Demo: My Method For Lighting Coins

There are many other techniques available that will give you good coverage with a flat shot. I also assume you're using "Flat" picture control on the D810, which helps quite a lot with this by compressing dynamic range better than other picture controls.

I completely agree that if an axial lighting effect is desired, then tilting the coin and accepting the need either for focus stacking or employing tilt/shift techniques is a necessary evil. But because of the added expense and/or labor for every shot, tilting is not a good technique to recommend for everyday shots not requiring axial lighting.

One thing folks should also realize is that the adage 'pixels are free' goes away with focus stacking. For example, let's take DVC's D810 as the example. The camera is good for perhaps 200k shutter actuations, so each actuation costs $3300/200k = 1.65 cents per shot. This is essentiall "free" by many folks' standards. But for the example above with 36 stacked shots, each final image will cost 59.4 cents, certainly not "free", and reduces the life of the camera to 5555 images.

That's a nice lens, but I'm going to try to be content and work with the 60mm and 105mm micro-Nikkor lenses. Besides, it's sorta off-topic to this specific demo.


You know, this would be a concern if I were creating a film based upon time-lapse shots from my camera, where each minute of a 30fps movie takes 1800 shots--or 18,000 for one 10 minute segment.

For the most part, I shoot hand-held macro, where I can easily fire off 20-30 frames to (hopefully) capture one shot with the right details on a small animal. But, when I do a shot with focus-stacking, I have everything set up so I know I'll succeed with those 20-30 frames. From what I've seen, the odds are better with focus stacking.


More accurately put, the shutter is rated for 200,000 actuations, and typically they last longer. Even if the shutter fails, that's like a $250 repair, so the operating cost of "$3300/200k = 1.65 cents" only applies if your camera is as dead as the proverbial doorstop at 200K. Since I'm not doing time-elapse, I figure I'll use this camera for some years without shutter trouble.


Here's one more example of the resolving power of my D810 with the 105mm--focus stacked and Mup/EFSC. I shot this coin at 1:1.4. It's a rather small silver coin (15.5mm dia.), but my lens and 36mp sensor still captures some nice detail at this size--below is 100% crop (when enlarged). At this size, you can see the 1909/7 overdate, clash marks, lathe lines, minute die breaks, and re-engraving.



Compare to my prior shot taken a while ago, hand-held on a Canon SD790IS. While it's an OK shot, it's nowhere near the dynamic range or detail...