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 Replies: 44 / Views: 7,375 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
548 Posts |
I've been reading the posts in this subforum with interest and thought ya'll would want to see what I've evolved to. No, it's not perfect by any means. But it's a heck of a lot better than when I started. My boundaries: - cheap! spend no more than $50 - must be able to take pics with enough detail to should die doubling, for example, in my ebay pics |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
548 Posts |
I started with my point and shoot camera: a Canon Powershot A2000 IS. But no go. Camera has no manual focus capabilities. I just had too much trouble setting it up. I needed more camera control. Pic off the internet  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
548 Posts |
My DSLR is an Olympus E-420, their first (I believe) attempt at a DSLR. I purchased it after Olympus had come out with several upgraded iterations. The camera is ok, although my sis-in-law's Nikon D40 takes much better pics than the E-420. No matter. It's what I have.  I had a small tripod that I used for a spotting scope at the gun range. Works ok. A bit shaky, but much better than handheld, of course.   |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
548 Posts |
I don't have a macro lens. I received advice from camera pros to consider a prime macro lens. That pointed me to various options with an Olympus OM mount (with an appropriate adapter for my camera). But I held off. I just didn't know what size lens to purchase. A 50 mm macro? An 85 mm? a 35 - 100 zoom? So I passed on the lens. Instead, I chose some magnifying filters off ebay. You know, those pack of 4 filters that ya'll see advertised there regularly. 1x, 2x, 4x and 10x. I figured that for $30, it was a cheap experiment.  Note that I'm not particularly making a buy recommendation on these magnifying filters. These just happened to be the ones I purchased. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
548 Posts |
The LED lamps are from Target. The Ikea ones are cheaper, but the Target store is much closer.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
548 Posts |
My early attempts at coin photography were with the windows open, using natural light. But the were too variable. Being fall, we have enough cloudy days that I regularly couldn't get enough light.
So the LED lights were added.
Camera adjustments to get "good" pics:
- aperture priority set at F8, to get depth of field, thus good focusing
- since my tripod is a bit shaky, I adjusted ISO to obtain 1/250 sec exposures. This meant ISO 800. (I can prob reduce this a bit, but my pics are ok so far)
- the Target lamps give off yellow light, so I had to adjust the light color on the camera (trial and error)
- I tried manual focus, but prob my eyes aren't that good. I was having to "bracket" focusing and this was a pain in the butt. So I tried auto focus (set on the center of the frame); this worked well.
- I used a 2 sec delay to settle down tripod shake a bit.
I think this summarizes my settings.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
548 Posts |
A few pics:  These were closeups of the above coin. Enough detail to get help and identify this coin as a VAM 169    Often, though, my pics have too much detail and make the coin look worse than it is in hand. Here's a few:   Anyway, that's where I've reached so far. Prob good enough for ebay pics. Still some work to do. If any of you have advice, I'd gladly absorb it.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3076 Posts |
one thing you will quickly notice is the coins reflectabillity....For Morgan's a BU coin needs lots of light where a worn coin with the same settings is harshly over lighted...to get the color correct... you are correct, camera control is important... "While one can control" some aspects of the camera, like ISO and the WB lighting , Point and Shoot Cameras from when you turn them on from day today, Think they know what you need it to do....so the results on coins is ever a changing results where you pull your hair out, as there is no consistancy.... one day they are amazing photo's, the rest of the week...UGGGGGG....With out going full DSLR,, one needs a camera with the manual wheel on top so you have adjustments for your Photo needs....Super Dave posted an EXCELLENT thread about 5 or 6 pages back on this forum...with an old say,,,Canon A720....and its tweaks and results, MANY a good thread from there delves into the settings that influence the photo's out come, as well as the high end understandings of coin photography you can read for FREE  There have been some new members That really know there stuff....here.... |
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Valued Member
United States
326 Posts |
With a point and shoot camera you can keep doing the same thing over and over and get a different result.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
548 Posts |
Thanks, Aladin. I'll look for SuperDave's thread.
I'm sorta happy with the setup I've settled on. Still more optimization to do, but the pics seem ok. Orders of magnitude better than my 1st attempts (ugh).
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
Don't bother looking for my thread, Lobby. There's nothing left for you to learn from my efforts. You're already there.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
548 Posts |
Thanks, Dave. That's very gracious high praise from you.
And advice re macro lenses? While those filters are ok, I suspect I might get better pics with an official lens. I'm particularly interested in which focal length to consider. Or a zoom?
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
You'll find macro lenses for the Olympus mount to be rather rare. The major third-party lens manufacturers - Sigma, Tamron and Tokina - do not offer anything with the Olympus mount. Olympus themselves manufacturers an extremely nice 50mm Macro capable of f/2; it's a tremendous lens, very fast and very sharp. However, it'll only reach a magnification of 0.5, and I'm unsure it'll much improve on what you're already doing. Additionally, it's as costly as 100mm Macro lenses from other manufacturers, around $500. With that negativity out of the way ( ), another lens to consider is the Olympus 35mm Macro. It can be found at or just under $200 - the low price point is due to the relatively slow maximum aperture of f/3.5 - and it's capable of 1:1 magnification. It would be nowhere near as capable as the 50mm in non-macro situations. I suspect you'd need to use it with an extension tube to exceed the quality you're already getting. In truth, I'm thinking there is no need for you to make the costly investment in a macro lens. There is very little to argue with in your results as it is. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
548 Posts |
Thanks, Dave. I'll end up staying with what I have, most probably. What do you think of a lens like this one? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vivitar-Mac...em415fb375c5What I'm having trouble understanding is magnification. How much "zoom" do I need to get appropriately sized photos. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
Nice pics Lobby. My only criticism is that you might want to bring your lighting up higher. You'll get more luster and color in the shot and less emphasis on the surface finish. What is the lens you're using? Check out the Vivitar 2X Macro Teleconverter. It's available in Olympus mount and it will double the effective length of your lens and make it into a macro lens all in one shot. It's more expensive than the add-on filters you bought but not that much more and it allows you to do infinity focus as well. Here are some examples on ebay. All are more expensive than I'd prefer (I would expect to get one for about $50) but not outrageously priced: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vivitar-Mac...em1c1f14c5bfhttp://www.ebay.com/itm/VIVITAR-2X-...em5d2e4445f3http://www.ebay.com/itm/vivitar-2x-...em5ae37ec1edThese will take a 50mm lens and make it into a 100mm 1:1 macro lens. They're awesome...Ray Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.comEdited by rmpsrpms
11/26/2011 9:12 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
548 Posts |
Quote:
My only criticism is that you might want to bring your lighting up higher With lighting more from the side.  With lighting as high as possible (10 and 2 on a clock face)  Just absolute wow, the difference it makes. Thanks for the advice! The thing is I've read on your and SuperDave's posts (among others) the importance of doing this (having lighting come in from the top and not from the sides), but until one has done it, one doesn't really understand it. Now, where's the bow smilie? |
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Replies: 44 / Views: 7,375 |
Posted 11/25/2011 8:02 pm
