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 Replies: 15 / Views: 3,290 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
763 Posts |
First off, I will tell you that my knowledge with photography is very limited. Most of what I know, I learned here (a special thank you goes out to SuperDave.) I have a cheap point and shoot Canon camera that I use to take photos of coins. I started taking photos of coins about a year and a half ago. The results were horrible. With some advice, I bought a cheap desktop tripod and 2 halogen desk lamps about 6 months ago and my photos improved a lot. I still wasn't thrilled with my set up. The tripod wasn't very sturdy and my shooting distance was fixed with this particular tripod. In addition, most of my coins are slabbed and the position of the legs of this tripod interfered with a lot of the shots. The 2 halogen desk lights provided good light but the necks were not very flexible. This week I decided to improve my setup. I purchased a low priced ($50), but sturdy looking copy stand from ebay and 2 IKEA Jansjo desk lamps. The lights are LED and the goosenecks are extremely flexible. After setting things up and experimenting for a few minutes, I started getting great looking shots. Here are some before and after shots so that you can see the difference: Before:  After:  Before:  After:  The die clash is much more evident on this shot. I will be experimenting with the setup further in the upcoming few days, but I thought I would share the results so far. |
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Valued Member
United States
374 Posts |
big diffrence in the pictures. How much are the led lamps and are you using both of them at once?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2150 Posts |
Edited by jokingjoker
07/16/2011 11:03 am
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
763 Posts |
I don't have an IKEA near me and they weren't available on their website. I got mine from a seller on Amazon and I had to pay about $20 per lamp. I believe that I used both lamps on both of the shots above. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
763 Posts |
Here is a link to the copy stand: http://shop.ebay.com/rigi75/m.htmlI have never used another copy stand, but I am guessing this one is a bit bulkier than others. To adjust it, you need to use the allen wrench provided which I assume is not as easy as others. Having said that, it is very sturdy. I didn't use the timer on my camera to take the photos above. I was able to click away with no movement. I always had to use the timer for my tripod. For the price, I am very happy with it; although, I have only had it for less than 24 hours so I can't give the most detailed review. |
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Moderator
 United States
23522 Posts |
Your results are proof of the huge importance of lighting. There's a lot more light on the coins now, allowing the camera to use settings better-suited to the coin. EXIF data from the Cent indicates that your exposure went from 1/200 at ISO200 to 1/400 at ISO80, a much faster exposure at a much "darker" ISO. The trime went from 1/320 @ ISO200 to 1/160 @ ISO80, which are roughly equivalent settings. More importantly, the camera switched from f/2.8 to f/8 for the second shot, allowing a much greater depth of field. It couldn't have done that without a whole lot more light to play with. Switch back to using the timer. It's time to start splitting hairs - you're getting close to your camera's limits.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
763 Posts |
I agree, SuperDave. The lighting was the biggest factor in the improved shots. I wish that my camera allowed me to set the aperture.
I do plan on switching back to the timer. I was just testing the stability of the stand.
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Valued Member
United States
374 Posts |
What does using the timer have to do vs pushing the button? I have a nice canon copystand and the camera doesn't appear to move when I push the button.
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Valued Member
United States
374 Posts |
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
Quote:
What does using the timer have to do vs pushing the button? I have a nice canon copystand and the camera doesn't appear to move when I push the button. It moves. 1/10 of a millimeter is enough to ruin a shot. If you're not a coffee drinker like me ( ) and getting decent shots without the timer, all good but I still suspect you'll see a difference from using a timed shot. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
763 Posts |
I've been updating photographs of my collection and here are few more before and afters: Before:  After:  Before:  After:  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3540 Posts |
Beautiful. Great job. I need to work on my lighting as well. Thanks!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3076 Posts |
LIGHTING LIGHTING LIGTING... is essential but so are the settings for the camera you are using..Nice changes from before to after pics.... Lighting was not the only thing you changed what else did you change?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2335 Posts |
This thread inspired me to go out & buy a LED desk lamp. Quite an improvement over my old pictures. I'm hoping the addition of a second lamp will bring my pics from fairly bad to acceptable.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
763 Posts |
alladinslamp,
My point and shoot camera does not allow me to manually change all of the settings. As SuperDave alluded to, the camera automatically made some changes to the settings based on the lighting. I really don't know enough about photography to get into the specifics.
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Moderator
United States
23522 Posts |
In both cases, nolawyer, your camera went from f/2.8 (old) to f/8 (new), giving you the increased depth of field necessary to bring the whole surface of the coin into focus. That made all the difference in the world, and the inability to manually adjust aperture is a critical need for duplicating your results on every shot.
Without it, the next time you shoot a coin under what you think are identical situations, the camera could arbitrarily choose a wider aperture and shorter exposure, giving an out-of-focus coin and making you scratch your head wondering why it didn't work this time.
Yes, point-and-shoots can be made to take nice coin images. But without manual control, only when they feel like it.
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Replies: 15 / Views: 3,290 |
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Posted 07/16/2011 10:22 am
