaska

 

Welcome, @Michael Terry ! Glad you de-lurked

 

Welcome @Michael Terry ! Check out Doug's website for more on photography. He's great.

 

Thanks everyone for the welcome, I certainly appreciate it. Yes I will be checking out all the web sites and links. Wish I had found this site a long time ago, I just accidentally ran across it a couple of weeks ago.
I can already tell that I will learn a lot of information here, even though I started collecting coins about a hundred years ago when I was six years old. I actually used to own a coin/Metal Detector
shop for a couple of years in Colo Springs back in 1977-1979 until I got Gold Fever and moved to
Alaska in 1980 and became a gold miner.
I still have some coins that I kept when I sold my store, they have just been sitting in a box back in the corner of a closet for all these years.
Due to my health conditions I am no longer able to do all the things that I have been doing all the years so now I got interested in my coins again. I can tell that it will be a pleasure being a member,
For the last two weeks the first thing I do when I wake up, before getting out of bed is reach over pick up my cup of coffee that my wife brings, lucky me, and pick up my IPad and start reading this forum. I sure most of you are a lot younger than I, but there is something new to learn everyday.
By now you are probably asking your self how old is this old dude, well I am old enough that I served
Two combat tours in Viet-Nam Starting with TET 1968 when I was 18, I was wounded twice and had Malaria 3 times. Again thanks for the welcome, I know that I will enjoy this site and learn a lot.
From the Far North, AKA: DAV-AlaskaMike

 

First, I want to keep this post honest:

So I first experimented with the aspect ratio and I think that solved a big part of my problem. See below:


I felt well enough about these shots to post them with both obverse and reverse. The color isn't quite right, but I had to stop photographing to eat. I think some minor tweaks would have made me pretty happy with these photos. I am so pleased I was able to fix the original problems.

With the article Doug posted I'm sort of falling down this rabbit hole of learing what it means to shoot RAW and becoming versed in post processing software. My new camera can actually be tethered and this is something I'm really excited about playing with in the coming weeks. I'll likely post more pictures with maybe some questions or observations. I am digging this side/complimentary hobby. And I'm even becoming interested in photography beyond shooting coins (ya, there is more than coins! ).

@Michael Terry So glad you're here! Hey, I do the same thing - wake up, get some coffee, check CoinTalk. You prospecting (if that's the right term) sounds so cool - but I can only base that from the Discovery Channel show about those guys who went up north for gold. That type of work appeals to me...anyway since we're introducing ourselves a bit...I'm active duty Air Force and am strongly interested in Vietnam. There's a couple other regular posters here at CoinTalk who spent time there as well. Since we're talking about the Vietnam War...


(Ugh...poor seller's picture)

Anchorage you say?
Air Force trade tokens are a huge specialty of mine!

(Moderators - should you feel the need to move this to General Discussion or Coin Chat, my feelings won't be hurt.)

 

Those first two pairs of images are so dark that I can barely make out any details on the coin .