| Author |
 Replies: 21 / Views: 4,092 |
|
New Member
United States
22 Posts |
I have the under $400 rig that Ray has listed and curious to know what lens I need to take pictures of Mint/Proof sets? My 75mm Nikon just does not have the ability.
Thanks! Edited by dsmcnair
10/22/2016 01:19 am
|
|
|
|
Pillar of the Community
 United States
4038 Posts |
Is the problem that you can't get the whole mint set in the frame? If you are using extensions and helicoid as specified in the <$400 thread, just remove most of the extensions and it should work fine. I'd suggest keeping perhaps the 7mm and 14mm plus the 17-31mm helicoid. This won't let you focus on infinity since the minimum extension is maybe 85mm, but should allow mint sets. If you still can't get there, take out the 7mm extension. Note that you will need to be far away from the mint set to shoot it.
If you're wanting to not be so far away, you need a shorter lens. A good one for this work is the 50mm Nikon EL-Nikkor. Going super cheap you'd buy the f4 version, but the f2.8 will give better image quality. For such a short lens, you will need to experiment with extensions. The 17-31mm helicoid on its own may work.
|
|
New Member
 United States
22 Posts |
Thanks for the suggestions Ray!
My stand only goes up to 20 inches and with the camera and just the focusing helicoid and the lense attached I cannot frame the set. : ( Want to take a picture of the whole set in somewhat of a decent focus then individual shots of the coins.
So 1) Get a bigger stand?
2) Wider lense?
Big Noob on cameras
Sean
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
9395 Posts |
Quote:
2) Wider lense?
If your stand can attach the camera directly (no bellows or extension tubes, etc.), almost any old macro lens will work for low magnification shots (less than 0.5x). For example, you could try the Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/2.8, attached to the Canon camera using a Nikon F to Canon EOS adapter (very common). This is the lens I used back in the days of film (attached to a Nikon film camera). |
|
Valued Member
United States
441 Posts |
I have had the same problem, particularly with the newer sets as their packaging is so huge. Still trying to come up with an easy way to pic these. However, I did have an older proof set sitting here, so I did some experimenting with taking a quick pic of this set. I have one of the <$400 stand setups as well. I opted to put on a longer bar on the focusing rail so I could get a bit higher for doing larger coins. In this pic, I'm using a T6i with an older standard Canon 18-55 macro IS EF lens that cost me $67 on ebay. Lit with (3) diffused Jansjos. The front of the lens was about 12" from the proof set. My lighting generally sucks on this pic and I'm getting reflection, but I wanted to see if I could frame the whole set in the spirit of this thread, which I did. Did a crop and resized to fit here. I'll have to experiment more with the larger sets and get the lighting and focus just right. (EDIT) Lens was at a bit over 35mm setting on the barrel with this pic with the AF on.  Cell phone pic of the stand setup Edited by andywoj00
10/21/2016 2:10 pm
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
|
|
Valued Member
United States
441 Posts |
Ray,
Is that a regular enlarging lens? If so, I have a 50mm Tominon Omegar 4.5 50mm I'd like to try. How would you mount that on a bellows setup on the A-stand in order to frame the whole set, not just individual coins?
Edited by andywoj00
10/21/2016 10:33 pm
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
Andy...unfortunately it won't work on bellows, only extensions. Bellows minimum extension is too long, so the lowest magnification you can get is already too high for whole sets. Only way you can get it to work is on the <$400 setup with minimal extension. Canon cameras already have 44mm extension from the sensor to the lens mounting plane (the "register distance") so with a 50mm lens you can only tolerate a few more mm to frame whole sets. I don't remember how big sets are, but let's say they are 4"x6". The sensor is 15mm high, so the magnification would have to be 15mm/4" (15mm/100mm) or 0.15. Then the extension would be 50 + 0.15*50 = 57.5mm. Subtracting the 44mm register distance, this gives an extension of 13.5mm. The exact extension is dependent on the lens, since the formulas assume the lens has zero thickness. So it's possible only an adapter plus a 7mm extension or so would be needed to achieve the right magnification, but this must be experimented with to get it right. From this calculation you can see that for sure the bellows is going to be too long...Ray
|
|
Valued Member
United States
441 Posts |
So can the camera be mounted direct to the focus rail bar, with the enlarger lens mounted direct on the camera and still be able to frame/focus the whole mint set? Or is it dependent on the physics of the particular lens being used? I may have to take stuff apart to experiment.
|
|
New Member
United States
22 Posts |
Thanks Ray
I ordered the lens will get some pictures up when it arrives.
Thanking everyone for their help/tips
Sean
|
|
Valued Member
United States
441 Posts |
Ray/dsmcnair, I took some more pics using the aforementioned prime lens I have. Sadly, I can find no way to use my enlarger lenses with my A-Stand setup. I tried only mounting a helicoil with the enlarger len to my T6i so my extension would be minimal....no matter what distance I set or lens I used, I could not get the full sets in frame/focus. Tried 35mm, 50mm, 80mm, and 105mm enlarger lenses..nothing worked. What am I doing wrong  FYI, the distance from the back of the helicoil to the front of the Omegar 50mm lens is ~41mm.I was able to figure out a pretty good lighting scheme with the older proof set to eliminate glare/reflections. However, the newer, larger sets are a different story. The newer coins are mega-shiney and it's difficult to light directly or diffuse without glare/reflections. I reflected two lights off the ceiling along with mounting a piece of black construction paper to the lens to eliminate the glare/reflections. See results below. I may need to experiment more with a different way on the new sets...not real pleased with this result. Minimal post processing. If anyone has a good way to pic the newer sets, please post. Pics of lighting and camera setups would be great. dsmcnair...if you come up with a way to get good shots with the A-stand setup and enlarger lens, please share. I can't get it to work.   Edited by andywoj00
10/22/2016 5:14 pm
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
Quote:
I took some more pics using the aforementioned prime lens I have. Sadly, I can find no way to use my enlarger lenses with my A-Stand setup. I tried only mounting a helicoil with the enlarger len to my T6i so my extension would be minimal....no matter what distance I set or lens I used, I could not get the full sets in frame/focus. Tried 35mm, 50mm, 80mm, and 105mm enlarger lenses..nothing worked. What am I doing wrong
FYI, the distance from the back of the helicoil to the front of the Omegar 50mm lens is ~41mm. Well, from my earlier calculations, the max extension you can tolerate is 13.5mm. This may mean the lens must be mounted directly to the camera adapter, but it may allow some small (7mm?) extension. Will need to be experimented with. Definitely the helicoid is going to be too long. Its minimum extension is 17mm, plus adapter. So with 50mm lens, magnification will be too high for the sets. With 75mm lens, even at max extension, the magnification will be too low (!!). Tricky business this. Edited by rmpsrpms
10/22/2016 5:49 pm
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
I just checked with the 50mm EL-Nikkor, and it works well. I used a EOS-M42 adapter, a 7mm extension, then a helicoil type M39-M42 adapter on the lens. These are all items recommended in the <$400 setup. Mint sets are 3-1/2"x5-1/4", and the field of view with the 7mm extension is about 3-3/4"x5-1/2", so fits nicely.
Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com |
|
Valued Member
United States
441 Posts |
Ray, Are you talking about the parts as shown and assembled below? I mounted to the camera and cannot get anything to come into focus. What am I doing incorrectly?   Edited by andywoj00
10/22/2016 9:51 pm
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
Andy...your extension is too long! Don't install the helicoid....Ray
Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4038 Posts |
Andy...maybe the confusion is between "helicoid" and "helicoil". They are different things...Ray
|
| |
Replies: 21 / Views: 4,092 |
Posted 10/21/2016 11:24 am
