Axle Lightning

lol, you're making it too easy. And if you can make some real nice, deep-cameo proofs show up on my desk, your magic wand is really working.

Any real advantage to the BeamSplitter (?) glass mentioned in other threads?

Never played with it. I've heard, and seen, pretty good stuff about it, though.




Kinda depends on your camera setup. Me, I can reliably go down to 1/4 or slower shutter and get good shots; as a result, a single 60w bulb is more than ample. The axial shot I posted was ISO400, f/8.0, 1/60 with a single 60w, so I had plenty of room to adjust for more light on the coin. I suspect if you go as high as 100w, you'll get too much glare.

ISO 64? Wowser. Absolutely increase. That's about as low as you can go for light sensitivity. At ISO 64, the 1/60 exposure at ISO 400 I mentioned earlier would probably have to be 1/2 to 1 full second, to get the same picture. Unless you're using a decent dSLR, rigidly mounted and remotely triggered, keep the ISO setting as high as you can without introducing noise into your shots. Any decent digital camera should give excellent results at ISO 200, and most at ISO 400.

Good deal. You'll find the more sensitive ISO will give you more lighting options, especially if your camera gives you good results down to 1/2 second. It's pretty easy to over-light a coin, and the increased ISO will allow you to use (for instance) one 60w bulb when you had to use 2 before.

well I am still not happy with my results I am having better luck w/ indirect lighting