El-Cheapo Lenses

Do you guys mind if I jump in? Hope not. Here goes. Tried coin photography 4 months ago. Argh! Went back to chasing coins. Now almost out of money! So need to focus on coin photography again. My intent is to id VAMs and eventually other varieties on various coins.

Many thanks for any help given!
Okay:
Have old black/white enlarger with bellows of 6" and a rodenstock 50 mm lens attached to it.
Have canon 7d camera... 1st digital from canon- has film connector type mount rather than new digital mount
Have old canon ae1 with 50mm, a 80-200mm, a 24 mm and 3 compatible 2x macro converter: not compatible with 7d camera
Have tripod.
Need adapters for camera to lens and ?

If this won't work or any part won't, that's fine because I got it all for under $15.
Willing to spend money to have proper set up. Would like to focus on Morgans first. And am hoping to have a dedicated set up.

Also have Pringles can which I'm going to try adapting for Macro shots. Have any of you done this or know anyone who was successful doing it? I have pieces but don't want to smash up a good filter if it does not work well.

Any help is appreciated. I am a novice to all this but I am a good researcher so if I don't understand, I can usually find guidance online. Also, I'm pretty thrifty so ebay is a good way to go!

Correct as usual, rmpsrpms. Wishful thinking on my part. The canon 7d is the one I like: the canon 10 d is the one I have. It is an older version.
Glad to hear I have most of what I need! Last time, I used yr suggestion to combine 2 lenses ( one was in reverse) and I used lots of surgical tape to connect them. I used camera strap to secure the camera. I can play around with that. I'm thinking if I add felt and cushioning to the metal top of the bellows, I can have the camera lens rest on that.
So would I "build" it by camera, bellows and 50 mm lens already on bellows? Would that work just to get an idea as to what I am doing? I'm thinking I'll experiment btwn now and when you answer. What fun!
Just reread yr thread. Looks like that is what I do! How exciting! I already have what I need! You just made my week. Now off to play!

As SD said, you probably want to attach the camera to bellows with an adapter. You might get by on experimental basis with duct tape but once you like how it works an adapter will be a must-have. For now, I'm just interested in seeing what you are able to do! Post some images once you have it working.

One thing you stated needs consideration: "if I add felt and cushioning to the metal top of the bellows, I can have the camera lens rest on that". In the setup that I think you will be best suited with, the camera does not have a lens. It uses the bellows and 50mm as the lens. Later in your post you say "camera, bellows and 50mm lens" which is what should be correct, no lens between camera and bellows.

Here is my favorite pic of new set up. I forget what camera settings were but I shot it in P on manual settings... SDave could you interpret to camera language? thanks!... and used timer with hand held camera. I'm pretty excited for my little project.

Open to any and all suggestions as to make it better... Thanks over and over again for all yr help!

Okay, I ordered my Jansjo lights and they'll be shipped Monday. I reread my notes from a few months ago. I do have a question about bellows. Ray, , I see you often recommend a 75mm lens. With optical lens, the higher magnification, the smaller the field. Is this true for bellows also? If at a later date, I wanted to switch to a lens with a broader field, would I go to a lower mm lens?
I feel so ignorant. Is the purpose of the bellows to get a clear, super macro picture? Kind of like a telescope to increase the distance between the lenses... I think I'll go google bellows and photography so I can have a basic understanding of what I'm doing.

Thanks Ray. Very clearly stated, too! I did do some reading on google and am getting a fuller understanding. We have had holiday parties and now our two most active grandkids are here. When they go home tonight, I'll get to go play with setup again!

Not a bad start. The Nickel shot is especially nice and shows the level of sharpness the lens is capable of. Most of the work in coin photography is getting the lighting right. Your original shots had a nice even look, though without the luster presentation of the new shots. I think you'll find a happy medium perhaps with a bit of diffusion on the Jansjos. I also recommend you stay on aperture priority with the manual setup, or go to full manual. Shutter priority, although it came out with a better result, is really just manual with auto ISO. What you should probably try is manual ISO at 100, and Aperture priority, and then make sure your metering method gives you the exposure you like. You can monitor this in Live View on the PC screen to make sure, and adjust your EV compensation if the auto adjustments are too dark or too light.

And please lose that gaudy background color. It literally hurts the eyes and is a major distraction to focusing on the coin.