Nikon Coolpix S8200 Settings

[Roy W]

Hello, all.

I purchased an older Nikon Coolpix S8200, and I have it mounted on a copy stand. Does anyone have any input on the best settings for coin pics? I thought it would be easy to figure out, but apparently it’s more complicated than I assumed. I’ll be taking pics in my greenhouse, so I should have plenty of natural diffused light.

Also, is there any decent photo editing freeware out there? I’d like to use Photoshop, but 21 bucks per month is a bit steep just for a collector.

Thank you!

[Ron C2]

Does your camera have a macro mode? Have you looked for a copy of the manual?

For photo editing, consider Photoshop elements. It's a one time fee.

[Roy W]

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, it has a macro mode. I found a manual online, but it really didn’t cover much about close-ups.

I’ll look into Elements, thanks!

[Ron C2]

For macro shooting, if the camera has a zoom, hold it further away and zoom in. See if that helps.

You may or may not be able to get a close enough shot with a point and shoot camera and fixed lens. 

[Heliodromus]

Having camera steady with copy stand is certainly key, and you can take advantage of that with some of the settings since camera shake/exposure time is not going to be an issue.

I googled this camera, and it seems that for macro mode you also need to put the lens in the wide-angle setting.

Other setting for these types of camera:

- Use smallest aperture (largest F-number) setting for biggest depth of field to get whole coin in focus.
- Use lowest ISO setting (ISO-100?) to reduce noise
- Use self-timer to eliminate camera shake
- Use center auto-focus area setting (and position coin in center of frame)

Depending on how well the camera focuses on coins in macro setting, you may want to give it something easier to focus on. The camera will focus when you half-depress the shutter button, before pressing all the way down to take the picture, so that gives you a chance to focus on something other than the coin... I used to use a small piece of printed paper (smaller than coin) which I'd put on coin, focus on (button half down) then blow away before taking the photo.

Lighting is *the* critical thing for taking good coin photos. Diffused sunlight is certainly a good start as long as it's bright enough (even on cloudy day) and has enough directionality to bring out the 3-D features of the coin. You may want to experiment with additional/alternative lighting.

In-camera white balance settings are in my opinion not worth the effort since you can always fix afterwards in your photo edit software (assuming it supports this feature). If you are correcting white balance after the fact like this, then you need to use a white or grey background which you can use as a reference.

I use GIMP for photo editing, which is a free photoshop alternative. It's very capable, but a bit of a learning curve since it has so many features.

These point-and-shoots do surprisingly well for coins since the small image sensor gives them an advantage for depth of field. However, nowadays smartphone cameras have advanced so much that they are another alternative, especially if this is just for online sharing type use rather than printing huge enlargements. I used to have a "serious" DSLR camera, but nowadays just use my iPhone XR - good enough for my needs.

[Virgil H]

A couple of things I would add. For small object photos, such as coins, you don't have to fill the frame necessarily. These files are of a resolution that you can crop a substantial part of the image and have a great picture remaining. This is especially useful for photos taken for your gallery here since you have to downsize them to meet size limits. So, I can often get to that size limit just by cropping. Filling the frame is tricky and can easily result in out of focus images for me. Just a thought. Good luck.

As for photo editing, I use The GIMP. Totally free and open source and has everything the expensive version of PhotoShop has. It is used by pros and has been around for years. Plus, it works on Linux. Elements is good, but not as good as The Gimp. Also, The Gimp does not require cloud working as it seems Adobe has forced people into that subscription cloud model. I want software that works when I am offline. I have PhotoShop that I paid for in around 2010 and would use it if I could on the current versions of Windows, but they have made that impossible. I need nothing today that the 2010 or earlier PhotoShop didn't already have. I really need to just throw out the disks, but can't bring myself to. The downside with Adobe is not supporting older versions. With The Gimp, you can update when you want and only if you want. Back then, the Adobe products all resided on our computers. But, honestly, GIMP is just as good and I have been using it for many years now. The trick is getting an image worth working with and the camera work is where that comes in. And I still don't have it down pat for coins. I have learned that filling the frame with my cell phone isn't a great method. Part of it is digital zooms produce artifacts, etc. Your Coolpix should give you nice images, that is a nice little camera, I used to have one.

Virgil

[Roy W]

Wow, thank you for the great guides!!! I’ll definitely try to figure out what that all means (I assume it will be self evident in the camera settings).

I downloaded GIMP and trying to figure it all out. It seems there is a lot of YouTube guides to help with that.

My pics have been so terrible for so long that it’s become a personal mission to not suck. I’m irritated at this point 🤣.

[Virgil H]

My pics have been so terrible for so long that it’s become a personal mission to not suck. I’m irritated at this point 🤣.

LOL. I am still  in the same boat and I consider myself a photographer who has sold prints, etc. But this macro stuff is a totally different ballgame. My photos of coins all suck. I thought the cellphone was my salvation, but it hasn't turned out well.

Virgil

[Prieure de Sion]

Welcome to the club! You can give me a 5000€ camera including a real macro lens plus a photo studio - my pictures would still be suboptimal. I am completely talentless when it comes to photography. The best thing would be - you would let someone who can do it show you some tricks live. Instructions on the net usually do not lead to real improvement. Because there is not always THE setting that can be transferred to every location 1:1.

The problem with your Nikkon S8200 Coolpix is that it doesn't have a true macro lens, so it "tricks" the close-up. For example, you can't get closer than 50cm with your camera. Every centimeter more means worse and worse pictures! Macro images - or as it is correctly called on your camera - close-ups - are achieved via the software menu of your camera plus the wide angle mode of the lens. This is theoretically possible from a distance of 1cm - as the entire test of your camera shows - but the quality is poor - without you being able to do anything about it. Only around the 50cm distance it becomes acceptable.

The iPhone 13 / 14 Pro (Max) does not do it differently. Software plus wide-angle lens.

Your camera - sorry to say - is not really suitable for real good macro shots (without macro lens) even for coins and co.

[Heliodromus]

>The problem with your Nikkon S8200 Coolpix is that it doesn't have a true macro lens, so it "tricks" the close-up.
>This is theoretically possible from a distance of 1cm - as the entire test of your camera shows - but the quality is poor - without you being able to do anything about it. Only around the 50cm distance it becomes acceptable.

Not sure what distinction you're trying to make here ... at the end of the day macro photography is about taking photos of small objects, and various types of lens will do the job. The traditional definition of macro photography is being able to achieve 1:1 magnification (size of image on sensor >= size of object), but this is a totally arbitrary definition. What matters at the end of the day is whether you can get an image of your subject large enough and sharp enough for your needs.

If the lens can focus to 1cm then that's what it an do - that's a function of optics, not trickery. Of course that's not a very useful working range (TOO close for lighting), so you wouldn't normally want to get that close anyway.

Reviews of the Coolpix S8200 macro capability seem to have been quite favorable, so I don't see why it can't be used for coins.

>The iPhone 13 / 14 Pro (Max) does not do it differently. Software plus wide-angle lens.

iPhone cameras are better than you might expect for macro... can focus down to 7-8 cm, and sensor resolution is so high that even with a smallish LRB I'm scaling down by a factor of 5-10x to get the 800px images I like to use online. To get the best out of an iPhone for macro you probably want to use a 3rd party camera app such as Halide rather than the default camera app.

> Your camera - sorry to say - is not really suitable for real good macro shots (without macro lens) even for coins and co.

I did a quick search, and don't believe you can use external lenses/filters with the Coolpix S8200, although some of the later Coolpix cameras can. With the level of resolution and zoom that it has I don't think image size is going to be an issue - more a matter of how practical it is to focus, which is why I suggested a "focus proxy" like a piece of print.

[Roy W]

Thank you so much.

Below is some novice pics based on all the input, for your review. Theyre just raw from the camera. I wanted to make sure they were acceptable before bothering to adjust levels.

[Roy W]

Another.

[Roy W]

Sorry to spam, one last example.

[shanxi]

I wanted to make sure they were acceptable before bothering to adjust levels.

You camera settings are OK. With 3 minutes software you can already get nice pictures. See the "enhanced" version of your Gordian picture below.

There are some things to enhance.

- proper lighting, especially for the Licinius a little more indirect lighting.
- a better separation from the background ( You can put e.g. some kind of tube below the coin.)

But these things you will learn by doing.

[Roy W]

Thank you, Shanxi.

I think my biggest problem is I don’t really know what settings/filters look appropriate. I’ll work on the lighting, but when it comes to adjustments I’m not sure I can find the contrast/brightness/etc level that jumps out and screams “yes, that’s the right setting”.

[Heliodromus]

I think my biggest problem is I don’t really know what settings/filters look appropriate.

This is quite easy to do in GIMP.

There are two setting sections that are useful:

1) Colors -> Levels brings up a dialog that let's you configure "levels" which basically means how dark (black?) are the darkest parts of the image, how bright (white?) are the lightest bits, and what is the midpoint. There's a one-click "Auto Input Levels" button you can try as a starting point, else there are three sliders you can use to manually adjust the dark/bright/midpoint settings. That same levels dialog also let's you adust the white balance clicking on the dropper icon with a small white box beside it, then clicking on part of the image that should be white - normally the background if you used a white background when you took the photo.

The "Auto Input Levels" is worth trying, but I normally like to adjust these things seperately:

a) Set the white point
b) Adjust the range dark end slider to make the blacks as dark as looks good (don't overdo it or the image won't look natural)
c) Adjust the bright end slider to make the background as white as possible without affecting the brightest parts of the coin itself
d) Adjust the midpoint to your liking

2) Color -> Hue-Saturation let's you correct any color imbalance in the photo that couldn't be fixed using the white point that you selected in step 1). It depends on your lighting, but more often than not I find that the yellow saturation needs to be reduced to make the coin look the same as in hand.

I did these two steps to your Gordy photos (incl. yellow reduction to make it more silverish) and joined them in GIMP to get the image below. You just need to try it and experiment a bit. Most photos you see online have had some adjustments done to them in Photoshop/GIMP/etc to make them look good. Rarely is the lighting and exposure so perfect that they will look exactly how you want right out of the camera without adjustments.

[Heliodromus]

Here's an adjusted version of the Licinius for comparison to the original. Don't be too deterred with what comes out of the camera, especially when it comes to colors or being a bit too dark.

As Shanxi said, you really need better lighting to improve this one. Different coins need different lighting. A bright light coming in from one side will help highlight the raised parts of the design of the coin, and stop it looking so "flat". Some sort of "gooseneck" lamp is quite convenient since you can experiment with the position to see what looks best - high angle, low angle, etc.

[Callimachus]

If you can find white balance settings, you might want to play around with those a bit.
My Nikon KoolPix P80 has the following white balance settings:
Auto(matic)
Preset manual
Daylight
Incandescent
Fluorescent
Cloudy
Flash

Also try different background colors (gray, black).

[Virgil H]

Just to reinforce what has been said, my main setting in The Gimp is the Levels. You can try Auto, but that often gets things wrong. So, go intoLevels and just play with the settings sliders to get the best result. I always try to get my coin pics to look as much like the actual coin as possible while also bringing out as much detail as possible. Be careful with brightness and contrast, those can get poor results quickly.

Virgil

[Prieure de Sion]

I did a quick search, and don't believe you can use external lenses/filters with the Coolpix S8200, although some of the later Coolpix cameras can. With the level of resolution and zoom that it has I don't think image size is going to be an issue - more a matter of how practical it is to focus, which is why I suggested a "focus proxy" like a piece of print.

You don't need to search there, I never claimed there was anything for the Nikon (to change). My comment was that the Nikon simply doesn't have a true macro lens and is therefore always a compromise with the equipment the camera has. You just have to live with that.
 
 

iPhone cameras are better than you might expect for macro... can focus down to 7-8 cm, and sensor resolution is so high that even with a smallish LRB I'm scaling down by a factor of 5-10x to get the 800px images I like to use online. To get the best out of an iPhone for macro you probably want to use a 3rd party camera app such as Halide rather than the default camera app.

You don't have to explain that to me as the owner of such an iPhone. But my iPhone still doesn't come close to the image quality of my system camera with real macro. But it would also be a bit strange if an iPhone lens had the same quality as an expensive professional camera with a special lens.
 
 

Not sure what distinction you're trying to make here ...

My intention for the TE is that it depends on what quality of images he is happy with. Of course you can take very good pictures with a smartphone and with a digital camera that has a universal lens. And "good" is subjective or meant for what you want to take the pictures for. But at some point the physical limits of a smartphone or a digital camera with a universal lens are reached.

The question is - are these limits enough for me? Then it's good and I'll be happy with it. Or the user wants to have the best possible pictures, in which case it simply won't work with the existing equipment.

If I want to have pictures for my own database or just to upload them to the forum, maybe pictures with this equipment will meet my own requirements - but if I see pictures of professional presentations and want to take similarly good pictures, then this is not possible with this equipment.

The intention is that the TE may be able to take good pictures to a certain extent. But at some point the limits of (photo) physics are reached and it is no longer up to the user that the pictures don't get better, but up to the material (sensor size, amount of light, noise, depth of field etc.).

Long story short. Therefore, my words to the TE were only - that to a certain extent it is also no longer up to him at some point if the pictures are not better. If he is happy with his pictures - great. But if he is still dissatisfied, then maybe at some point we should think about a different piece of equipment. Not any more.

[Prieure de Sion]

Below is some novice pics based on all the input, for your review. Theyre just raw from the camera. I wanted to make sure they were acceptable before bothering to adjust levels.

In order to help your camera and to improve the quality of the pictures significantly - you need much better light than in these pictures. You could improve a lot here with the right light.
 
 
For one example like this:
https://amzn.eu/d/dQJDkLD

The colour temperature can be selected (2500-9000K), a tripod is included. I use a light source like this in the portable sector. But that is only an example.

[Roy W]

I thank you all for your input. Its truly a great community we have here on Forvm.

I will look into the various lighting. I read alot about natural lighting. Im assuming its not as easy as "just go take the picture outside in the sun and youll have perfect lighting", right?

[Prieure de Sion]

I will look into the various lighting. I read alot about natural lighting. Im assuming its not as easy as "just go take the picture outside in the sun and youll have perfect lighting", right?

Natural light is a bitch (sorry ) ... but that is not optimal for photographing objects. Unless you live in Nevada somewhere in the desert where the sun always shines consistently during the day. No seriously...

You have different lighting conditions all the time - that's nature. Sun, clouds, colour of the clouds, reflections and much more. Sometimes you have ideal light, sometimes you have less than ideal light, the lighting conditions are constantly changing. So your pictures of coins would always "look different" because of the changing light. And what do you do when the lighting conditions are not sufficient? Don't take any pictures for a few days?

And in a room it is even more extreme when you are dependent on the external natural light sources alone. In my room there are always different (natural) lighting conditions almost every day.

And the next problem would be - not only do you then have to struggle with your camera and the ideal settings - you now also have to adapt your skills to the lighting conditions.


A small photo lamp doesn't cost a fortune. But then you always have the same conditions in terms of light and lighting. Once you have found a setup / settings that suit you - you can always take pictures with it. Imagine that the natural lighting conditions change often - and you have to react to them every time.