Coin Photography For A Beginner

If it saves some time in your reply, my wife's camera is a Canon 6D. She's got a 50mm lens and also a 24-70mm lens. She's also got a macro extension for her 50mm which from all indications from what I've read, I should be fine with. My problem is that the coin is so small that when I crop it, it becomes blurry.

A 6D with a 50mm plus extension tube should be able to offer images about as good as anyone, depending on how close we can get it to focus. Optically it's quite good enough for our uses.

Basic imaging parameters:

1) Camera and coin perfectly parallel. Place a pocket mirror where the coin will be, and arrange the camera so you can see the reflection of the lens exactly in the center of the viewfinder.

2) Solid camera mounting. You can accomplish this with a tripod pointed straight down at the corner of a table where the coin will sit.

3) Delayed shutter, so no vibration can reach the shutter from you triggering it.

4) Use Live View Mode to shoot. This enables the electronic first shutter curtain which allows even less vibration to affect the shot. More on it later.

That's your basic setup. Is the extension tube of the type with electrical contacts to pass information from the lens? Some cheap ones are simple tubes which don't do anything except move the lens away from the camera. I'm guessing it's the electronic type because your wife would have no control over aperture with it otherwise, using the 50.

Your first task is to see how close you can get to the coin and still achieve focus. The 50 on its' own can't focus on a subject closer than 18". The extension tube will help but it's up to you to figure out where the closest focusing distance is. Use Aperture Priority Mode, set the aperture at f/8 and let the camera decide the rest for the moment.

There's something to start with. Hopefully your solution is in that, but do not hesitate to spam us with questions however inane you ,think they might be. Down the road, I'll show you how to run this whole show from the computer but first let's get you taking pictures.

Time for you to play, then.

Experiment. Get things wrong. Post the good ones.