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 Replies: 55 / Views: 7,104 |
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Valued Member
United States
397 Posts |
Hey all I'm relatively new to coin collecting and new as the Bombay Hook quarter when it comes to taking pics. I have a Canon T1i body, and rmpsrpms has set me up with stand, bellows and lens. I have downloaded the software and took a few pics. I gonna try to post a couple of those pics as well as pics of my setup, now that I have figured out some of the settings from other post.  She needs a bath  A clean coin is a happy coin.   Jim's World Where do I go from here?  first pics I have posted |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2784 Posts |
well hello jim your doing good. first the second image is a little out of focus. your camera needs to be aligned to the coin. your camera is just slightly pointed left or right of the coin. use a mirror to align your camera to the coin. when you use the mirror you should look right back at the center of the lens. move your lamps up next to your lens 10 and 2 o'clock. I use AV mode on my canon t1i. I let the camera control the aperture and I set the rest. you are doing very good. keep posting and we will help you. there are a lot of really good coin photographer here and will all help you get to where you want. see when everybody help we all learn have a great one
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1959 Posts |
Not on the photography subject, and to me the images are better than anything I've posted by a mile. However, at the risk of beating a dead horse, cleaned coins are not happy. This coin did fine. It's a new bullion coin. In general, never clean a coin. I'm sure you already know that, but just in case you didn't. I may have saved you a few bucks. Welcome to the forum. Again, the pics looked great!
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Valued Member
 United States
397 Posts |
Thanks Rocky, yes it is certainly out of focus. I don't understand what you mean using the mirror to align the camera to the coin. Do you mean my camera isn't perfectly north and south or out of plumb? Is that why I can see some of the reeding on the edge of the coin? Please be very elementary when explaining. I don't speak the photography language very well. Thanks again, all help appreciated.
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Valued Member
United States
397 Posts |
Quote:
However, at the risk of beating a dead horse, cleaned coins are not happy. jpbone  , using that caption could be misleading. I always appreciate input that saves me $$$$. I was just experimenting with some cleaner and I didn't like that purple crud. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2784 Posts |
jim yes your camera is out of line. that is why your images are rotating after you snap the picture. it is probably only off a touch but that is all that is required for the coin to rotate. Jim look there are buyers that will pay money for that toning. the coin club that I am a member with. we have a dealer there that has a very rare dime. the grade for the year is very high ms64. the people wanting to buy the coin is after it for the beautiful toning. so please think long and hard before you remove toning. I am starting to go through a bunch of toned Canadian pennies. they are the colours of a rainbow. you would not believe what I have been offered for these coin. toning set the coin apart from other coins. plus with certain buys adds value. ok you set a mirror where your coin lays. turn on liveview on your screen move the camera until you are looking at the center of your lens. then you will be in perfect alignment.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2784 Posts |
sorry jim I wanted to mention. that will make it easier for you to focus on your coin. jim when you want to do your final focus. magnify your coin in liveview. fine tune your focus. go back to normal view check and then click the image. that will help a lot with your focus.
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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
IMHO, a quick dip in pure acetone would have done wonders instead of a coin striper. The purple toning would have added value,now it is silver value only  John1  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4036 Posts |
The coin looks out of focus pretty evenly, so I am not sure if the bellows needs alignment or not. It certainly wouldn't hurt to check.
How are you ensuring proper focus Jim? Since you are tethering, I recommend you use the zoom (magnifier) function to make sure you are critically-focused. When in Live View, there is a magnifier button in lower right of the screen. Hit it and you get a 100% pixel view of the area within the white box in Live View screen. The Live View screen itself is not full resolution, and is a little fuzzy even at best focus. But the magnifier view will be crystal clear when you are properly focused.
I also remember in previous post (Ham's thread) that you're using f4. You should use f8 for large coins like ASEs, and f5.6 for smaller coins. The Nikon lens needs to be stopped down to f5.6 for best results, and f8 is about as good as f5.6 so you benefit from better depth of field. You can still focus at f4 if you want to be very critical, then stop down to f8 for the shot, but you can usually find the best focus pretty easily even at f8 when using the magnifier/zoom technique.
Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com |
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Valued Member
United States
397 Posts |
Awesome feedback Rocky, Ray and John. When I sat this equipment up I was curious how to align it. I actually used a little level an it wasn't working very well. So I just used the eyes. But thanks Rocky I will work with the mirror tomorrow. Ray you just answered a question I was going to ask, what was the lower case f settings all about. So that is the settings on the lens. I'm sure using those recommended settings and the zoom magnifier will help with my focus issues. I read in one of the threads about background colors. I purchased the gray, black and white cards. What background works best with copper, silver and gold? I really would like to put the coin cleaning to rest and make this thread about taking pictures. What was I thinking when I posted those pics,  lol. I have great appreciation for a beautifully toned coin. Thanks again all, stay tuned for future pics and many questions...Jim. |
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Moderator
United States
56855 Posts |
I think I read 18% gray background for copper. Have you tried axial lighting? John1 |
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Valued Member
United States
397 Posts |
Quote:
I think I read 18% gray background for copper. Have you tried axial lighting? John1 I have not tried axial lighting. What is axial lighting? If there are good results to be had I'm willing to try. I will be shooting copper soon and I will try the gray. Thanks John1 |
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Moderator
United States
56855 Posts |
Upper left of page,type in axial lighting. John1 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4036 Posts |
The 18% gray card is excellent for a background. It gives a good background for copper coins, but also gives a true reference for the correct lighting and white balance.
What I mean by that is that 18% gray should give exactly what it says, 18% illumination of equal RGB. Full scale RGB (ie bright white) is 255,255,255, so the 18% gray background should give a result of 46,46,46. I've used this technique to calibrate my shots in the past, and it works very well. For someone just starting out it would make a LOT of sense to learn how to make this happen so your shots are accurate first try.
Axial lighting is good for very specific situations, such as proofs or deeply-toned coins, but it's a bit too advanced for a beginner. I would recommend sticking with the diffused Jansjos, at 10:30 and 1:30, high an angle (close to the lens) as you can get them, until you master the techniques. Axial results in lower resolution as well (due to distortion through the half-mirror). I have an axial setup, but use it only in extreme circumstances.
edited...not 256,256,256 but 255,255,255
Edited by rmpsrpms
11/23/2015 12:31 pm
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Valued Member
United States
397 Posts |
Thanks Ray, I have completed the alignment. I had to slide a metal shim in just below the screw to get the lens to properly align. I'm going to shoot some pics of half dollars. I will set the lens to f8 and use the zoom/magnifier. I will post a couple pictures if not tonight then tomorrow.
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Valued Member
United States
397 Posts |
Thanks John1 for the heads up about axial lighting. But for now I'm probably going to keep it simple. Because I am really new to photography. Of course I have taken pictures, but I'm talking point and shoot only. You have planted a seed an I will take some time and read up on it.
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Replies: 55 / Views: 7,104 |
Posted 11/22/2015 5:34 pm
