I've been doing digital pics for about 4 years now. You can't imagine the struggle for me. Talk about teaching the pig to sing...it just annoys the pig. Well a new cam and new lens, I'd like to share some. Hope you can enjoy and feel free to comment. Thanks in advance, Mike

Nice pictures Mike! you've captured the '58 well!


Clive.

Very nice pictures Mike!

On the 17 Ab. looks like he's growing a long hair out of his nostril.

Yeah, ANACS slabbed ole Abe with a nosehair. Check the date for machine doubling too. Thanks for the nice comments, Mike

Abarham nose hairs? I still never cease to be amazed at this forum.

Great pics, Drew! I like how you played around with lighting.

Excellent photos. What kind of camera and lens did you use?

Great photos, and yes, please tell us which camera, lens, etc.

Mornin' all. I use a Kaiser copystand (eBay), 2X12W OTT lights (Joann Fabrics), Nikon D200 (traded a 1895 double eagle), Sigma 90mm dedicated Macro lens (eBay). It didn't come together all at once, it took a while. I'm very pleased with the set-up, but there's alot of less expensive cams that can do as well. Mike

Very clear pictures, I'm impressed. Are you doing any post production tweaking?

Tom-I have Photoshop Starter Edition. My CPU can't take much more. Usually, nothing. Sometimes color adjust to brighten things.

I have the same exact Kaiser copy stand and find it makes a real difference.
(I use a Canon 20D SLR with a 100mm Canon macro lens and a diffused Speedlite.)

That photo of the SL Quarter is a beauty!

PS - I use Photoshop Elements (aka Starter Edition) too, it came free with my Canon.
It works great and is more than most people will ever need.

If you are referring to Photoshop Elements 4 or before, try this tweak: under filters select sharpen then select "unsharp mask" Select parameters-- amount= 50%, radius= 1 pixel, threshold= 0

Elements 5 or later, unsharp mask is found under the "enhance" section.

The effect is subtle but noteworthy. What it deals with is a defect in the way all digital cameras deal with boundary conditions, they tend to blur boundaries as opposed to the crisp discontinuities found in reality and in film images. When the effect is applied it is like a previously unnoticed subtle haze filter has been removed from the image. The effect is such that you have to flick back and forth between undo and redo several times to really comprehend what has happened.

I got a Canon 30D with zoom to 90 mm smallfilm and a special 5 diopters screw on lense ( for close up work but I did not discover the benefits yet ) The camera on an aluminium 40 year old tripod solid as a rock
I got calibrated full spectrum lights at 6000 K factor 95 ( they are spiral saving lights 18 watts supposedly giving 100 watts equivalents)
What I do not understand is what is an OTT light ? since I am using the equivalent of 3x100 watts and only getting diafragma 16 at 1/80 seconds
I seem to need more light because my lights have no reflectors ( and produce no glare on the coin )
My canon 30D is computer coupled by USB cable so I can set it and shoot from the laptop and make corrections and reshoot by pressing the camera icon with the mousepointer . I use 400 ASA at 6000 K Large Jpeg but have the option for RAW which I haven't even tried

Also I got the full phoshop and like to cut coins out of plastic holders . I spent a week studying the manual and just discovered I can burn out any glare spots should I have them . Dustparticles is a click from the healing brush and they are gone. Putting any background color on is nice.
But I use mainly brighness and contrast . And for a quicky when I use my scanner I use desaturate to black and white to get rid of any rainbow colors on silver capsules.

My main problem seems I am using non directional light with no reflector behind the lightsource ( color is superb though )

AMAZING PICS

ooooh. you know what would be cool. If someone started a "show off your pics" thread. Anyone can post their super awesome pics. OR maybe we could have a Extreme Coin Makeover contest - take a common coin and set the lighting and take the picture in such a way so it looks like a metal marilyn monroe. Man, I wish my camera worked/was good.

Great pics guys, keep them coming!

I think that's a fine suggestion. We can use this thread. (no need to start a new one) Post a pic with any info or question and see what developes.
Here: PCGS MS66, Pentax ist DS, 100mm Pentax Macro, tripod, 2x13W OTT lights, Photoshop (PS) color adjust.

How about this 4 ducat? Or below that, a 1000 Schilling Austrian coin commerating the 1996 Olympics---

I use a Sony A700 with a Minolta 100mm f2.8 prime Macro lens. I usually shoot very large (numerical) f stops to get depth of field and restrict ISO to 100.

You know, there's nothing that beats 1st rate photography of 1st rate coins ... you guys certainly have 'em both!

Tom, great pics. How about a pic of the reverse of that ducat? Mike

happy to---------------

Tom, ya gotta love that eagle. Here's a Russian coronation medal, it's got the bird too.

Interesting how similar the eagle motifs are, almost down to the last detail ... seems that it is probably the most international of all national symbols/birds. Does anyone know when the double-headed eagle caught on? (one head = worldly power, the other = religion or ordainment of the ruling power by the church).

Nice photos...and nice choice of camera too (lowly Nikon D50 user here )