Question On Camera Use.

Ding! We're getting there.

You are probably approaching your camera's physical limits now. The exposure bracketing has been a trick to keep from having to go into fully-manual camera settings; this will be the next objective because coins of different color and luster will require different photography approaches.

Do you know anything about postprocessing in software? If not, it can be the next thing we discuss, should you like to learn.

I'm guessing this coin has little remaining luster. If you have a Mint State example, slide it under the camera to see what comes out. I suspect it'll want different lighting or different settings.

Now, to address your original reason for posting this thread. I'd like to see the obverse, too, but at this moment I tend to agree with your opinion that it seems a little "too clean." Your best bet is to get the coin outdoors, under bright, direct sunlight, and move it around under a loupe. If there are hairlines from brushing, you will eventually find the angle which reveals them. Sunlight is harsh.

If it's been chemically cleaned, it won't show with this test. That's just a matter of experience. The open areas of the fields are a little too bright compared to the darker areas close to the letters, but it is possible for honest circulation to cause the same effect. I think chemical cleaning would not leave this condition - it would clean the tight areas just the same as the open.

Not quite enough information to be sure yet.

Definitely cleaned, then.

Obviously, the goal of photographing coins is to make the picture look "just like the coin." Keep in mind, though, that coin will look different in your hand under a table lamp in the living room, under fluorescent light in the kitchen, and outdoors under the sun. The camera will always bring out details you don't notice, except under a loupe, and it will make marks appear bigger than they actually are.

So, you almost learn a second set of standards - what a coin looks like in-hand, and what the same coin looks like in a carefully-composed and well-lit photograph.

1945 micro s.







Obviously the T isn't broken. Sure looked like it in the photos.