Seeking Advice On Coin Images - Coin Community Forum

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Author	Replies: 4 / Views: 1,101
ACE Mike Valued Member United States 438 Posts	Posted 08/23/2011 03:48 am Hi everybody, A few weeks ago, there was a thread in the forum where several folks were complaining about the poor quality of images supplied by sellers on ebay. The complaints centered around both image quality and quantity. Several folks who sell on ebay justified this by noting the fairly heavy fees that ebay charges for each image posted, as well as file size limitations which keep a cap on the quality of images provided. So, here is what I am wondering. As many of you already know, I have my own website, and therefore can place as many pictures as I want on it, and I have no limit on the file size. My question to you is what images do you want to see when you are looking at a coin as a possible purchase? Large, small, color, black & white, etc. In particular I am thinking of slabbed coins here. What I currently provide is a 300 dpi scan of the whole slab, front and back. Then I have a close up of the coin only at 1200 dpi on the scanner along with a smaller version of the scan. Then there is also a very large picture taken with my camera, along with a smaller version of the same picture. Any advice you can provide about what else you, as a potential buyer, would like to see would be appreciated! Thanks! ACE Mike Report this Post to the Staff

just carl Bedrock of the Community United States 20753 Posts	Posted 08/23/2011 09:00 am Sounds like your almost over doing it already. As a coin buyer I usually just want to see a clear photo of the front and rear. Ability to click on a photo and have it zoom in really helps at times on some coins. Other than that, not sure how much more can be done with photos. As to ebay photos, I suspect in many instances the poor photos are done so people can not see the real coin clearly. In other instances the photos are from camera phones and/or kids that really don't know how to take a photo of anything. Report this Post to the Staff
biggfredd Rest in Peace United States 9104 Posts	Posted 08/23/2011 10:28 am I vote overkill. Except for minute varieties, a 450*450 should be enough without sending modem users screaming to the exits. Report this Post to the Staff
SsuperDdave Moderator United States 23522 Posts	Posted 08/23/2011 12:09 pm I very much like how you choose to display the coins on your site, Mike. Your scans are excellent, and I quite agree with your choices of when/where to provide additional detail. Combined with your reputation as a dealer, you don't need to do any better for me to continue recommending you here at CCF. As a buyer, here's what would be "perfection" for me: Clear scans of obverse/reverse of approximately 650 pixels in diameter, so I can examine the coin's technical merits without being affected by color, luster or bright spots. Then, the same in a photographic image to allow me to evaluate color/luster, understanding that "good" coin photographs occasionally show less technical detail than necessary for grading. If you really want to make me salivate, do that with 800-pixel images. In other words, exactly what you're already doing. Side note: Your listed 1909 VDB Lincoln in MS65BN 404's when I click to enlarge the image. If it shows no marks at all in ONE CENT (I'm enormously picky about that specific feature), it'll likely leave your building to come to me. Report this Post to the Staff
ACE Mike Valued Member United States 438 Posts	Posted 08/23/2011 4:27 pm Well, looks like I am kind of on track. I have looked into the zoom feature that just carl mentioned. I decided when I was building the site to just go ahead and give the buyer both the small overall picture and the full size zoomed picture without making them click on it. Not sure exactly what my reasoning was at the time. As for the zoom feature that allows you to zoom in on only a certain part of the coin, that is actually just a gimmick. Both the small and large pictures are downloaded into your computer but you only get to look at a small part of the large picture depending on where your mouse is located. I know that large pictures are a bummer if you have a dial up connection. So far though, the compliments on the large pictures have greatly outnumbered the complaints, so I am planning on sticking with them. Especially on the early material, the variety and die state collectors along with the Morgan VAM and EAC copper collectors really like the big pictures for attributing the die variety. Again, thanks for the comments! Note to SuperDave - I will get that 1909 VDB fixed up today! ACE Mike Report this Post to the Staff
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