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 Replies: 26 / Views: 4,412 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3234 Posts |
I have no formal lighting set up or way to hold the coin. I simply stood it up and shined a light on it. Period. I'll be taking digital photography lessons this summer at the ANA so I'm sure my skills and equipment will improve. In fact, I'm sure it will improve before then, but I thought it would be fun to show this off. These are my very first (in-focus) images taken with this lens (Tokina 100mm). Holy cow! This is a night and day difference from those 3MP pictures I can take with my wife's point and shoot. The lighting wasn't perfect, especially the reverse, but with a 10MP DSLR and this lens, I can tell the quality can be hugely impressive once I really start to get a handle on things. I have a remote control shutter which I should be using once I have it setup on a tripod or copy stand. I'm sure I'll have to get an extra light or two. The coin is in an ICG slab (a Keifer wedding commemorative!).   |
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Valued Member
United States
346 Posts |
Great camera. That Washington dollar looks pretty formidable that close up.
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Valued Member
United States
272 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
749 Posts |
Wow! Very nice Prethen
The photos with my digital macro setting turn out blurry, not sure what I'm doing wrong. I have so many coins to photo and ask questions about
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
Heh. The first time I shot a coin thru my dSLR and 100mm macro, I was like O_O. Just slapped a Sovereign down on the table and shot it with the overhead light. I could count the blood vessels in His Highness' eye. Felt like I'd died and gone to heaven.  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
14454 Posts |
hmm  I read this same thread with the same topic somewhere else I think |
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Valued Member
United States
120 Posts |
very nice camera. I on the other hand have to use a camcorder to take the pics. Still gets the job done.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
3234 Posts |
Here's a sample of a 1:1 closeup on a target-toned 1862 Indian cent.  |
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Valued Member
United States
328 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3234 Posts |
Yes I do gbchaosmaster. Actually, I'm quite excited and it's not really about bragging rights as it is about joining "the club" of macro photographers which proliferate the boards. Also, more importantly, I don't believe most of these members here on CC are members of the PCGS and NGC boards. Many times the members there don't cross over to other boards for whatever reasons. Since I'm somewhat active on them, I wanted to get responses from those various groups.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1173 Posts |
Congratulations, Prethen. When I got my dSLR and macro lens, I absolutely couldn't believe the pictures. And it looks as though you've got a great set-up now, once you get the lighting arranged for best effect. Super!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
974 Posts |
Pretty sweet! I am sure you'll learn a lot in June! Wish I could go with ya! For now I am still point and shoot...
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Member
United States
3242 Posts |
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Valued Member
United States
206 Posts |
for Canon and Nikon shooters... check out the 50mm f1.8 lenses. Both are under 120 bucks (the Canon one goes for around 100) The glass used in the lens is the same glass used in all the L series lenses, which is by far Canon's sharpest line. The fixed 50mm length does present some limitations, but shooting at 1.8 or 2.0 means you can use available light most of the time and not have to open up that ugly, white onboard flash. I'm a photojournalist so I'm constantly buying more and more equipment. Just my ' Two Cents' haha |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3234 Posts |
Yeah, I recall that the 50mm was definitely inexpensive, but since I take pictures of notably smaller coins like 3CS, I recall that it had some limitations the 100mm doesn't have. I did investigate that lens and vaguely recall that it became quickly off-limits after I discovered the limitation(s).
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Valued Member
United States
206 Posts |
Prethen-
I believe the Nikon version has a minimum focusing distance of less than 4 inches, though I can't say the same about the Canon glass.
I find the best macro lenses are fixed around 100 to 150mm so in that sense you are definitely right.
I only like the cheap 50mm lenses cause at 1.8 they are so much wider than the average 150mm which tends to be in the f4.0 range. I like the idea of relying more on available light than man-made light because of a coin's tendancy to reflect.
I will also add that the best way to produce a crisp image of a coin that I have found (without spending a thousand bucks on a macro lens that opens up to 2.0 or 2.8) is simply scanning it with a desktop scanner :)
Your pics look great btw
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Replies: 26 / Views: 4,412 |
Posted 03/27/2008 8:28 pm
