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 Replies: 11 / Views: 2,175 |
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Valued Member
440 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
4038 Posts |
If your best method is using the 75ARD1, but you need more depth of field due to tilting, it might be time to learn how to do focus stacking. It's actually pretty easy to do. An advantage of the technique is that you can slightly adjust the lighting between shots to emphasize the areas of the coin that are in focus, thus creating an ideally-lit composite with the entire coin in sharp focus.
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Valued Member
 440 Posts |
Ray is there a tutorial somewhere for stacking? Does it require a specialized computer program & does the program have to be purchased to utilize it?
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Rest in Peace
United States
10625 Posts |
Nice 1C1.  I'm still looking for a pre-clash that is at least SPL. I think the second to last photo is a pretty good shot of the depth around In God We Trust and the last shows the depth around the wreath. This may be one of these coins that is impossible to capture all in one shot. All are better than any shot I've taken of mine. |
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Valued Member
440 Posts |
Thanks Dave. Problem with all of these is that some portion of the photo is out of focus. In order to get the "buffed areas" to pop in a photo you have to tilt the coin at various angles. The tilting then creates a depth of field dilemna where you have to trade focus for reflectivity to show the mirrors and buffed areas of the coin. As Ray mentioned stacking would lend itself well to this application. I'm just not sure what program to purchase/obtain that would best suit my needs (I may also get into some macro nature pics). Currently waiting for Ray & Super Dave's expertise. I'm just a neophyte having some fun and am grateful for the "smart people" who are so willing to help.
As far as the 1C1 this one resides in a PCGS MS-62 holder and is way undergraded IMHO. Obverse & Reverse are almost PL, with no luster impairment & very few contact marks. This one must have been graded on "Hangover Monday". Cherried it for $40. Also have a 1C1 DMPL MS62 in an old gold Anacs holder that was cherried at the winter FUN show & is a phenomenal specimen but a bear to photograph due to the blinding mirrors on the coin. That one is also undergraded. This variety in DMPL is mind blowing; it drives me nuts that I can't get a good photo of it.
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
I'll pose a question for you: What is it that you're expecting to see in your idea of a "perfect" image of the coin?
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Valued Member
440 Posts |
Dave perfect image would consist of:
- all details of coin in sharp focus
- bringing out the effect of the buffed areas
- capturing the PL fields
Am I trying to attempt the impossible?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
The program I'd recommend starting with is CombineZP (CZP). It is a free download, and there is a Yahoo group run by the author Alan Hadley (sp?). Do a search for CombineZP and it will pop up. The program is fairly easy to use and produces very good results.
Since you're trying to get surface reflections of the whole coin, I'd suggest tilting it a bit, focusing on the lowest part of the coin, and then adjusting the light to give your preferred illumination to that area. Then focus a little higher and adjust the light for that level, moving gradually up in focus and lighting until you get a sequence that is fully in focus and properly lit. Then stack them with CZP.
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Valued Member
440 Posts |
Thanks Ray. I had been looking at Combine ZM, Picolay, Helicon Focus & Zerene Stacker. Too many choices and was not sure which one would be easiest to utilize. Plus free is always nice; I'll check out the Combine ZP.
I had been tilting the coin to enhance surface reflection & bring out the buffed areas but depth of field/focus was an issue. Seemed like stacking was the way to go.
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Valued Member
440 Posts |
Well downloaded the program. Tried loading 3 pics in program hit go and get nothing. Keep getting the message in the CZP pic box "ERROR BLT1"?
Not sure what I am doing wrong.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
You hit "new" first, selected the 3 images, and it went through the uploading process, correct? When you hit "go", what was selected in the pull-down menu?
Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com |
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Valued Member
440 Posts |
Hit new 1st, selected 3 images, appeared to upload. Tried selecting:
- do stack (starts but keeps telling me to lower detail threshold & no matter how much I lower it the process halts)
-pyramid stack (goes through process but keeps telling me to decrease pyramid levels. Even when selected down to zero the process halts.
-weighted average same deal
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Replies: 11 / Views: 2,175 |
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Posted 05/04/2014 07:12 am
