Anyone In Upstate NY That Can Take A Decent Photo Of A Slab?

Are these any better? I'm getting better with the reflections.....had to use a thicker piece of white paper to block the light. Still a little reflection of the camera, but I can fix that later. I think the slab pictures are better, but still can't get a decent photo of the coin.

Dave, I used your settings. 5.1 (could have gone to 8,) ISO of 80, and needed a shutter speed of 1/40 to get these. Didn't have any extra light available , so had to increase the shutter speed. Don't think it would have mattered anyway.

Either the camera keeps focusing on the slab, and not the coin, or the camera is at it's limit. Hey, anybody got a camera I can borrow for one picture?

Back to reality. Anything else I can try? Would brighter lights help the camera see the coin for better focus. This kinda sucks, because I actually feel like I'm taking decent pictures and they aren't coming out like I expect.



This one was at ISO 100 and ss of 1/30



Which looks better? Either one good enough for ebay? I like the way the top one looks overall, but like the brightness of the bottom coin. Didn't even bother cropping the coin because it looks so bad zoomed in.

Just read your post Dave after I posted this. Yeah, buyers like to zoom into the coin....that's my big problem.

All suggestions welcome.

Thanks again for all the help

ed

Hmmm, sorry Ed, but I'm thinking Dave is probably right. you may be at the end of your cameras ability. I'm still scratching my head though that the camera wants to focus on the entire slab and not the coin even when you drill down to just the coin itself in the picture.

Let me ask you this, if you take a regular cent and place it on the table, and put your camera in macro mode, you can only get 7 inches away and still get focus? Does your camera zoom in macro or is it locked out by the program itself? Sometimes I've had better luck without my tripod, but with books stacked up on either side of the coin and my camera acting as the "bridge" above the coin. I then just zoom in.

Meh, in all reality, considering the cost of cameras these days and if you're going to want to sell more and more coins, it may be worth dropping a hundred dollars on ebay for an older camera that is known to take good coin pictures. Just a thought. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. For the record, if Dave or Ray can't get you there, you may as well just ignore my posts....


Edited to add, what if you tape around everything but the coin? Maybe use white medical tape to try to fool the camera into thinking that the coin was the only thing there? Or just trace a cent on a piece of white paper and cut out the hole and place it on top of the slab...

Yeah, I'm lost with this one. not sure what to do. I took a coin out of my pocket and quickly took a photo with my cell phone free hand, with flash, and on full auto from about 4 inches and below is what I got. I'm thinking you may need to invest in a new camera. Keep in mind, there are ALOT of cameras out there that are cheap and they take awesome coin pics. Dig down in some of the photography threads and you will see what I mean.

I am a bit encouraged. Experimented with the flash, and got, IMO, the best detail, and zoom-in, so far. Not saying a "flash" is great, but maybe a bright light gave the camera something to grab. Was in a hurry to get to work, but will post some pictures later.

tights24, did you take a look at Lincoln's beard in your photo? Looks like he combed it

BLAM! What a difference practice can produce! I believe that you found the MACRO setting. I think your price just went a up a bit with the "red-ish" ring around the lower obverse rim.

Looks pretty darn good to me!

I may have missed it earlier, what is the megapixel rating of your camera? Mine is only a 14 megapixel (it's a couple years old) but I can still get halfway decent images from a distance, zoom in and crop the image. That way I (usually) don't get the reflection of the camera off of the slab.

Did I mention that you have a really nice looking S-VDB?

It has nothing whatsoever to do with "megapixels." In fact, cramming more and more megapixels onto a sensor of a given size tends to make it worse - the best point-and-shoot images I've seen around here are from older cameras with less-concentrated sensors. Part of it is the effectiveness of the Macro function - your camera is of limited capacity in that regard. Many cameras can some within an inch or two of the coin and still achieve focus and yours is a real handicap at an 8" minimum.

The best of the images you see around here are from a dedicated dSLR/macro setup using either manufacturer macro lenses or repurposed duplicating lenses mounted on a bellows. This, of course, ain't cheap - see the "Best I can get on a $400 budget" thread to get an idea. If this 1909 represents all you wish to shoot, obviously such a solution isn't appropriate for you.

Hi Ed, so taking into consideration that you're looking at ~$1500 sale on this coin, it may be worth spending a few dollars on a camera that will take decent photos of a coin in a slab. I'm not talking about spending $300 mind you, I'm talking about finding something that will work. You may need it for future sales as well. I currently own THIS camera. It's only 5mp. I took it to the FUN show last year and tested Superdave's photography skill with it. I always had a decent amount of success, but I wanted to see what an expert could do with it. Needless to say, it took some pretty good images. It actually has a super macro mode as well in which I can get within 4cm I think and it will still focus. Just a thought is all.

Just found the old post where Dave showed what my camera did at the FUN show.

Here