Best Digital Camera For The Buck For Coins

One each Canon S2 IS ordered from Beach Camera on Sunday, received notice that it was shipped today (Tues). Should be here Saturday or Monday. Cost $343.xx including Priority Mail shipping. When it arrives, I'll spend a few hours reading the manual and playing with it. I did not order a larger memory card; that'll come later after I learn the capabilities and limitations of the camera. I also got lucky: I learned my brother-in-law has an S1 IS, the predecessor for the S2, so I tapped him for strengths and weaknesses of his camera before I ordered mine. When I've mastered the S2, expect some coin pics to come this way.

Thanks to all for the advice and info. This has been a very educational thread.

Fred

Richard, let me play with the camera after it arrives. There's gotta be a solution. The images posted by SuperDave were outstanding; maybe he'll share his knowledge of use of the S2 IS for close-ups.

Fred

i use a nikon coolpix 4300 digital 4 megapixels it works well for any photos but I have liked the photos taken of coins alot. of course I am as ROOKIE as you get when it comes to the photos.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Morgan Fred

Richard, let me play with the camera after it arrives. There's gotta be a solution. The images posted by SuperDave were outstanding; maybe he'll share his knowledge of use of the S2 IS for close-ups.

Fred

---

Remember, I'm a guy who's taking pictures on a ceramic stovetop.

Here's how I generally do it:

The camera is set to SuperMacro under full Manual operation ("M" on the dial), and highest-quality images. The camera is about 4 inches from the coin, which makes the final size of a Morgan pic about 1300 pixels wide. Scaled down to the 500 pixels I post pics at improves the perceived quality of the shot. I set the Aperture to 5.0 as a compromise between depth of field and faster shutter speeds. The higher (numerically) the aperture, the better depth of field - down around 3.0, you have to have the coin exactly perpendicular to the camera or it'll have areas out of focus. The faster the shutter speed, the less likely movement blurring will be a problem. Even with image stabilization, camera movement in a macro shot is problematic. I set my exposure to about 0.6 seconds. Then I play around with the position of my lights until pleased with what I see in the eyepiece (I never use the LCD, because it eats batteries quickly - you'll understand in a minute).

That's where I take the first shot. I then take the aperture down and up from 3.2 to 8.0, a few steps at a time, and the exposure up and down between 1/100 and 1.5 seconds, a couple steps at a time (the aperture has a bearing on exposure - F3.2 wants 1/60 when F5.0 wants 0.6 seconds, as a rough approximation), and take more pics, say 4 at each aperture setting. I play with the position of the lighting while I'm at it.

Every picture you've seen me post here is about one of fifteen or twenty I've taken of that subject, at various settings. Furthermore, Morgans need different settings obverse and reverse - I need more direct and brighter light on the reverse, and the obverse tends to like less-direct light. Worse, BU coins require different settings than circulated coins. It gets complicated, and the way my mind works, I'm better off taking a bazillion shots than trying to work out a system

It took almost fifty archived shots of the 1921P VAM41 posted elsewhere on this site before I got one I liked for contrast and focus. The coin below, a near-DMPL 1879S (my avatar coin), is giving me fits. I have to figure it out soon, because it goes to ebay on Sunday, but I'm not even close to satisfied. What I'm posting here is the best of twenty tries, and I still can't get stuff to quit reflecting in it so I can just have a simple face shot.



Now, if I were using the camera's LCD on a day I needed to image 15 coins (as I do for this week's round of auctions), I'd go through four sets of batteries. As it is, I'm still on the set of non-rechargeables that came with the Canon. I think once I come up with more even lighting, it'll be easier, but it'll never be easy because I'm picky.

Oh, yeah, one more thing - figure 1.5Mb per shot at these settings. A big memory card is recommended.

And I also received my S2 IS in the mail today. I've been playing with it off and on since late this morning. This is gonna take awhile: it has all sorts of bells and whistles, buttons, menus, functions, and other stuff. The manuals weigh as much as the camera. If I were just taking "scenery" pictures, I'd be clicking away, but I'm working on the specialized settings, e.g., jpeg size, compression. It's even got a power button which has two settings in addition to On and Off. What a camera!

I use a powershot SD200, and took these pics... The coins were in plexiglass cases, but still came out rather well:

scoutjim..don't feel bad, so am I...I think a college degree is required to operate some of these things..lol