Finally Upgraded To A Nikon D5100 With Pictures

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Author	Replies: 9 / Views: 2,411
coffeecup57 Valued Member United States 146 Posts	Posted 05/20/2013 10:54 pm Was approached two weeks ago about buying a used Nikon 5100 with a 18-55mm and 55-300mm,two tripods, two UV filters,one for each lens. Everything still in the boxes with all the paperwork and a couple other reference books, one on the D5100.Knew the seller well and no concern about the camera still being in excellent condition.One tripod fairly cheap and the other a Manfrotto,appears to be fairly heavy duty. After some research and reading some posts here,I about passed on the deal,then I saw the post on The Nikon 3100 where SsuperDave posted a Morgan taken with a 18-55mm lens and this gave me hope for the camera as far as coins went. I needed to see what it would do and not do and what I was capable of making it do. After about 4 days of experimenting the below photos are what I came up with.Shot from tripod. Everything except where indicated was taken in RAW. My first ever experience with RAW. It has been like going from Little League to the Majors with nothing in between.I didn't realize I knew so little. 1925 Standing Liberty-no edits except to resize. 1897 Off Center Indian 1c some editing for color,not very good,but compared to #2 taken with my old Nikon 950 in JPEG, it's a giant leap. ; Next shots,I cheated a little and shot these through,what I would call my homemade lens.Hand held to the 18-55. One worked quite well the 2nd didn't. ; 1872 Half Dime clashed die.At some time in it's life this coin was polished so no aid was needed to see the clashing. Long way to go in my editing skills. Last shot is a 1978 Kennedy half with clashed dies,a lot of clashing just more subtle on a natural circulated coin. I used my homemade lens with this one.More work needed. Regards Coffeecup57 Edited by coffeecup57 05/20/2013 10:57 pm Report this Post to the Staff

Mechman Valued Member United States 275 Posts	Posted 05/20/2013 11:13 pm Very nice images! I have not tried the raw format, if this is an example I'm for it! thanks. Report this Post to the Staff
rmpsrpms Pillar of the Community United States 4038 Posts	Posted 05/21/2013 01:08 am CC57...all the shots look pretty nice! Which lens did you use? And what was your aperture setting? For coins, it's best to use aperture priority, as this will allow you to set the aperture to the best compromise between sharpness and depth of field. What % of the field did the coin encompass in the shots above? In general, I'd recommend using around f/5.6 and see if you can get enough depth of field, ie can you get the whole coin in focus, high points and low points? If not, then f/6.7 or f/8 may be better. Aperture priority allows you to set this rather than let the camera set it for you...Ray Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com Report this Post to the Staff
coffeecup57 Valued Member United States 146 Posts	Posted 05/21/2013 1:58 pm Ray Quote: Which lens did you use? And what was your aperture setting? lens was 18-55mm f8 seemed to be the theme on the silver and f5.6 on the cooper.Can I assume this is from the different reflectively of the coins involved? I am still in point and shoot mentality so I let the camera do its thing while I concentrated on the shot. Over the coming week I plan on experimenting with the manual settings and will post results.Lots to learn and absorb. The 1925 SLQ seems out of focus in the date area and over all a bit over exposed. Quote: What % of the field did the coin encompass in the shots above? Focus through the home made lens the Kennedy half took up 75 to 85% of the field.I didn't use the homemade on the Half Dime or Indian and they took up so little of the field, I was really afraid they were not going to turn out. It was a case of machine being smater than human. regards coffeecup57 Edited by coffeecup57 05/21/2013 2:02 pm Report this Post to the Staff
SsuperDdave Moderator United States 23522 Posts	Posted 05/21/2013 4:51 pm Aperture essentially controls only depth of field, with narrower (numerically larger) settings giving greater depth of field. The tradeoff is at some point you'll be reaching the system's diffraction limit, and sacrificing sharpness as a result. If my experience is any indication, f/5.6 will be OK and f/8 usable if you need, because you're not using as much magnification (another factor which bears on the "true" diffraction limit since magnification changes effective aperture) as you do with a dedicated macro lens. Aperture - visually - will only affect depth of field. Generally a similar setting would apply across almost all coins, understanding that smaller coins won't have as much relief by nature, and therefore won't need as much depth of field. Report this Post to the Staff
robster Pillar of the Community Australia 674 Posts	Posted 05/21/2013 10:09 pm Congrats on some great first up pics. I have been using a Nikon 3200 for a few months and I am happy with most results. I have now coupled mine with a Tokina 100mm macro lens and have mounted the whole rig to an old enlarger stand. Great fun and a cool side to numismatics. Will follow with interest- Best of luck. Report this Post to the Staff
punman Pillar of the Community Canada 849 Posts	Posted 05/24/2013 12:39 am I have been using a Nikon D5100. The few coin pics I have done have been with my 55-200 mm near the 200 end. I shoot RAW, crop and modify in Lightroom 4. Can someone tell me about USB digital microscopes. Price, brand - are they quicker and better than a camera? Report this Post to the Staff
SsuperDdave Moderator United States 23522 Posts	Posted 05/24/2013 01:18 am Quote: Price, brand - are they quicker and better than a camera? If you have and use a D5100 and are comfortable using RAW, then you've an idea what compromises less-expensive optics make. That difference is never clearer than with a cheap USB 'scope. People here have them, and use them - you'll find a number of threads discussing the varying types on the front page of this forum - but for your purposes they will only ever serve to give you magnification for details. The few which have sufficient angle to image a whole coin won't touch your current setup, if you're getting quality similar to coffeecup57. Peruse the USB Microscope threads, see what people are doing. If your budget for such an accessory approaches $150 at the upper end, Ray (rmpsrpms) and I have another suggestion for you. Report this Post to the Staff
punman Pillar of the Community Canada 849 Posts	Posted 05/28/2013 11:11 pm Thank you for that info comparing camera with USB. Here are two coin pics I took with my Nikon 5100. Does it beat a USB microscope? Report this Post to the Staff
52Raymo Pillar of the Community United States 8516 Posts	Posted 05/29/2013 10:22 am Not quite but keep working at it. Oregon coin geek.....* GO BEAVS ! ! ! * Report this Post to the Staff
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