I just don't  think I could ever talk myself into paying someone to image my coins. Through years of trying and doing and redoing I keep slowly getting better... 🤷‍♂️

My hearty congratulations on that 1940 Walker; the MS67+ CAC is  next best thing to an actual MS-68. You really stole a march on me with that one....

You'll pardon me if I don't let you rest easy on the throne...

I'll just have to send my stuff to Mr. Goodman for imaging; the images I have are all from NGC and the CAC stickers on many of my specimens don't show them in the pictures.

On 12/10/2021 at 3:17 PM, Revenant said:

I just don't  think I could ever talk myself into paying someone to image my coins. Through years of trying and doing and redoing I keep slowly getting better... 🤷‍♂️

Its not a cost that everyone would or even should incur, I sort of view it as an investment which will pay for itself when the time to sell comes.   I hope that these high quality photos will help close a sale for (hopefully) top dollar vs photos of lower quality.   And of course I would not pay to have every coin I have imaged as that would indeed be very cost prohibitive.    I also consider the costs of buying/maintaining a high quality camera/lens setup, heck a really nice digital camera and quality macro lens can easily run upwards of 2K.   And then all the other bits, good high intensity lights, copy stand, editing software, etc... it all adds up quickly.   Another reason I do this is my coins live at the SDB rather than at my house due to the value of some of my collection, so having great high quality images allows me to enjoy the coins without having them in my physical possession.

I do have a very low cost setup; less than $600 total for everything; which I am getting better with and continue to practice on some of the low value or new addition coins.  My setup is good and my images are better than they were so perhaps one day I'll be able to get close to his level.

On 12/10/2021 at 7:51 PM, Legionary1 said:

My hearty congratulations on that 1940 Walker; the MS67+ CAC is  next best thing to an actual MS-68. You really stole a march on me with that one....

You'll pardon me if I don't let you rest easy on the throne...

I'll just have to send my stuff to Mr. Goodman for imaging; the images I have are all from NGC and the CAC stickers on many of my specimens don't show them in the pictures.

Thank you sir, that is high praise indeed coming from a collector of your level.     Mark is great and I'm sure your sets would be visually enhanced with images of the great coins in your collection.   And of course I welcome the challenge to stay on top, taking a line from the Alabama football program "iron sharpens iron".   Competition raises the bar and keeps us both at the top of our game.

On 12/11/2021 at 2:37 PM, Coinbuf said:

Its not a cost that everyone would or even should incur, I sort of view it as an investment which will pay for itself when the time to sell comes. 

Makes sense when dealing with coins that expensive though I rarely do. The closest I come to is the 1932 set I helped my step-father build.

I have the kind of set-up you talk about with the VR macro lens, but I didn't buy it for coins and probably wouldn't have if it was just for coin photos. That 105 mm Nikkor VR G macro alone was a Grand when I bought it some 7 years ago. I have no clue what they go for now but I love it.

Side note but I'm seriously thinking about getting one of those USB coin microscopes. They aren't super expensive and seem like they could be good for some stupid fun. Maybe hook it up and look at pocket change with Ben! 🤔🤣

You bring up a very good point William, being able to use one's camera equipment for dual purposes does help to justify the expense.   I suppose if I was more into taking wildlife or nature photographs spending the money on a good high quality modern camera body and lens would be easier.   Which would make it an easy transition to using the camera equipment for coin photos.

But I'm not really into that much, I did do some of that when I was younger and my sister is really into it and has tons of money tied up in equipment.   But somehow I got tired of lugging around a heavy camera and multiple lenses, tripods, and other bits.   Today it is so much simpler to just whip out the cell phone and take photos with that than to deal with a backpack of equipment.   Kudos to those who do and the awesome photos that they are able to get, they are amazing and I applaud their skills.

And I'm sure that you and Ben would have hours of enjoyment using one of those USB microscopes, I have a really cheap one but I have not used it in years.   Maybe one day I'll drag it out of the closet and see if it still works.    Who am I kidding, I need to get the hod rod running first, and then the long list of honey do's that I keep finding a way to put off.