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 Replies: 10 / Views: 2,191 |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2805 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
865 Posts |
They look pretty good to me!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7375 Posts |
You're kidding right? Those are beautiful, but technically I don't know what I'm talking about. I've been trying for weeks, and haven't gotten that good yet.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
844 Posts |
How's the color quality? Match the coins?
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
2805 Posts |
Yes, I think so. Here's a slightly different lighting scheme with two different lights:   |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4593 Posts |
Very good, but you can do better...
/1/ Make sure the coin is flat to the lens/sensor plane, otherwise your focus won't be uniformly sharp (notice the dings in the R of 5FR are sharp, but the scratch about 1966 isn't?)
/2/ Work on the lighting, it's not even - notice how the top half of the 5Fr is gold, the bottom white?
-----Burton 50+ year / Life / Emeritus ANA member (joined 12/1/1973) Life member: Numismatics International, CONECA Member: TNA, FtWCC, NETCC, EveryCountry (online) coin club Owned by three cats and a wife of 40+ years (joined 1983) Author: 3rd Edition of the Sample Slabs book, https://www.sampleslabs.info/ |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5825 Posts |
I think you are close the best you can "reasonably" do.
Your focus is very good.
Not surprisingly lighting is currently your biggest problem; generally is for everyone.
For now stick to the "one light" setup; the "two light" system made the coin look washed out.
Right now your lighting is not even across the coin.
Get the light as vertical as possible without putting a hot spot on the coin.
And just when you think you've got it nailed a different coin won't seem to give you the same results.
Biggest adjustments you'll need to deal with:
-- copper vs. other metals
-- proof and PL coins vs. circulated ones.
Keep records of which setups work best for different types of coins.
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
Color me unsurprised - I reviewed this camera's older brother, the A720IS, a few years ago and rather liked it for coin imaging.
OK, here's what you can do (understand I'm being as harsh as possible; these are perfectly-good images as-is):
1) You're getting just a bit too close, I think. The images aren't as sharp as they might possibly be, especially noticeable at full size. Postprocessing could probably improve sharpness, but it might be worth experimenting with more camera-coin distance to see if the lens is happier with that. Are you using any zoom?
2) I'm going to disagree with kanga a bit and suggest you go to a two-light, non-fluorescent setup. With one light, you're losing half of each coin. The differing lights are obviously out; the camera's White Balance system totally rebels at such treatment and your coin's color suffers as a result. What type of fluorescent are you using?
You're going to have trouble with lighting; I know how close you're getting the camera to the coin in order to get images this size, so some of the "usual" lighting rules don't apply.
3) Excepting threads like this where you seek technical advice, post your images at no more than 800 pixels in diameter. A downsizing of that magnitude increases apparent sharpness on its' own, while remaining easily large enough to grade.
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Valued Member
Canada
250 Posts |
Good info here, and the first batch of pictures are great, in my opinion.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2805 Posts |
I actually used two LED lamps for the washed-out 5CHF picture... 50 schillings was done with just a fluorescent light. Sadly I had to try and put it and the camera directly over the coin to get the reflections right... so there were some awkward times there. Here's what I have got with just one LED light:  |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2805 Posts |
Turns out my desk LED light is actually the coveted JANSJO lamp! I didn't even notice until today. I just found the "manual focus" feature so I fooled around with taking pictures from about 1cm away and extremely tilted lighting:   Probably not good for shiny new coins but I like how the shadows look on these beat-out expats. |
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Posted 01/20/2014 10:03 pm
