Lincolns Advise

There ain't much wrong with your photos. They are sharply focused and very close to correct color - you'd have to determine that. It's quite possible to grade reliably from them, and that's the acid test. If it were me, and this is my opinion only, I'd arrange for them to be *slightly* darker. I like them that way. Maybe make the exposure one notch faster.

The only thing you might want to change either way is to be more precise with the orientation of the coin - the obverse is a little out of "square" to the viewer. It should be an important point that I'd have to get so picky to find a fault.

Dave,


When you say make the exposure faster, what button is that or how is that number represented? Also do I increase the number or decrease it, thanks!

You know, it looks like he's smiling more on the 1911, check it out.

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When you say make the exposure faster, what button is that or how is that number represented? Also do I increase the number or decrease it, thanks!

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I don't know a whole lot about the A200, excepting that it's now on my list of recommended cameras for coin pics.

Are you using Automatic mode for your shots? That'll be "AUTO" on the dial on top. If so, you can't adjust anything; we need to go to full Manual mode to make the adjustments. The other dial settings - P, A, and S, allow you to change one or two settings while the camera determines the rest; these are counterproductive for coin photography because the unique requirements of shooting coins sometimes mean you have to use settings the camera might not use if left to its' own. The "picture" settings on the dial are presets for various conditions, and aren't relevant in this arena because we'd rather you had the ability to change everything on your own. And, if you're on AUTO, does the camera show the settings on the LCD when you hold the button halfway down to autofocus? It's important to record the settings for each shot, to help determine what settings the camera "likes" for a given coin type.

So, I guess, what I'm advising you is to study the manual. There will be a test....

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Dave,

1. I have the selector on "M" which I think means macro (maybe manual).
2. 3264X2448 Fine (I can choose standard, fine, extra fine, Raw and JPEG,Raw)
3. 1/50 no ideal what this is
4. F5.0
5. AWB, I think is auto white balance
6. ISO100 (this is on auto)

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OK.

1. That's Manual; whether you know it or not, you're controlling every parameter yourself.
2. You're using the largest image size setting available; try Extra Fine Quality to see what improvement you get. If you can see no visible improvement, then go back as you're just increasing the size of the files without any compensation.
3. 1/50 is the exposure; you'll want to increase that number (although this is but one way) to brighten the pic.
4. f/5.0 is Aperture, the size of the opening that the shutter creates when you snap the shot. Larger numbers mean smaller openings, and less light admitted; smaller numbers mean wider openings and more light. This is another way to brighten a shot, although there is a tradeoff - as the aperture gets wider (smaller number), the depth of field gets shallower, and there will be a point where the whole coin will not be in focus. You'll get the devices but not the (physically lower) fields, or vice versa. If you were to change the aperture to f/8.0, you'd need to change the exposure to about 1/15 to get the same picture.
5. You're exactly right. I don't think you need to play here, for the moment - it looks like the camera is pretty good at this.
6. ISO is the sensitivity to light used by the sensor. It's relevant in that higher ISO numbers allow you to work in lesser light conditions. The tradeoff is that higher ISO numbers mean more "noise" in the picture. Higher ISO means a brighter picture if nothing else changes. In this niche, you should be able to work up to ISO 400 anyways without noticeable degradation in image quality. If you go from ISO 100 to ISO 200, you could change the exposure from 1/50 to 1/80 or 1/100 and get the same picture. Or, you could change the ISO to 200 and the aperture from f/5.0 to f/6.3, keep the exposure the same 1/50 and get the same picture.

Exposure, ISO and aperture are all interrelated, which makes it a pretty complicated dance. You can vary any of the three to get the same end result. There are photographic circumstances under which the "best" way is to vary one or the other - if you're photographing sports, fast exposures are important so you do things which let you use the fastest exposure. If you're shooting at night, ISO is important so you do things which let you use the highest ISO number. Aperture settings are the most ambiguous of the three - you could want a wide (low numerically) aperture to get a sharp foreground focus while leaving the background blurry, for instance.

Everything I'm saying is a generality - like any rules, there are many exceptions. It's been my experience, with my equipment, that none of these settings make any difference that I can't do equally well with another setting to shoot decent pictures of coins. Your mileage may vary.