Canon Or Nikon? (Edit: Or Maybe Om With A Modern Body?)

Within the strict confines of static, studio macro photography, there are two compelling reasons to choose Canon over Nikon. I will enumerate those below, but in the interest of fairness it has to be admitted that Nikon - as well as other bodies which include the autofocus motor in the body rather than the lens - are probably the better choice for most other aspects of photography; Canon does not.

1) Canon employs an electronic first shutter, whereas the competition uses mechanical first shutters. You seem to have a grounding in photographic technique, so I can explain it appropriately: Shutter actuation is no longer the aperture snapping open and then closed in the lens. It is (in digital photography) in the form of two physical curtains; one to open the access to the sensor, one to close it. Canon does not use a physical first curtain, but a "virtual" one in the sense the the first curtain is created by turning the sensor on rather than moving something across it. Only the second curtain is physical on a Canon camera.

This advantage has been proven, on the pages of this forum, by rmpsrpms, who had the interest and resources to compare the two brands in an otherwise-sterile and controlled environment in which the camera bodies were the only variable. The record of his experiment exists in CCF archives. He proved that the Canon electronic first curtain provides a noticeable benefit in overall sharpness to the final image.

It must be said, however, that this improvement isn't discernible in any full-face image of any coin presented for online viewing. It has only benefit in 100% crops of details which expose the camera's minutest limitations, and it only matters when you're using the very best and most bespoke lenses to acquire the images.

Me? If I'm looking to insure my coins - to protect and identify them into the future so as to make it as near-impossible for an insurance company to wiggle out of liability by way of introducing some semblance of doubt as to the value of what's insured - yeah, I'm using a Canon and a state-of-the-art lens to remove that doubt.

2) Canon, by rule, includes with all of their dSLR's a software suite which packs a remote-control tethering application allowing you to control the entire photographic process from the mouse/keyboard. This is (and I speak from personal experience) a night-and-day advantage over any other method of taking pictures of coins. Knowing what I do now, it's a dealbreaker keeping me from considering any other brand of camera. You set the camera and lens up once - make sure it's perpendicular to the coin - and never touch the camera again whether you shoot one image or a thousand, regardless of variance in aperture, ISO or exposure.

Nikon charges you $$$ for that software, even if you just spent $8000 on a D3X. Really?

Nobody else even has such software.

That's the view from my porch.

Wait until Canon's answer to the Nikon D600, Ray. There's a reason why they're delaying it....it's gonna blow that puppy clean out of the water. Figure a 28MP(ish) sensor of the same pixel density as their current APS-C offerings, with a next-gen processor which compensates for the extra density at that size. For $2000.

Both brands have models that will far exceed the requirements of numismatic photography.
It's the accessories that more often make the difference.
Although a macro lens (Nikon calls them "micro") is a huge help.

I use a Nikon D90 with a Nikkor 60mm micro lens.

That post has me looking at my old film macro setup with a new eye. I got sucked down the rabbit hole of "you can't use the OM stuff [automatically] with newer mounts".

But it looks like I can - if I'm willing to give up the automation. I can get an EOS --> OM adaptor for $16 shipped, e.g.
Fotodiox Lens Mount Adapter, Olympus OM Zuiko Lens to Canon EOS Camera (Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Adap...p/B001G4NBNC)

With that, everything I already own looks like it would work? And I would still have the live preview, off camera shooting, 1st shutter of the Canon? I give up the autofocus, but that was pretty much a given anyway.

D'oh - and that leaves the inheritance for coin purchases... VF-->XF here I come baby...

Because I have some nice stuff in the OM mount - the bellows (and somewhere in the back of the closet a copy stand), the auto macro tube and two lenses

* Spirotone Macrotel 150mm
* Zuiko Auto-1:1 80mm macro


Will it work?