Found A New Interest ...

I'm retired ... and love it ... !

I've shot motorsports photography, and still do, for several years now. I'm close to Road Atlanta, NE Georgia foothills, so I'm in a great location and take advantage. About two years ago I started buying Silver Eagles. I started to notice the toned Morgan dollars that were also offered. Bought several that looked interesting.

I've been reading about toned metals and in general silver coins (how I found this forum). From what I read, the Morgan dollars seem to exhibit the best colorization of US dollar coins.

I have a question ... when I purchase a single Morgan, (Peace Dollar, Trade dollar, etc.), ... the "coin you see is the coin you get" as opposed to the "Random" purchases, ... most come enclosed in sealed protective casing.

To photograph through the plastic would cause some distortion ... kind of like shooting through a window.

Is there a way to remove the coin and avoid bringing into question the authenticity of the coin ... ? Do you just shoot through the plastic ... ?

Is there much interest in the photography side of coin collecting ... or would that be a topic in a specific sub-forum ... ?

Is the capture of a coin's color critical for non-toned coins ... ? Are lighting effects a "taboo" or when would they be considered acceptable ... ?

Are cameras allowed at coin exhibitions or shows and if so, do you need credentials to shoot ... ?

Sorry if this was too many questions or more than you really wanted to know ... but you know how it is with a new found interest ...

... If interested, my present cameras are the Canon 1Ds2 and the Canon 5D ... the "classic" first version. Both full frame cameras. I like those models because I like full frame and those two have the larger pixels not in the later models with higher pixel density.

I shoot RAW, and in manual exposure mode then import into LR as a .dng and then export some to my SmugMug site as jpg's. I use SmugMug as a Webserver.

At the moment, I don't have a dedicated Macro, I may pick one up later, but I do have a Canon 100 f/2 that has a MFD that should be useable ... it's pretty sharp wide open ... also a Canon 200 f/2.8L along with a Canon 50 f/1.4. I believe the 100 f/2 works well with "tubes", but I will have to check.


Just a brief presentation on where I am at the moment ... mostly in it for the photography ... as the photography part is of prime interest in my collecting.


Jefferson ...