Camera ?

Yes. This is a camera you already have, I guess? It'll work, but it will have fairly low limits although for what it is it's one of the better ones.

You will be somewhat limited in things like how far you can get from the coin. You're going to be close enough (4" max, maybe?) for lighting to be difficult.

So you'll have to do some experimenting. First, to find out just how close you can get to the coin while still getting a picture big enough to post. Second, to see whether the camera's zoom will make this better or worse for you. As you zoom in, the minimum distance at which it will still focus will get greater. It might end up being a wash.

Start with it zoomed all the way out to learn some stuff about lighting and how the camera behaves. I guess you know about getting a nice stable mount for it, making the lens and coin parallel, and delaying the shutter a couple secs so you can get your finger off the button.

Use Av Mode, meaning you set the aperture and the camera does the rest, for start. Canon quotes "f/2.8-f.4.9" for the camera, but that 4.9 I don't recognize as a known aperture setting. Whatever the next-largest number you can set is, use that one to start.

Play with this, shoot a couple images and post them here. We'll work on everything else - this is a surprisingly capable little camera with lots of Manual settings - in good time.

There are some downsides to that $30 camera.

1. It uses Compact Flash - if it doesn't come with a memory card, you will need to buy a card (12-15$) plus a $5 adapter to plug into your computer.
2. It's a 12 year old model, I think it's limited to 2GB memory cards - but at 4MP images, that's still a lot of pictures

As with most Point&Shoot, it doesn't have a great macro mode - it's macro distance is 5cm or 2" - that's not a lot of room to get some lighting in there.

Dave I don't have that camera yet, I still have to find out how many $$ he wants for it.
Been looking on ebay and for $150 give or take a bit I can get a Canon Rebel XS

$150 is appropriate for a decent XS, but it locks you into a road that'll need a couple hundred more to flesh out the system. You're a guy who places his feet carefully, so I'm comfortable with the idea of you dropping less ($50 is too much, more like half that for a good one) to see how you like the process. It's the only money you'll ever actually have to spend purely on learning, and it's a nice little camera to carry around with you, to boot. It'll serve you even if you upgrade for coins.

Yeah, I was referring to that, if it's the direction you choose to go.

Not a bad price.

The 250D is actually a pretty decent add-on lens, and yes it would probably help. That said, you only need that one plus the Conversion Lens Adapter in the auction to make it work. The other stuff is extraneous to your needs. It will have an effect on your working distance - you'll need to be farther from the subject - and will probably work better at your camera's longer focal lengths (zoomed in).

Don't expect it to stay cheap. A 250D is $70+ brand new, and there are two of them in this lot. Almost assuredly money not worth spending, but if yo're a seller and can get the lot for $50, you've got a lot of components to flip for profit.

No problem at all with any of the points you made, BStrauss, this post or the last one. My specific recommendation in this case is because I've sat and drank beers with Mike and eaten his (excellent) grilling, and taken his measure as a person. I felt in his case, he'd probably like the idea of starting with the smaller camera and offered a recommendation tailored to the actual person as well as my own hands-on experience with the specific model he was getting.

Then I was going to talk him into the bigger camera.