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Author Topic: Photographing the edges of coins  (Read 4431 times)

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Offline moonmoth

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Photographing the edges of coins
« on: June 07, 2007, 03:49:00 pm »
Greetings, photographers!

I have added a page on photographing coin edges to my site (which is hosted here on Forum.)  I hope it will be useful.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/photo_coins02a.html

Bill
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Offline slokind

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Re: Photographing the edges of coins
« Reply #1 on: June 07, 2007, 05:29:47 pm »
That is great!  I have several of those camera card holders, the ones that came with a free 8 or 16 MB card with a cheap camera.  Pat L.

Offline moonmoth

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Re: Photographing the edges of coins
« Reply #2 on: June 07, 2007, 05:50:42 pm »
Thanks!  Yes, those are exactly the ones, and most photographers are likely to have one.  They should work well with your frosted glass.  But you need to apply a lot of pressure with a sharp knife to make the slot, so anyone trying it should be careful.

There are also plenty of other shallow blister packs or similar items that could work well. 

Bill
"... A form of twisted symbolical bedsock ... the true purpose of which, as they realised at first glance, would never (alas) be revealed to mankind."

Offline bruce61813

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Re: Photographing the edges of coins
« Reply #3 on: June 11, 2007, 03:05:27 pm »
You could consider a small amount of modeling clay. A piece about the size of a bean would work, and the new polymer clays are not greasy, it would also be far enough away to be out of focus.

Bruce

too many coins - too little time!!

Offline moonmoth

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Re: Photographing the edges of coins
« Reply #4 on: June 11, 2007, 04:05:53 pm »
The value of the plastic slotted stand described on my web page is that it transmits light like the main coin stand.   I think I'll make a bigger slot for the bigger coins.  That will be better than trying to prop them up, even though I just invented an ingenious prop. 

The Ingenious Prop:

Take one small piece of sheet steel (a UK penny will do, that being steel with a thin coating of copper) and two small neodymium magnets,  easily and cheaply available on line.  These magnets are very strong.  (Don't bother trying this with fridge magnets. They are too big and too weak.)

The penny goes under the lid of my sandwich box stage.  It's held in place by the two magnets on top of the lid, and conversely their attraction to the penny holds them in place.  They are attracted towards each other, so the coin to be photographed, on edge, goes between the magnets.

This is mechanically fine, completely adjustable, and the smooth magnets with their rounded corners are not likely to scratch coins. But as a background, they are too obtrusive.  Also, they do have the drawback that if you let the magnets attach to each other you'll have a problem separating them again.  See below a side shot of the apparatus, and a photo taken using it.  This coin is my pseudo-Thasos tetradrachm, crystallised and with a chip out of one edge.

A bigger slot will be better ...
"... A form of twisted symbolical bedsock ... the true purpose of which, as they realised at first glance, would never (alas) be revealed to mankind."

Offline slokind

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Re: Photographing the edges of coins
« Reply #5 on: June 11, 2007, 08:42:00 pm »
Excellent, and, may I add, worth doing for its own sake.  Fun.  Pat L.

Offline moonmoth

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Re: Photographing the edges of coins
« Reply #6 on: June 12, 2007, 03:21:51 am »
Thanks, Pat

The apparatus as shown shown demonstrates the principle.  If I were using this seriously, I would find some steel without the copper coat; the copper adds an unwanted tone to the picture.  Maybe a steel washer would be simplest.  Not stainless; that would be too shiny.  I would also put at least one layer of tape round the sides of the magnets to eliminate all possibility of scratching.  It is fun! 

I also use the magnets to test my coins. 
"... A form of twisted symbolical bedsock ... the true purpose of which, as they realised at first glance, would never (alas) be revealed to mankind."

Offline mestreaudi

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Re: Photographing the edges of coins
« Reply #7 on: July 19, 2007, 01:25:59 pm »
Great topic!!!  :)
Thanks!

Offline frederic W

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Re: Photographing the edges of coins
« Reply #8 on: September 04, 2007, 05:48:29 am »
For doing the same, I use that way that I explain here :
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=39838.msg251742


IMPORTANT : you must use the most closed apperture (the biggest number) so use f22 or f32 if you can.

Result :


Offline moonmoth

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Re: Photographing the edges of coins
« Reply #9 on: September 04, 2007, 02:21:39 pm »
Those are some very impressive photos.  You might need to be careful about using smaller apertures, though.  You might come up against diffraction effects, as with my own camera - my test shots are here:

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/photo_coins04.html

Bill
"... A form of twisted symbolical bedsock ... the true purpose of which, as they realised at first glance, would never (alas) be revealed to mankind."

Offline frederic W

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Re: Photographing the edges of coins
« Reply #10 on: September 04, 2007, 02:30:13 pm »
Those are some very impressive photos.  You might need to be careful about using smaller apertures, though.  You might come up against diffraction effects, as with my own camera - my test shots are here:

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/moonmoth/photo_coins04.html

Bill

Yes but it's not the same lens at all, mine is professionnal macro lens. But you're right, I never use APN so I haven't think about this.

Offline frederic W

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Re: Photographing the edges of coins
« Reply #11 on: September 04, 2007, 02:37:08 pm »
Your test picture us very intersting, but I think the coin and apn wasn't exactlly parallels :
on f2.8 left side is very neat and right is blured.

EDIT : Sorry I had not read that you writte this on your website  :-[ ;D


Offline bruce61813

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Re: Photographing the edges of coins
« Reply #12 on: September 04, 2007, 03:53:19 pm »
The f16-22 is generally the correct range for most lenses maximum sharpness. You would have to have a the actual test data sheet for a specific lens to be sure. There is rarely 'diffraction' effects at those apertures.  Depth of field or focus is generally 1/3 in front of the critical area, and 2/3's beyond, so if your critical  focus was at 6 mm, than all should be in focus from 4mm to 10 mm.
The shots below really do illustrate this. Note: the higher the magnification, i.e. a microscope, the lower the depth of focus available.

Bruce

too many coins - too little time!!

Offline moonmoth

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Re: Photographing the edges of coins
« Reply #13 on: September 04, 2007, 05:27:42 pm »
Yes but it's not the same lens at all, mine is professionnal macro lens. But you're right, I never use APN so I haven't think about this.

Just to clarify this point - my lens is also a macro lens, and so designed to have a flat field of focus.  It's a Sigma 105mm EX Macro.  Quite old, but still good.  So I don't think that is an issue.

Bill
"... A form of twisted symbolical bedsock ... the true purpose of which, as they realised at first glance, would never (alas) be revealed to mankind."

Offline bruce61813

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Re: Photographing the edges of coins
« Reply #14 on: September 04, 2007, 06:24:02 pm »

Just to clarify this point - my lens is also a macro lens, and so designed to have a flat field of focus.  It's a Sigma 105mm EX Macro.  Quite old, but still good.  So I don't think that is an issue.

Bill
Bill , if that is the DG model, one test I ran across show the f8 setting to be the sharpest!
Interesting. http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/lenses/sigma_105_28/index.htm

Bruce
too many coins - too little time!!

Offline frederic W

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Re: Photographing the edges of coins
« Reply #15 on: September 05, 2007, 01:02:14 am »
Yes but it's not the same lens at all, mine is professionnal macro lens. But you're right, I never use APN so I haven't think about this.

Just to clarify this point - my lens is also a macro lens, and so designed to have a flat field of focus.  It's a Sigma 105mm EX Macro.  Quite old, but still good.  So I don't think that is an issue.

Bill

oh yes, I don't see that's a reflex too.

 

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