Just Starting Out...help Me Take Better Coin Photo's.

Does the Cyber-shot have a macro setting? (usually icon of a plant)

You need some way to get the camera out-of-hand when taking pictures. Does that have a timed shutter release or an available remote release?

You will need some lighting method, either natural light from sunlight, or a lamp of some type.


Here is the setup I have after a few attempts at other methods:

OK, coin photography 101:

1) Coin and camera perfectly parallel. Most easily accomplished with the camera vertical above a coin laid on a flat surface; you can do this with a tripod by using the corner of a table or a board weighted at the near end, dangling over the edge. To make sure you're perfectly parallel, lay a small mirror on the surface to hold the coin, and adjust the camera so you see the lens centered in the viewfinder.

2) Portable lighting, as close to the lens and directly above the coin as you can. Some manner of gooseneck lamp - we're particular fans of the little $10 Jansjo LCD lamps available at Ikea - is recommended for their adjustability.

For the moment, whatever you have that throws light on the coin is OK, because the first task is to maximize your camera's capabilities. We can worry about lighting later.

3) Either a remote shutter actuator or a delayed shutter, so you're not touching the camera at all when the shutter trips. Almost every camera will have a 2- and 10-second delay function; 2 seconds will do you fine.

Your particular camera needs a minimum of 8" from the subject in Macro Mode. I suspect you'll want to use it zoomed all the way out; normally, zooming in has the effect of making the camera think it's closer to the subject than it is, but that 8" still applies, so as you zoom in you have to move the camera farther away to achieve focus.

Time to get the manual out. Your camera has limited manual adjustability, so we're going to have to trust it to do a lot of the thinking. But first, find the settings which force the camera to use "Center" for Autofocus, and "Spot" for metering. This forces the camera to take all of its' exposure data from the center of the image, i.e. the coin itself. It's important because we're not going to be able to make the coin completely fill the sensor.

You may need to consult the in-camera guide; I've found very darn little in the way of detailed manuals for it. Sony pretty much refers the user to the in-camera guide for complex functions.

OK, this is a start.

What was pictured is called a Copy Stand

I use a small light, and the MACRO for close ups. MACRO is usually indicated by a flower. Turn that on, I am sure the Sony Has it. I have an older Cybershot. I take pics of coins like this with the coin on a table, and a steady hand.....

Collector-Corner,

That is a very nice job of re-purposing an existing product

Ha! Better? Um....yeah.

Those are easily-gradable images. We have two areas yet to work on, but it seems obvious that your camera is up to the job, even if it's nearly automatic.

First, white balance. Differing lighting has differing "color temperature." Standard incandescent bulbs are yellowish, fluorescents have varying casts usually more "white," etc. Cameras generally have onboard correction for color temperature, but yours is not getting things perfect - I think the coin is a bit reddish in the pics by comparison to reality. Your camera has Automatic mode, presets for specific lighting and situations (daylight, cloudy), and a Custom mode where you can set the White balance yourself.

I'm guessing you're working in Auto mode right now. Time to play with those presets although that setting will likely change with your new lamps. Correcting for lighting is a habit to get into. Also, switch to a single-color, monochromatic background. White, black or grey. Makes the coin stand out much better, and lessens what the camera has to think about to get the shot right.

Second, postprocessing. Are the images here the whole of what the camera shot, just downsized to post, or did you do some cropping? I'm interested in just how large the coin actually is on the sensor of the camera.

It's normal practice to crop as close to the coin as possible, so you have to do the least-possible downsizing to post here. Ike is of ample size for grading purposes, but I'm hoping he's even larger on the sensor, so smaller coins can be larger too.

That is highly encouraging. You're just about covering the sensor with a Dollar, which, with your camera, means that coin's actual size is nearly 3,000 pixels in diameter. That's what we're getting with dSLR's and dedicated lenses. It also means much smaller coins will image in gradable size.

I'm impressed with this camera.

Reverse seems slightly out of focus - you might have gotten just_a_bit too close. You're getting large-enough images to back the camera off a couple of inches and see if it affects sharpness.