Having trouble photographing this 1905 Indian Head Cent - Resolved

[pendragon1998]

I'll just make this a quick post, as I'm about to bed down for the night. I've got this cent that's giving me trouble. I'm using 2 halogen lamps opposite each other from fairly low, angled at about 45 degrees to the horizontal. To capture the detail of the coin, I seem to need to use only one lamp so that I get a little shadow from the relief. However, when I do that, it darkens the edge nearest the lamp. When I use both lamps, it washes out the detail. Here's a photo. Any suggestions on what angles/heights I ought to try the lamps at in order to capture all the detail, yet still light the coin evenly? I know I've got focus issues with these, I'm just working out lighting first. Focus isn't quite as hard.

 

[Bruceswar]

use both lamps but back them away from the coin some until the detail is not washed out. I was testing a 3rd OTT light and it was too much light and washed out the coin yesterday. I backed the lights off and nailed the image.

[pendragon1998]

I think I ended up doing a little better with this cent. I played around with the coin in hand to determine which orientation reflected the light such that the most detail was presented. Ended up being with the lamp almost directly above the coin. I finally used two lights: a GE edison 75 indoor halogen floodlight (75 watt, 1050 lumens) and my old Phillips Natural standard lightbulb (60 watt, 680 lumens). Both were angled directly down and 180 degrees from each other about 6" above the table surface.

 

Nikon d70: manual focus mode, nikkor 18-70 mm zoom lens at 70mm, f/16, 1/80 sec, manual white balance.

 

Playing with the coin's rotational angle helped, but this coin was a $%^% to photograph - Small, fine detail, dark, and somewhat deeply recessed design elements, particularly around the rim.

 

I definitely want a macro lens and a more stable lighting setup. Right now, I've got two clamping light fixtures which don't hold very securely, allowing the lamps to slowly move sometimes under their own weight.

 

Here's my result...

[MunkyMan95]

Still a tad out of focus, but much much better!

[pendragon1998]

Yeah, I know - I seem to be running up against a limit in my lens with the focusing issue. The lens wasn't really meant to be used for such close work, I believe. This is probably a lens curvature problem, as if I move the coins to the edges of the field, I get a significantly more blurry photo. I really need a macro for this d70 of mine.

[Regis44]

pendragon,

Is your camera directly above the coin (e.g. on copy stand) or do you have the coins tilted and shooting from angle? I'm trying to picture your setup...with lights directly above at 6" & 180 degrees apart.

 

I use copy stand and am still not entirely settled on my lighting arrangement. I do have Nikon with macro lens and keep my camera about 4" away (to give me space to illuminate) then zoom to fill screen. My shots turn out pretty good but, I seem to have to change lighting distance and angle for different coin types.

 

Regis

[pendragon1998]

My d70 is located on a sturdy metal tripod with one segment of legs missing so that the camera is positioned about 1.5 ft from the table's surface. The coins are placed flat on the table, and a small spirit level is used to ensure that the camera is level relative to the coins, thus both the coin and the camera sensor are parallel. I have two 5" reflectors on clamps that I can position around this setup. I clamp them onto sturdy bases (I actually use a square flower pot full of junk cents) and then position them where I want them.

 

To get the lamps 6" up and 180 degrees apart, I just scoot them under the lens of the camera and photograph the coin in the space between them. This doesn't affect my exposure of the coin, since I'm using manual mode and I'm only concerned with the coin, not the rest of the image field. Here's an example of a full photo before I crop out the coin (reduced in size for posting, of course). The black curved areas are the tops of the lighting reflectors.

 

I'd prefer a camera stand, as the tripod legs are a bit ungainly, a macro lens designed for this task, and I'd like a better system for positioning the lights, but it's what I can afford at the moment.

 

[RGT]

Here's one I just took this morning. I have a Canon Digital Rebel which is similar to your D70. I am also using a 100mm macro lens. The lens is about eight inches above the coin. I used a single hand held lamp with a 60 Watt Reveal bulb held about 15 inches above the coin. I held the light near the camera to get a high angle on the coin, but not reflecting directly off of the coin. I used auto focus, custom white balance in aperture priority mode, f/10.

 

I picked this coin because it looked fairly similar to your coin. I took a few shots holding the light at different positions around the coin and picked out the ones I liked best. I sized them way down to match the size of your pictures.

 

[pendragon1998]

Sounds like a macro is indeed the way to go. The size of the coins in my images is the actual size in my photos. I can't magnify them any more. What would a good model of macro lens be for a Nikon d70. I'm thinking I want something in the 100 mm range.

[RGT]

I can't help you with which Macro lens to buy for a Nikon. I would recoment something around 100mm. I think I remember someone using a 105mm with a Nikon a while back.

 

Here's the full size of my image before I shrunk it down. I didn't want to eat up bandwidth so it's just part of the coin.

 

[TomB]

Buy a Nikkor 60mm macro for your D70, it is the only way to get satisfactory images.

[RGT]

Well, the 60mm macro is not the only was to get good shots. You could also use the 105 mm lens.

 

These are from the place I bought my Canon setup from.

 

Nikkor 60mm macro

 

Nikkor 105mm macro

 

Neither lens is particularly cheap but the 60mm lens is a good bit cheaper. I paid around $400 for my Canon 100mm macro lens. One thing you want to be sure to check before you buy any macro lens is the minimum focus distance. The 60mm lens states that it's around 9" while the 105mm lens is about a foot. I remember Eric Tillery bought a cheaper macro lens when he first got an SLR and he ended up having to put his copy stand on the floor since the minimum focus distance was close to 3 feet.

[TomB]

I agree, a 105mm is fine also.

[RGT]

Just teasing you Tom. I think every one knew what you meant. A good macro lens is required and the Nikkor lenses are good quality.

[pendragon1998]

Looking at the prices just now...

[Bruceswar]

I rarely use my macro lens when I photo coins. I find the stock lens coupled with a few maginfiers does the trick well.

 

This is a peace dollar close up...

 

[TomB]

When you write that you use magnifiers, do you mean that you use diopters or do you actually use some sort of other magnifier?

 

I ask because I had used diopters with my film-loaded SLR and they really shortened the depth of field.

[Bruceswar]

The magnifiers I use are the set of 3... (4, 2, and 1) They screw on right to the end of the lens. They are good for close ups only as they cannot be shot from far away as they blurr out. Diopters is the technical name for them, but many just refer to them as Magnifiers..

[Bruceswar]

This image was shot using the same setup....

 

[ldhair]

I'm shocked at some of the great images people are able to take with equipment bought with a small budget.

 

I feel it's mostly about practice and learning the equipment you have. The higher priced stuff just seem to make it a bit easier.

 

Lighting is the tough part to learn with a short lens.

I started using a Sigma 150 macro. It gives me 12 to 16 inches between the lens and the coin. This made lighting really easy. Lots of room to play with the lights. It still takes lots of practice but probably not as much.

[Bruceswar]

I'm shocked at some of the great images people are able to take with equipment bought with a small budget.

 

I feel it's mostly about practice and learning the equipment you have. The higher priced stuff just seem to make it a bit easier.

 

Lighting is the tough part to learn with a short lens.

I started using a Sigma 150 macro. It gives me 12 to 16 inches between the lens and the coin. This made lighting really easy. Lots of room to play with the lights. It still takes lots of practice but probably not as much.

 

I agree 100% knowing how yo use your setup is key to getting great images. I have a digital rebel wihich helps out some, but whenI first got it my images stunk and now ...

[zrlevin]

Hi Bruce,

 

Do you have a link to these magnifiers?

 

Thanks,

Zach

[Bruceswar]

Zach here you go....

 

Use of them

Diopters for Sale