My other hobby is photography so I did not buy my new Canon 5DmkII to take coin photos. I decided to try it just to see if it upgraded my other Canon dSLR results (300D and 30D - both crop sensor bodies). It did and would be my choice if I wanted a 20x30" print of a coin but there really is no reason to use it for the 4x6" and web use that is what I do with my coin photos. I only collect ancients so I don't have the same considerations that you who shoot slabbed Morgans. These samples show a reduced version of the whole coin and 100% crops from the image. One thing I learned from all this is that I need to dust off the coins better before shooting. Little specks show. The gold belonged to my stepfather and shows the scratches about as offensively as seen 'in hand'.
The point here is a good camera and good technique can yield good photos but a low end camera and good techniques will beat a good camera poorly used any day.
I see I ran up against size limits on the forum so I'll offer a link where anyone interested can see the full size versions of these and others. http://www.pbase.com/dougsmit/5dcoins
I keep one of those little hand-held lens cleaning blowers on hand. The last thing I do before shooting a coin is give it a few puffs to break loose any accumulated dust.
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