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Message:: [QUOTE="Larry Moran, post: 798022, member: 4580"]Cameras are better than USB microscopes or scanners for numismatography Neither scanners nor microscopes can give the results of macro photography.  Scans lack depth and the lighting is always at the same angle.  People who are adept with a scanner can get satisfactory results, but there is a danger of scratching the scanner glass and that is almost unavoidable if many coins are laid on the glass and possibly slid around or rotated. Folks on ebay have described light wear occurring on high points of MS coins they scanned.  Remember that glass is made from sand and at a microscopic level, the surface of glass can look like sandpaper, especially in the area of any flaw in the glass, like a pre-existing scratch on th e glass.  With many of today's scanners, the glass is a non-serviceable item, and when the glass gets scratched enough, the only remedy is a new scanner. USB microscopes are severely limited in depth of field, so it you have a coin tilted at all, the microscope will not be able to get the entire coin in good focus. But cameras, too, are limited when using macro feature or micro lenses.  In that case, moving the camera twice as far from the coin will effectively double the depth of field. Remember that it is difficult to evenly illuminate a coin for photos if the end of the lens is only an inch or two away from the coin.  That's the reason I moved to a DSLR and 60mm micro lens. Scanners cannot produce images like this, but the macro feature on point-and-shoots or macro or micro lenses on DSLR's can achieve similar results.  : ) <img src="http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g254/Larrymo123/after%208-9-09/Hampshire-Hants-DH-0079.gif" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]

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