scope and camera recommendations 0

[Jeremy468]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a decent,  yet reasonably priced scope and/or camera setup for both viewing coins and photographing them? 

[Jason Abshier]

I heard some folks on here mention a USB microscope not sure what brand folks are using but it blows coin up big so you can see all details and so on probably can take pictures with I don’t know never used one yet I’m old school only use loupe to look at coins .
 

As for picture taking I think a good micro lens camera is a must for coins like Nikon camera 

[Woods020]

The $30-$60 usb scopes are commonly used by a lot of new collectors, and will suffice, but far from great. The biggest issue is they usually have a built in light that can’t be controlled. It’s generally too harsh and nothing you can do really. But it will get you started if that’s the budget. Something along these lines:

https://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Microscope-Flexible-Observation-Magnification/dp/B00XNYXQHE/ref=mp_s_a_1_11?dchild=1&keywords=coin+microscope&qid=1625695216&sr=8-11
 

or 

https://www.amazon.com/Microscope-Dcorn-Magnification-Observation-Compatible/dp/B08NCMTN4D/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=usb+coin+microscope&qid=1625695341&sprefix=usb+coin+&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExNVRNR0Q4V0ZKNlFKJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNzAyMzUzMURVNzVTR1FCSjNUVCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMzIyODkxMlRGSFBKODRXVTlZViZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX3Bob25lX3NlYXJjaF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

If you are serious and have the budget a stereo microscope with a trinocular camera is probably best. I have this one and I’m very pleased. I had to swap Barlow lens to get the right working distance but it’s pretty nice once it’s calibrated. You don’t need super high magnification. You will be working between 3x-30x 99% of the time if not 100%. There are less expensive stereo scopes and cameras in the $400-$500 range that are nice also. 
 

https://www.amscope.com/stereo-microscopes/3-5x-90x-stereo-zoom-microscope-w-dual-halogen-lights-10mp-camera.html

 

[Coinbuf]

For about $500 you can get a full camera setup designed for taking coin photos, a very good system and after some practice you should be able to turn out some excellent photos.

Talk to Ray

[Woods020]

I probably should have asked initially if you want a scope or camera. You probably aren’t going to be satisfied with one or the other only as they are different tools for different purposes. I wouldn’t view details with a camera and I wouldn’t expect high quality pictures from a scope. 

[James Zyskowski]

One thing that keeps me away from the $18-30 scopes is no interface with iPhone. I use the iPhone to post and it takes good pictures but you can’t line out even blue tooth. As for the lights. Black them out with dabs of paint or tape or perhaps something you’ll discover laying around. This is a little different but interface with iPhone seems to be a maybe. I have finally just started practicing with my iPhone 7. I received the clip on as a gift but not all it claims 

[VKurtB]

Easy coin photography ain't good, and good coin photography ain't easy.

[Lem E]

3 hours ago, James Zyskowski said:

One thing that keeps me away from the $18-30 scopes is no interface with iPhone. I use the iPhone to post and it takes good pictures but you can’t line out even blue tooth. As for the lights. Black them out with dabs of paint or tape or perhaps something you’ll discover laying around. This is a little different but interface with iPhone seems to be a maybe. I have finally just started practicing with my iPhone 7. I received the clip on as a gift but not all it claims 

Those clip on your phone deals are not made for coin photography. I tried one and you have to be 1/2” from the coin and can’t get any light on the coin. Not to mention you can’t shoot anything bigger than a dime or the rims are out of focus. Quality camera, quality lens, good lighting and most important, the skills to use all of it. There is no substitute.

Edited July 8, 2021 by Lem E

[Jason Abshier]

14 hours ago, Coinbuf said:

For about $500 you can get a full camera setup designed for taking coin photos, a very good system and after some practice you should be able to turn out some excellent photos.

Talk to Ray

That looks like a cool system , I can actually make one of them out scrap metal I have laying around or use an old drill press column make a platform at bottom heck even a wood dowel column would work with that. Pretty neat idea never thought of it thanks for sharing 

Mount camera on column of drill press stationary and used drill press table to raise and lower the table from the camera same concept add lighting as well ,if you can’t afford to spend $500 on a system 

Edited July 8, 2021 by Jason Abshier

[Coinbuf]

2 hours ago, Jason Abshier said:

That looks like a cool system , I can actually make one of them out scrap metal I have laying around or use an old drill press column make a platform at bottom heck even a wood dowel column would work with that. Pretty neat idea never thought of it thanks for sharing 

Mount camera on column of drill press stationary and used drill press table to raise and lower the table from the camera same concept add lighting as well ,if you can’t afford to spend $500 on a system 

For sure and Ray is flexible and can customize as needed.  In my case I had a copy stand already so I was able to shave off some and only bought the camera/lens pieces.  I have not had a great amount of time to work on individual coin photos yet, but it has helped my results.   Lighting is by far the most important aspect to good photos, you can have the best camera and lens money can buy but if the lighting is junk the photos will not be good.

[Jason Abshier]

25 minutes ago, Coinbuf said:

Lighting is by far the most important aspect to good photos,

What type of lighting do you use ? 
 

incandescent , Fluorescent, halogen or LED ? they all throw a different shade and brightness . I know light shines off Silver differently than Copper , or Gold 

Edited July 8, 2021 by Jason Abshier

[Coinbuf]

1 hour ago, Jason Abshier said:

What type of lighting do you use ? 
 

incandescent , Fluorescent, halogen or LED ? they all throw a different shade and brightness . I know light shines off Silver differently than Copper , or Gold 

Actually all of those can produce good results with the proper setup and white balance settings.  I personally prefer the small LED lights, I have some that are very similar to the ones that are on that system of Ray's that I linked.  Purchased them from IKEA several years ago and, no longer available now unfortunately, but those lights in Ray's system are the replacement for what I bought that IKEA carries now (at least they did have them last time I checked).  Here is an excellent article on lighting, it was done quite a few years ago but most of the info and the tips on how to use different types of lighting is still very accurate and relevant.

Mark Goodman

[Jason Abshier]

@Coinbuf , that’s a good read about lighting and coin photography . I saved that link rarely does anyone explain deeply about lighting and how camera adjust to the lighting 

Edited July 8, 2021 by Jason Abshier
I ain’t a spelling bee champion

[PA Coin Collector]

Might as well make this my first post.

 

My first love was/is photography, so I am very picky about this topic. Unless you’re going to dump a whole ton of money into your camera setup, you’re going to make sacrifices one way or the other. As far as the photography side, since I’m pretty useless RE scopes, to me it’s all about white balance and lens. A decent macro setup and a very rudimentary understanding of LR will get you good coin photos with practice. The main thing is calibrating the color on whatever screen you’re using. That way you know what you’re seeing, on your screen, is accurate. Does that mean that if someone else is viewing it with a warmer or cooler temperature setting will see it exactly the same way? No. But at least you’ll know that a properly calibrated screen will be projecting it the way you intended.

I’m a mildly unusual case since, as I said, I’m primarily a photographer. I’m using a 61mp camera with a 90mm dedicated macro, tripod, and all the bells and whistles. But I can get outrageously accurate and detailed photos, even when exported as the (massively) smaller JPEGs for general sharing. To put it in perspective, my basic RAW file for one side of a coin is 120~MB. Once exported it’s closer to 7MB. Still a frankly huge file in JPEG world, but nothing compared to what I see on my screen in native format. In RAW I can get just about as close, or closer, in on a coin surface as I could see with a 20x loupe, so at least a factor of 4 higher than the standard.

But, like I said, it’s all about the white balance (aka color balance). I can make a coin shine like the sun or I can make it dull as dirt. The goal, if one is being an honest and upstanding member of the community, is of course to make it look as close as humanly possible to the coin as it sits in your vision in person. Which sounds a lot more complicated than it is. Just adjust the balance in any basic editing program to have the screen reflect what your eye sees in person. Boom. 95% of the way to high quality and reputable coin photography. Otherwise it’s just increasing the detail through pixel density and lens quality.

I prefer ambient light as a base and just make the shutter as long as it takes to properly expose a coin side. Sometimes it’s 15-20 seconds. But I find that the color is most accurate that way without having to correct for artificial lighting.

In any case, this was way longer and more detailed than I intended and probably way off what OP’s original question was. But I fully believe high quality coin photography is a massive boon to everyone involved. A scan is nice, but a properly balanced incredibly high quality photo does everyone a load of good, especially when we know how it was graded. Every scratch, dent, discoloration, scuff, or whatever needs to be documented so we know precisely what we’re dealing with.

[Jeremy468]

Thank you all for the suggestions and insights. The primary purpose is for working towards being able to create good pictures that accurately represent the coins, or at least close to it. So the scope setup is probably more than I need for my purposes right now. I agree that the lighting is a significant issue in balancing proper color including brilliance and reflectiveness yet without glare, and seems to differ based on coin composition, while still capturing

35 minutes ago, PA Coin Collector said:

Every scratch, dent, discoloration, scuff, or whatever needs to be documented

It seems for now one of the USB scopes will end up being what I get, though from briefly looking probably one more in the 100-150 price range. I saw several that have the flexible LED lights similar to those on Ray's but of course smaller, and those would seem to be helpful.

A related question, because I have seen both opinions, is whether the pictures are best taken against a white or black background. Or maybe whichever is the contrasting color?

[Woods020]

15 minutes ago, Jeremy468 said:

Thank you all for the suggestions and insights. The primary purpose is for working towards being able to create good pictures that accurately represent the coins, or at least close to it. So the scope setup is probably more than I need for my purposes right now. I agree that the lighting is a significant issue in balancing proper color including brilliance and reflectiveness yet without glare, and seems to differ based on coin composition, while still capturing

It seems for now one of the USB scopes will end up being what I get, though from briefly looking probably one more in the 100-150 price range. I saw several that have the flexible LED lights similar to those on Ray's but of course smaller, and those would seem to be helpful.

A related question, because I have seen both opinions, is whether the pictures are best taken against a white or black background. Or maybe whichever is the contrasting color?

You will probably get a lot of opinions. The important thing is to calibrate the white balance with the situation. Aside from that I recently read a survey on another forum where the preferences were:

58% Black
25% White 
8% Grey
9% others 

Several people had amazing pictures with red, royal blue, etc so it’s possible with anything I suppose if you have the skills. I’ve been attempting to buy a camera set up for 6 months now and I’m firmly stuck in analysis paralysis. I’ve read entirely too many opinions and try to over think it. I’ve had setups in carts a few times and pause before I hit order and change my mind when I read the next article. Don’t do like me and overthink it. Just talk to the guy coinbuf recommended and use a setup that is proven and simple. 
 

 

[PA Coin Collector]

I actually don’t believe in a proper contrasting color. When done correctly, it’s immaterial. The true color of the coin will be what comes through.

That being said, I will say that I prefer a black background overall, as much as it might be seen. I think aesthetically it offsets *most* coins to their most accurate. Plus it has a significantly reduced chance of reflected glare. Obviously it depends if you are shooting with raw coins, cardboard 2x2s (predominantly white surrounding), or slabs. The point is, always, to make things as accurate and detailed as possible.

[Jeremy468]

On 7/7/2021 at 6:55 PM, Coinbuf said:

For about $500 you can get a full camera setup designed for taking coin photos, a very good system and after some practice you should be able to turn out some excellent photos.

Talk to Ray

Thanks! It seems this is the better way to go and I have reached out.

[VKurtB]

I really really hate USB scopes. I can’t imagine using one. Who wants their images in a monitor?

[Coinbuf]

On 7/15/2021 at 4:12 PM, Jeremy468 said:

Thanks! It seems this is the better way to go and I have reached out.

Good luck, here is a recent photo using the camera/lens I bought from Ray, not perfect and I did do some photo editing but the end result is very close to the coin as it appears in hand.

 

[VKurtB]

On 7/15/2021 at 7:01 PM, Coinbuf said:

Good luck, here is a recent photo using the camera/lens I bought from Ray, not perfect and I did do some photo editing but the end result is very close to the coin as it appears in hand.

 

Sweet pic. I should be so good at it. (But I’m not.)

[Coinbuf]

On 7/15/2021 at 7:01 PM, VKurtB said:

Sweet pic. I should be so good at it. (But I’m not.)

Thank you sir photography is a work in progress for me I doubt that I will ever master it but I will enjoy the journey no matter. 

[James Zyskowski]

Here are some different pictures of the same coin. Which one is the real one. They all are and look different ,same coin different look.   In hand the color changes are amazing.  I take ok pictures with iPhone 7   

[James Zyskowski]

My associate picked this up today.  We’ll let you know how it works 

Edited July 19, 2021 by James Zyskowski

[Jeremy468]

On 7/15/2021 at 8:01 PM, Coinbuf said:

Good luck, here is a recent photo using the camera/lens I bought from Ray, not perfect and I did do some photo editing but the end result is very close to the coin as it appears in hand.

 

 

On 7/15/2021 at 8:01 PM, Coinbuf said:

Good luck, here is a recent photo using the camera/lens I bought from Ray,

Great! I have several full steps so getting adequate detail is important too. Look good! Thanks again!