Lighting and coin photos

OK, I am trying now to take pictures of coins.

What is the best lighting here. I am having trouble
with the lighting.

On Wed, 30 Nov 2005 17:18:17 GMT, tom wrote:
OK, I am trying now to take pictures of coins.

What is the best lighting here. I am having trouble
with the lighting.

Check out Ira's auctions, he's got it right. ira4 I think is his eBay
ID.

On 30 Nov 2005 17:25:36 GMT, Dave Hinz wrote:

On Wed, 30 Nov 2005 17:18:17 GMT, tom wrote:
OK, I am trying now to take pictures of coins.

What is the best lighting here. I am having trouble
with the lighting.

Check out Ira's auctions, he's got it right. ira4 I think is his eBay
ID.

I believe that "iras4" is the correct eBay name (...Ira??)

--
Bob Hairgrove

On Wed, 30 Nov 2005 17:18:17 GMT, "tom"
wrote:

OK, I am trying now to take pictures of coins.

What is the best lighting here. I am having trouble
with the lighting.


Are you having trouble getting the exposure, color, or angle of
lighting right?

I find that natural sunlight gives me the least hassle.

--
Bob Hairgrove

The best lighting is what shows the coin best.

Okay I know. No help there. The best way is to have the light from an
angle 45 degrees from camera and 60 degrees above the coin. Then any
light should work. If you don't like it then shift the lights a bit.

Draco


Getting even isn't good enough.

On 30 Nov 2005 12:15:53 -0800, Draco wrote:
The best lighting is what shows the coin best.

Okay I know. No help there. The best way is to have the light from an
angle 45 degrees from camera and 60 degrees above the coin. Then any
light should work. If you don't like it then shift the lights a bit.

You probably want a diffuse light. Sunlight if you're in the part of
the world where you actually see it at a useful time, or a normal light
with a diffuser of some sort in front of it. I still haven't mastered
it either, so I just lay 'em on the flatbed scanner and get what I get.
The results aren't horrible.

On 30 Nov 2005 17:25:36 GMT, Dave Hinz wrote:

On Wed, 30 Nov 2005 17:18:17 GMT, tom wrote:
OK, I am trying now to take pictures of coins.

What is the best lighting here. I am having trouble
with the lighting.

Check out Ira's auctions, he's got it right. ira4 I think is his eBay
ID.

As Bob pointed out Ira's eBay ID is IraS4.

While Ira's images are excellent it must be pointed out that he has a
huge advantage in using a digital SLR with inter-changeable lenses. I
believe he uses a macro lens that gives him far greater lens to
subject distance than you will get with the more common all-in-one
digital cameras that use the wide angle mode for macro.

He doesn't have to worry about the camera being so close to the coin
that the camera body itself blocks the light falling on the subject.

On a related note: the UPS guy just delivered the Nikon 8008s
autofocus film camera I recently won on eBay. As described by the
seller, the camera is is excellent condition and may be my "buy of the
year" at $76 plus $9.95 for shipping.

I can't wait to drop in the four AA batteries and a roll of film for
some test shots. Of course, for the time being, that will have to be
done with my current collection of manual focus lenses....but I'm
already shopping for a couple of autofocus zooms on eBay ;-)

"tom" wrote in message
. ..
OK, I am trying now to take pictures of coins.

What is the best lighting here. I am having trouble
with the lighting.


Natural daylight is best and cheapest, preferably coming in a bay window,
with newspaper as a reflector. Billy

Dave Hinz wrote:

On 30 Nov 2005 12:15:53 -0800, Draco wrote:
The best lighting is what shows the coin best.

Okay I know. No help there. The best way is to have the light from an
angle 45 degrees from camera and 60 degrees above the coin. Then any
light should work. If you don't like it then shift the lights a bit.

You probably want a diffuse light. Sunlight if you're in the part of
the world where you actually see it at a useful time, or a normal light
with a diffuser of some sort in front of it. I still haven't mastered
it either, so I just lay 'em on the flatbed scanner and get what I get.
The results aren't horrible.

Diffuse light is fine for circulated coins but it will not show much of
the luster on uncirculated coins.

JAM

tom wrote:
OK, I am trying now to take pictures of coins.

What is the best lighting here. I am having trouble
with the lighting.

What I do, since I don't have a good source of natural or diffuse light
is get two lamps and try to get them to shine equal strength on
opposite sides. Then I rotate the coin four times on each side. Of
those eight pics I choose the best two. Sometimes top or side lighting
works better as well, bottom lighting is the one position that seems to
look wrong almost every time.