The bulb on my scope is 14 watt. That is diffused through a hard square quarter tube. Too much light is like taking images of the sun. A single light source is best and a diffuser can remove glare marks on even proof coins. Light and shadows make an image.To many lights kill a good shot.

The light system before alteration looked like this.

The image show the Mightly Bright with a plastic grocery bag on the hood to diffuse. Also in the image is a ramp I use to divert the light into the scope. These have to be at the correct angle and the right direction to get the golden glow into the camera. The original system is a 6V light system. I used it under a single scope. I've changed the bulb to 14V and boosted the power to 12V for my stereo microscope.
For images without a scope I use a different setup to get these images:

I use two sheet of bond paper and a florescent bulb to get these images. I use a box to contain the desk lamp. also weights on the base of the light. I covered the setup in a darker fabric (to prevent glare and a darker background works better for me) for the base for taking images.

I turn on the light and adjust the light and put the coins down, then take images:

This works better with a grouping. You can put BU coins around a coin to show color better.

I can get some interesting images with this setup:



