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It's all in the lightbulbs...


Tiffibunny

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Guest Stujoe

Here are quick shots before my battery died again. I like the way the light is easier not to get hot spots on my pics (it seems to be softer) but I still have to try and find a way that makes them come out good. Or maybe my photos will always suck no matter what. :ninja:

 

One thing you will notice is that the background made a bit of a difference. Exact same lighting, positioning, etc. I think the wood background came out closer to what the coin looks like.

 

1.jpg

 

2.jpg

 

3.jpg

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Nice pics. I meant to get a package of those bulbs. Home Depot had them for like $10 for a six pack.

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Guest Stujoe

Thanks Art. But I think mine are not good at all. :ninja: I just can never get them to look like I want to or show any detail or life to the coin. I have seen people with the same camera as mine have consistantly great pics and I occasionally can get a decent one too. But 99% of the time I am just not even close to satisfied with them. As in this case.

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Well the new lens did come in and I had a chance to take a couple of quick, free-hand shots. I used one of those bulbs like Tiff posted. With the new lens I could back away to about 12-14" and take the picture with full zoom. Very cool! This was taken through an ANACS slab, colors are waaaaay off but the detail is correct.

 

DSC01635.jpg

 

DSC01636.jpg

 

Those are a major improvement over my other shots. I'll try some unslabbed coins later.

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Here is the difference between a lightbulb and natural sunlight. I need to find a way to capture sunlight in a lightbulb :ninja:

 

Lightbulb:

junk88007.jpg

 

Sun:

junk88008.jpg

 

Just for fun (my future pocket piece starting today):

junk88011.jpg

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Burks,

 

Nice pocket piece. I should add one to my pocket piece collection. That's a good idea.

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Guest Stujoe
Burks,

 

Nice pocket piece. I should add one to my pocket piece collection. That's a good idea.

 

I used to have a 1999 as a pocket piece but I lost it on a trip last year after 6 years. :ninja: I think it is somewhere in North Dakota.

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I used to have a 1999 as a pocket piece but I lost it on a trip last year after 6 years. :ninja: I think it is somewhere in North Dakota.

 

 

I don't mind when I give a pocket piece away. I just hate to lose something like that.

 

I still don't have a 2006 at all -- so a few items for my next purchase list. Maybe I can get a few nice ones at the ANA show in Atlanta. From what I hear at the coin club the average strikes this year are pretty baggy.

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Here is the difference between a lightbulb and natural sunlight. I need to find a way to capture sunlight in a lightbulb  :ninja:

 

 

That yellow tinge definitely looks like Incandescent light bulb usage. Is there a white balance button or feature on your camera?

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Or maybe my photos will always suck no matter what. :ninja:

 

One thing you will notice is that the background made a bit of a difference. Exact same lighting, positioning, etc. I think the wood background came out closer to what the coin looks like.

 

 

I think the only issue you may be having is with the focus. If you can raise your coin above the background an inch or two it should help the camera understand to focus on the coin's surface and not the ground.

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Guest Stujoe

Ahhhh! That is an interesting obvservation! Thanks. I will try using a cap off of a plastic coin roll or something similar to raise it up and see what hapoens. Thanks!

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Whenm I put all these kinds of tips together, I may yet end up happy with mypics. :ninja:

 

You and me both, there's a lot of knowledge out there in pieces. I've got to start writing up some of these things. The raising above a background definitely helped me. I have a white platsic piece I use for silver and then three sizes of wooden stands I made. For copper I still have problems with color and light intensity. The best I've figured is raising the coin over a black background and then adding a white piece of paper to help with the gamma correction.

 

The good thing is that as one learns there are immediate rewards :lol:

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Guest Stujoe

No kidding! I can see changes immediately.

 

Here is my progression today:

 

1.jpg

 

2.jpg

 

3.jpg

 

4.jpg

 

Larger Version:

http://www.stujoe.com/1/4l.jpg

 

5.jpg

Larger Version:

http://www.stujoe.com/1/5l.jpg

 

6.jpg

Larger Version:

http://www.stujoe.com/1/6l.jpg

 

The last two are much better to my eyes and they show some actual 'life' to the coin. They may not be perfect but I could live with pics like that just fine. :lol: The last one one is about as true to color as I could hope for. It is a golden toned coin with satiny luster.

 

For my own remembrance...the last one has Tiff type lights (2 of them opposing each other for my setup), jlueke's floating coin idea, camera in automatic, my mini tripod, and using the timer feature to take the picture.

 

I promise that is the last pic I will show of that coin. :ninja:

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Burks,

 

Nice pocket piece. I should add one to my pocket piece collection. That's a good idea.

 

I noticed a topic on CU about someone having an '04 as a pocket piece. Just wanted to see how it wears over time. Plus the price tag at $11.50 was great :ninja:

 

I'm still learning the camera and I'm sure there is a white balance on there. Just have to find it, dumb thing has too many buttons. Stu, I'll try it against a black/white backgrounds and see if that makes a difference.

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After some playing with lighting and white balance:

 

junk88015.jpg

 

junk88012.jpg

 

I was finally able to capture the true color of this coin. Been waiting a long time to show everyone this.

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Very nice! Both the coin and the pics!

 

Thanks. I'm taking the camera back with me for the whole week so there will be lots of pics to come. Those are still being taken free-hand until I get something set up to hold the camera steady at 12-14".

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Guest 50cents
Thanks. I'm taking the camera back with me for the whole week so there will be lots of pics to come. Those are still being taken free-hand until I get something set up to hold the camera steady at 12-14".

 

 

Burks before I had a copy stand I took a 2X6 cut 12'' and drilled a hole in at the edge at 6" and put a 2x2 24" long in the hole with holes in the 2x2 going all the way up. The camera should take a 1/4 bolt. WL009.jpg

 

here is one I took with my home made copystand.

45d.jpg

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Well the new lens did come in and I had a chance to take a couple of quick, free-hand shots. I used one of those bulbs like Tiff posted. With the new lens I could back away to about 12-14" and take the picture with full zoom. Very cool! This was taken through an ANACS slab, colors are waaaaay off but the detail is correct.

 

DSC01635.jpg

 

DSC01636.jpg

 

Those are a major improvement over my other shots. I'll try some unslabbed coins later.

 

 

That is definitely yellow light not white. You sure you got the right bulbs?

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That is definitely yellow light not white.  You sure you got the right bulbs?

 

Pretty sure. Can't find the package right now.....somewhere around the house. They are only 20W though. Might have picked up the wrong one on accident.

 

There is still a big difference between the current bulb and a normal one. Normal bulb I didn't even take a picture with, looked nasty even using the WB.

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I was just curious because I think it would be near impossible for them to give off yellow unless you had 2 lights and one was normal. The ones I bought are so strikingly white I'm not used to them even still using them around the house at night.

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Guest Stujoe

I think this combo of tricks might work out pretty well for me...

 

9.jpg

 

That is probably the sharpest focused small pic I have ever created.

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