Found This Set Up. Opinions Please.

No. Full stop.

The camera is nice, but overkill if you're going to use it only for coin photography. The 18-55 is a nice little kit lens, the one which comes with the camera from Canon, but it's barely adequate for full-coin images of a Morgan, much less a smaller coin. The 75-300 is as cheap as Canon can possibly make a lens, not terrible but utterly useless for coins and Canon's own 55-250 simply blows it into the weeds at its' designated task of zoom photography.

Everything else will be the cheapest-possible knockoffs of the "real" deal.

Now. The T5i uses the same sensor as the T2i (3 generations older) and for our purposes the additional capabilities of the new camera aren't relevant. In fact, right now we're recommending - for people who want to exclusively shoot coins - a used Rebel XS, a couple generations older yet and only 10MP instead of the 18 of the T5i. Those extra 8 megapixels buy you 900 extra vertical pixels of image, which means when you use the camera right, you're going to need to reduce the image size to 30% of original to post a 1000px image here instead of 39% of original.

Think about that for a moment.

And, with the correct optics, the slight extra magnification required to make detail images as large from the one as the other is inconsequential. There's a Rebel XS next to me at my desk. It's what I shoot with. You can buy one in very good used condition for less than $200.

So first let's define these things: Your specific goals for the camera, your tolerance for used equipment, and your willingness to engage in some fairly advanced learning.

If you want an all-arounder which will be used for other kinds of photography, we're going to recommend a newer camera with the bigger sensor and better in-camera software. If your tolerance for a used camera (nothing else on your shopping list should be bought new - lenses don't know how old they are as long as they're clean) is low, obviously we find you something comfortable new. If you want relatively easy use, we're going to point you at some dedicated macro lenses costing more than the entire rig we'll recommend if you don't mind a little intellectual elbow-grease. And you will still need to learn 75% of what we teach to use that one right.

We'll start there.

ok, thanks for the advice.

I am against learning and have around $8-900.00 to work with.

I'm Not against refurbed items either. As long as they work because what I get is going to have to last for along time until I can upgrade.

It would be nice if the main body could be used on other then just coins but that is not a must at the moment.

(It would just help justify the cost to my wife a bit.)

But I'm going to need to fit what I need into that budget. I might have a little wiggle room but not much.

So I guess I'll need the copy stand and all. I have 4 jansco lights but need the rest.

Will you guy's be kind enough to help me out?

I'm not lazy but it would be a great help if I could get a set up from you guys here. Even a 'package' would be Fantastic. If you can that is?

Thank You

Charlie

Thank you Dave. :)

So think about your use cases... for the equipment. That (should) drive most of your decisions

If you are using the camera JUST for coin photos, you will go one way.
If you are using the camera for other things, there maybe killer features for that use. For example 1080p HD movies.

I have a T3i and the Cannon 100mm Macro lens (which I LOVE). Since I don't expect to use this for out-in-the-field macro work, I choose the 100 dollar cheaper non-IS lens.

Precisely. And everything you learn here will have direct application in your other areas of photographic endeavor. The camera by design will cover all but the most arcane areas of interest. And, for instance, the single $25 lens I use will cover all but the most extreme magnification requirements from full Morgans to date doubling.

Until, of course, I fall back down the rabbit hole, wanting that last 5%. Then I have to spend another $25 on a different lens.

Oh, heck. I already own that lens....

Seriously, though, there is the Printing-Nikkor 105mm which will cost you $2000+ for the best of the best. Then, the Rodenstock APO-Rodagon D 1x which will set you back maybe $300. It's hard to screw up the quality they give, much less fail to reach it.

Then there's the 75mm Nikon you see mentioned here a lot for maybe $50 used, and below that a whole herd of roughly $25-ish lenses which will still make you a guy who gets complimented on his imagery every time. Being broke, I use one of those.

But, someday, there is a Printing-Nikkor in my future....

Canon is the preferred brand for its' coin-specific advantages. Mounting one brand lens to another brand camera is trivial for our uses. That said, stay Canon-Canon for other uses so you can make use of the electronic interchange between them.

We don't autofocus for coins, and when you're running the whole thing with your mouse and focusing on your monitor (as you will) no camera settings matter anyway.

What an interesting thread and discussion! Dar, it seems you are heading down a path that several others on this forum have made, and I'm glad to read the enthusiasm in your posts. That will make it much easier for you to learn what's needed.

THE most important question for you to consider when deciding on the choice of equipment is...what range of magnifications do you plan to shoot? What this means is what is the largest coin you want to shoot (large medals? ASEs? Dollars?) and what is the smallest coin or detail shot (Dimes? Low magnification details like full Date shots on a Dollar, or High magnification details like Mintmarks on a Cent)? This will determine the size of your setup, since larger coins need longer lenses and bigger setups, and high magnification shots will require a different lens, usually a microscope objective. It will also determine how fine a focus capability you will need, since doing high magnification shots requires very fine focus capability.

So answer that question for us, and we'll go from there with more questions and discussion. This ALWAYS takes a bit of time to get it right, but if you do the work up front to make sure you get the right combination of equipment, you'll make fewer mistakes and waste less time and money.

I have the Canon T2i, and it can be attached (with EOS-Nikon adapter) to the Nikon PB-6 bellows or (with EOS to M-42 adapter) to the late Pentax M-42 bellows I have.

With a short 7mm? extension tube between the camera and the bellows, the T2i can also attach to an Olympus bellows (with EOS to OM adapter). The built-in pop-up flash gets in the way when there is no 7mm extension tube. I use the Olympus bellows mostly, since it seems to be the smoothest, and I use old Olympus OM bellows lenses. The Olympus bellows may be harder to adapt to non-OM lenses, though.

Note that the various Canon cameras differ a bit in size, so some bellows-camera combinations will fit better than others. Some may require extension tubes between the bellows and camera. I suppose some combinations will not work at all?