Setup For Photographing Half Dollars?

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Author	Replies: 5 / Views: 1,912
dd27 Pillar of the Community United States 666 Posts	Posted 02/12/2017 11:44 pm When I purchased my setup from Ray, I said that I would be taking photographs of mostly Lincoln cents, so he designed it with that in mind. Now I find myself wanting to take some photos of half dollars, but I could not fit the entire coin in the view. See this post for an example: http://goccf.com/t/280571#280571 What adjustment/addition to my setup would be best? I'm thinking another bellows, but, as you guys know, I'm really new at coin photography (and photography in general, although I'm slowly but surely forcing myself to read basic stuff), so there might be something basic or obvious that yours truly does not see. Many thanks, Mark P.S. I have a Vivitar Bellows 140mm tall. Photo in this post: http://goccf.com/t/276742#276742 EDIT: It might actually be 150mm Edited by dd27 02/12/2017 11:50 pm Report this Post to the Staff

rmpsrpms Pillar of the Community United States 4038 Posts	Posted 02/13/2017 12:09 am Mark...for larger coins, you need a shorter bellows extension (for less magnification) and more working distance. I don't remember what the limiting factor is for the Vivitar bellows + Macro Stand system. If the limiting factor is the minimum extension being too long, then you might be able to make a Half Dollar work with a slightly longer lens. If the limiting factor is the working distance is too short, then you can remove the stage plate and place the Half Dollar below the stage. Unfortunately, if you need to go with a longer lens, you'll likely still need to put the Half Dollar below the stage. I'd suggest starting with this to see if you can make it work. Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com Report this Post to the Staff
dd27 Pillar of the Community United States 666 Posts	Posted 02/13/2017 12:54 am Thank you so much Ray! I will give that a try and report back. :O) ~ Mark Report this Post to the Staff
TobyJ Pillar of the Community United Kingdom 1273 Posts	Posted 02/17/2017 2:22 pm I'm just replying to this because only the other day I took a photo of a Liberty Half Dollar and I'm pretty pleased with the results. I have 6 extensions of different lengths that I attach to my helicoid and then attach a Nikkon El Nikkor magnifying lens. I have a Canon EOS camera 12 MP that was about $120 dollars used from ebay. To frame the coin properly, I play about with the height of the camera and the length of extensions, I also use F8 on the lens. With this set up I can frame any size coin and get extremely detailed photos. You probably know all this, but thought I'd post anyway :) Report this Post to the Staff
pepactonius Pillar of the Community United States 9395 Posts	Posted 02/17/2017 6:27 pm Looks good, with very even lighting. These setups are very flexible -- perhaps the only things I'd have a problem with are very large items, like an uncut sheet of dollar bills (which I don't have). Report this Post to the Staff
rmpsrpms Pillar of the Community United States 4038 Posts	Posted 03/01/2017 6:04 pm Mark...did placing the coin below the stage work for you? Contact me for photographic equipment or visit my home page at: http://macrocoins.com Report this Post to the Staff
	Replies: 5 / Views: 1,912

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