Finally Think I'm Happy With My Lighting And Camera Settings

Thanks Rocky. I'm downloading the software now and will try it.

here's my 63

I don't like tripods.
There always seems to be a leg in the way.
I use a simple camera stand.



BTW, your newest 1907 image is MUCH better.

I'm still debating whether to setup DSLR or use my 18MP phone camera.

I have many Canon EOS lenses with couple older bodies (D60 and D5), so I just need to set a good stand (not easy to find cheap), or...

Bunch of lights (IKEA) using ping pong balls, and some type of mechanism to hold my phone.

I guess it depends on how many coins I want to take photos...

At f/18 you are way into diffraction and losing a substantial percentage of the sharpness that wonderful lens is capable of providing. For your equipment, set the aperture at f/8 and leave it. In fact, shoot using Aperture Priority and let the camera decide the other settings; I suspect you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Simplified, diffraction is a phenomenon of smaller (numerically larger) apertures forcing light into differing paths to reach the sensor. In a narrow aperture, a relatively-wide image is forced through an opening smaller than the sensor, and then has to re-spread to cover it. Like this: ><

The image is distorted as a result. Diffraction is a function of pixel pitch; smaller pixels on the sensor (more crammed into the same space) have a diffraction limit reached earlier than sensors with fewer pixels. Your T1i has a diffraction limit right around f/9.5, but magnification also plays into effective aperture (greater magnification actually affects what the camera "sees" as the aperture), so for this combination you set aperture at f/8 and forget it.

Conversely, wider apertures (lower numerically) provide less depth of field, which becomes important at the magnification we're using for coin photography. You'll likely lose enough depth of field so that the whole surface of the coin isn't sharply-focused at f/5.6 or below.

The other disadvantage of your narrow aperture setting is far longer exposures. At f/8, your 1.3sec exposure is more like 1/2sec or faster.

You're not yet near the quality your setup is capable of providing. This image is from a Canon 100mm Macro (I've owned four of these lenses, and have experimented extensively with them) on a Canon Rebel two generations older than yours. The image is less than half the size of the original.

Just a note Diffraction is better called interference. It is caused by the wave form of light. You can see it for your self by looking through a very narrow slit in a card.... YOu will see a sereis of lines... those are the interference Lines

These look great, especially the quarter.

Great photos.