How much does your coin photo setup cost?

[Zoins]

I just checked out the prices on OTT-LITES and was somewhat surprised to find out a desk light can go for $80 and replacement bulbs go for $30. Three OTT-LITES would be $240. The same site currently has the desk lights on sale for $49 each which is a bit easier on the wallet. It seems you can also get these at Lowe's for $25.

 

This got me thinking, how much do people spend on photography equipment for coins?

 

Also, if you sell coins, can you take a tax deduction for that equipment? Of course, this probably means reporting your coin gains to the IRS.

[bsshog40]

I just bought a Canon camera for $400 and I have 1 flourescent light that costs me $20.

[EZ_E]

$700 for Canon Powershot Pro1 PC1057 and extended memory card, $100 for two OTT lights and $50 for a tripod.

[James_OldeTowne]

Other than the cost of my camera, I have no additional money invested in a photo setup. I simply use the single overhead lightbulb above my desk. I didn't even buy a tripod! Just point-n-click for me.

[pendragon1998]

I will preface this by saying I have never used OTT lighting. That said, I see absolutely no reason that it is necessary to use uber-expensive "perfect white" bulbs when both a decent camera and a decent image editor are capable of white-balancing a photo.

 

My own inexpensive setup is described here - (inexpensive aside from the camera itself)

[braddick]

Other than the cost of my camera, I have no additional money invested in a photo setup. I simply use the single overhead lightbulb above my desk. I didn't even buy a tripod! Just point-n-click for me.

Amazing when you take into consideration the quality of your photos.

[al_e_gator]

I don't have a coin photo setup. I do have a new Canon XTi DSLR that I bought for other purposes such as nature photography. The 100mm macro lens that I have is great for this purpose and is also very nice for portraits.

I can ALSO take photos of my coins, but I don't consider it as a cost attributed to collecting.

 

If I didn't invest in coins, I would have had the money to get an even nicer camera!

[jgrinz]

9 dollar tripod and my OLD Kodak DC4800 x10 + x7 Macro lens'

2 otts

 

Not much

[Zoins]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I am also impressed with the results James gets with his setup. I also don't mind doing photo program adjustments mentioned by Michael. I think I'm going to avoid the OTTs for now and try some desk lights to see how they look. So far I've avoided posting photos of some of my coins because I wasn't happy with how they turned out. I've also considered just collecting coins and not focusing on photos for now. In any event, hopefully I'll have a better set up soon. I have graduated to using a tripod to hold my camera. Compared to my Tupperware set up, there's less risk of the camera falling on the coin.

 

[WaxonWaxov]

I just checked out the prices on OTT-LITES and was somewhat surprised to find out a desk light can go for $80 and replacement bulbs go for $30. Three OTT-LITES would be $240. The same site currently has the desk lights on sale for $49 each which is a bit easier on the wallet. It seems you can also get these at Lowe's for $25.

 

This got me thinking, how much do people spend on photography equipment for coins?

 

Also, if you sell coins, can you take a tax deduction for that equipment? Of course, this probably means reporting your coin gains to the IRS.

 

there are a lot of "off-brand" lights other than OTT lites. They usually call themselves "true color" lights.

[jgrinz]

True Color I find are bluish and you have to do a White Balance adjustment

[bsshog40]

Most of the photography I think is the camera. I have my canon and one florescent desk lamp. I"m not able to get pics like bruce some others I've seen on here, but this buff is one I took and it gives good enough quality to grade and see descepancies in the coin for sure.

[pendragon1998]

True Color I find are bluish and you have to do a White Balance adjustment

 

Yeah, that's why it's there

 

[MikeKing]

I started using a 'grey card' for the white balance, after reading some comments in some of the threads here, and it's been really helpful.

[nwcs]

My setup is not for coins specifically but I have many thousands in my photo equipment. To be honest, there is nothing special about OTT lights or other full spectrum lighting in and of itself. All that is needed is proper lighting, good glass, and good technique.

 

When I shoot a coin, I use a Nikon D200, Sigma 105 macro, and a stable setup. I set the white balance manually, maneuver 2 lights to achieve good lighting of the coin surface, set to f/8 at ISO 100 for optimal sharpness, and post-process to achieve the proper effect.

[bsshog40]

 

When I shoot a coin, I use a Nikon D200, Sigma 105 macro, and a stable setup. I set the white balance manually, maneuver 2 lights to achieve good lighting of the coin surface, set to f/8 at ISO 100 for optimal sharpness, and post-process to achieve the proper effect.

 

I'm fortunate that my canon has a super macro (0-10cm), I have one desk light and am gonna get one more, I'm hearing that 2 lights are better. My question to you if the ISO @100. I keep mine set to auto. I've only had 35mm cameras and an old digital. This is where I get lost. How does the ISO (speed??) effect cameras that don't have film??

[pendragon1998]

Some digital cameras allow you to set an "ISO" value. Higher values allow the camera to capture exposures at faster rates (like higher ISO films let you take faster exposures at lower light levels). The tradeoff is that at higher digital ISO settings, you get more digital

'noise' in the photo (small randomly colored pixels that look a bit like dust in the image). A setting of ISO 100 or lower ought to be fine for taking images. I wondered if ncws meant he was shooting at f/8 and 1/100 sec shutter speed. The more stopped down the lens (higher the f/# ) and the faster the shutter speed, the sharper the image. I never shoot below 1/80 sec, and I try and always stay upwards of f/8. At high magnification, you can also run into problems with the shutter actually shaking the camera and blurring the image.

[just carl]

HMMMM. I have 3 Canons, 1 Pentex ME, 7 different Ricohs, 1 yashika, a few others of lesser known names, total of 32 lenses, 14 flash units, 2 studio lamps, 2 unbrella reflectors, approximately 100 filters, Mavica FD7, FD85, FD88, Fuji S7000, S9000 and just to much stuff to tabulate. I normally don't take photos of coins and when I did I used one of the Mavicas, outdoors and wondered why I did it.

[bsshog40]

Some digital cameras allow you to set an "ISO" value. Higher values allow the camera to capture exposures at faster rates (like higher ISO films let you take faster exposures at lower light levels). The tradeoff is that at higher digital ISO settings, you get more digital

'noise' in the photo (small randomly colored pixels that look a bit like dust in the image). A setting of ISO 100 or lower ought to be fine for taking images. I wondered if ncws meant he was shooting at f/8 and 1/100 sec shutter speed. The more stopped down the lens (higher the f/# ) and the faster the shutter speed, the sharper the image. I never shoot below 1/80 sec, and I try and always stay upwards of f/8. At high magnification, you can also run into problems with the shutter actually shaking the camera and blurring the image.

 

He did say ISO 100. I'll have to look at what mine comes up when I go to shoot. I know my ISO is set to auto. Also with my canon it has this "imagestabilizer" so it actually locks in on the pic in case you jerk when you shoot. I usually have mine on a 1' tripod and the shoot button is pretty sensitive, so that's not much of a worry.

[al_e_gator]

At high magnification, you can also run into problems with the shutter actually shaking the camera and blurring the image.

 

With DSLRs, like yours, it is the movement of the mirror (not the shutter) that can vibrate the camera. Some cameras have a feature which is useful for long telephoto and macro shooting that allows you to lock the mirror up so that only the shutter activates during the shot. You should set up your shot first, then lock the mirror up prior to snapping the shot. The mirror's sole purpose is for looking through the view finder in an SLR camera.

[bsshog40]

Ok, I put me a desk lamp on each side of this coin. I set my camera to supermacro, set ISO to 80, I have my exposure set to +1, and I also used a white paper background and then added the colored thru Adobe. What more do you think this needs?? Oh yea, I set my color balance to B/W.

[MikeKing]

I've always found these silver bullion coins hard to photograph.

I think you did well with your photo,

but if you could get the luster in there, should be magnificent.

Pendragons sig line has silver with good flash to it.

[nwcs]

> I wondered if ncws meant he was shooting at f/8 and 1/100 sec shutter speed.

 

Nope, I meant f/8 at ISO 100. My shutter speed usually ends up being about 1/3 - 1/6 second.

 

The reason for ISO 100 is that it has the best signal to noise ratio. Super Low ISOs on some cameras are actually interpretive and sub-optimal (all digital cameras have a minimum highest quality point which may not be the lowest point that can be set).

 

The problem with the super-micro stuff that is 10cm or 5 inches or less is that it allows very little working distance from the subject. At 105mm and a 1:3 or so ratio my lens is about 9 inches away from the coin. If I switched to a 200mm macro, I could get the same shot from 18 inches. Working distance for lighting is very important.

 

The reason for f/8 is that each lens has a sweet spot generally between f/8-f/11 for maximum contrast and sharpness. For a coin, higher than f/8 is useless as the depth of field is just overkill (you can't get more data from a flat surface). And for many digital cameras, diffraction starts at about f/13 or so.

[pendragon1998]

Al,

You're absolutely right about the mirror shake instead of shutter shake. I knew that too! I don't know why I said shutter instead of mirror. Brain fart.

 

Mike,

Thanks for the compliment

 

Bobby,

 

Great shot and good work matting it, although you need to be careful not to crop off the bottom edge of the coin (it's easy to do and I still do it). I usually try and crop the rectangular image down to the rims, cropping out the edge if it's visible, prior to doing the elliptical crop.

 

Also, your focus is a little too soft and you might want to adjust your lighting slightly to increase the brightness of the shadows and decrease the brightness of your highlights. Overall, a very nice image, though. Cheers!

[nwcs]

>Ok, I put me a desk lamp on each side of this coin. I set my camera to supermacro, set ISO to 80, I have my exposure set to +1, and I also used a white paper background and then added the colored thru Adobe. What more do you think this needs?? Oh yea, I set my color balance to B/W.

 

 

Honestly, there are several issues. The white balance is off, it's too cool. The exposure is almost there but the hotspots are too high and you lost some highlight detail. The image is fairly soft and needs some sharpening adjustment (typical, though, for most images). There is some edge softness as it goes from the center. I'm guessing that's related to the camera not being parallel to the coin. That can usually be remedied with more depth of field.

 

So how would I deal with it? If you know your lightsource go ahead and set it instead of using white paper (which can throw your exposure off). EV + 1 helped but with your lighting you really need spot metering on the highlights and go EV + 2. This would show your lighting imbalance and show you where to place the new light. Increase your aperture to f/8 or so. Add some unsharp mask (like a 50-4-4 setting) to the image after it has been resized. Make sure it's saved with a sRGB profile. This is often forgotten.

 

I hope you don't think this is too harsh. I don't mean to be. My hope is to help everyone take superb pictures.

[bsshog40]

I think there is one setting I'm doing that is causing the two problems mentioned here:

The lack of Luster & the shadowing.

I have my color balance set to Black&White. If I hadn't, then I'm getting a goldish tone where the shadows are showing now. I'm using 1 florescent light and 1 desk light with a clear bulb. I still need practice to be able to get my luster and the natural silver look.

[bsshog40]

 

Bobby,

 

Great shot and good work matting it, although you need to be careful not to crop off the bottom edge of the coin (it's easy to do and I still do it). I usually try and crop the rectangular image down to the rims, cropping out the edge if it's visible, prior to doing the elliptical crop.

 

 

I'm taking this shot in the airtite. I think I'm missing where the coin edge actually ends. The airtite gives a small reflection, and I didn't quite catch which was coin and which was reflection off the airtite.

[MikeKing]

I would suggest NOT using two different kinds of light, particularly what you're doing, as they might be cancelling each other.

Use two lights, both of the same kind.

 

[bsshog40]

I would suggest NOT using two different kinds of light, particularly what you're doing, as they might be cancelling each other.

Use two lights, both of the same kind.

[SuperDave]

I've got $1100 in the camera and $11 in the lighting setup. Below is a full-resolution crop; the image size is about 2200px. Canon 350D/Canon 100mm Macro, ISO100 (maybe 200, I disremember), 1/200@f14 with 3x50w worth of halogen pointing at it. My skills are nowheres near maximizing the capability of this camera yet.