Photos of coins

[SionGilbey]

Anyone who knew anything about electrickery would have a fit if they saw my setup here:

Long extension cable buried in a trench I dug under the yard, plugged into a single 13A socket.

Other end has two outlets, one goes to the outdoor freezer, the other holds a plug dangling through a hole I drilled in the bus floor. That plug goes to a 3-way, 2 empty, one to a 6-way.

That 6 way:

1) fairy lights

2) laptop

3) printer

4) speakers

5) empty

6) to another 4-way

that 4-way:

1) doubler driving halogen and daylight CFL

2) laptop

3) camera

4) long extension going back out through another hole in the floor on the other side of the bus - for outdoor power tools and charging up the bus batteries.

Combined with the propane and the woodburner, EMP would be the least of my worries!

Sigh.

Do you know what a bus looks like when it's on fire?

Please tell me you at least have a couple of circuit breakers!

[declanwmagee]

Sigh.

Do you know what a bus looks like when it's on fire?

Please tell me you at least have a couple of circuit breakers!

No but I do have short lengths of hosepipe lining the holes in the floor so the cables won't chafe when the engine is running.

So nothing can go wrong.

[Fubar]

Kris, if your lamp caused an EMP you'd be in big trouble. They usually only come from the detonation of a Nuclear bomb...

It sounds like you're plugging too many things into one socket.

EMP can be caused by a suddenly fluctuating magnetic field as produced by a transformer being overloaded.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse

That type of lamp uses a small transformer and sometimes a bit of circuitry in the base to reduce the mains to the 12 volts of the halogen lamp. The two "telescopic aerials" holding up the lamp and shade are the conductors carrying the 12 volts up to the lamps. There are no internal wires to the lamp.

The operative part of that is "aerials".

[Nick]

I couldn't disagree more. Your second picture shows massively too much contrast (to my eyes) while the first one I thought "What's wrong with this? Seems good enough to me." It has good exposure, colour and the only thing missing is perhaps a little iridescence, but if shot 2 is the cost of getting iridescence, I'd happily live without it. (I must add - the thumbnails give the reverse impression, and the second shot looks good, but when I enlarge them, that's when I thought again).

I've done a bit more experimenting and the best I can do so far is this.

[SionGilbey]

Kris, if your lamp caused an EMP you'd be in big trouble. They usually only come from the detonation of a Nuclear bomb...

It sounds like you're plugging too many things into one socket.

EMP can be caused by a suddenly fluctuating magnetic field as produced by a transformer being overloaded.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse

That type of lamp uses a small transformer and sometimes a bit of circuitry in the base to reduce the mains to the 12 volts of the halogen lamp. The two "telescopic aerials" holding up the lamp and shade are the conductors carrying the 12 volts up to the lamps. There are no internal wires to the lamp.

The operative part of that is "aerials".

An very little electromagnetic pulse can be caused by even a spark, but one that causes damage as you describe would not be emitted from a lamp.

Sion

[SionGilbey]

I couldn't disagree more. Your second picture shows massively too much contrast (to my eyes) while the first one I thought "What's wrong with this? Seems good enough to me." It has good exposure, colour and the only thing missing is perhaps a little iridescence, but if shot 2 is the cost of getting iridescence, I'd happily live without it. (I must add - the thumbnails give the reverse impression, and the second shot looks good, but when I enlarge them, that's when I thought again).

I've done a bit more experimenting and the best I can do so far is this.

Lovely picture

[Fubar]

An very little electromagnetic pulse can be caused by even a spark, but one that causes damage as you describe would not be emitted from a lamp.

Sion

You seem to have latched on to my EMP remark even though all I said was - "I'm still not too sure it wasn't causing some sort of EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) as well."

Having been a radio, electronics, computer and electrical engineer over the last 50 years I never discount any explanation that could generate a satisfactory explanation.

My main point was that the lamp caused computers to lock up in the vicinity. Remove the lamp and the problem went away. Not all lamps of this type produce this effect but the two I know of did. Probably wouldn't have the same effect on a laptop because of the nature of the switched mode power supply.

Unless it caused problems with the WiFi of course.

Cheers Kris

[argentumandcoins]

I didn't want to comment Kris, just in case Sion is a Welsh separatist terrorist working on some sort of EMP device that will wipe out all of the computers in England. Perhaps he has tried the lamp bomb and knows it won't work

[Peckris]

I couldn't disagree more. Your second picture shows massively too much contrast (to my eyes) while the first one I thought "What's wrong with this? Seems good enough to me." It has good exposure, colour and the only thing missing is perhaps a little iridescence, but if shot 2 is the cost of getting iridescence, I'd happily live without it. (I must add - the thumbnails give the reverse impression, and the second shot looks good, but when I enlarge them, that's when I thought again).

I've done a bit more experimenting and the best I can do so far is this.

Much nicer! (To my eyes, anyway). Less contrast, good detail, and some iridescence.

[Fubar]

I didn't want to comment Kris, just in case Sion is a Welsh separatist terrorist working on some sort of EMP device that will wipe out all of the computers in England. Perhaps he has tried the lamp bomb and knows it won't work

Aaah! Perhaps

The lamp apart I think the rig for photographing coins looks worthy of a try.

Maybe an experiment in the sunshine with a reflector in place of the lamp/light source might work.

I don't have too many to photograph and if I need to I find the scanner gives satisfactory results.

Most of the objects I photograph are more three dimensional and require more angled shots.

Not that I'm saying coins are in any way two dimensional as such (grovel)

Cheers

Kris

[Colin G.]

Much nicer! (To my eyes, anyway). Less contrast, good detail, and some iridescence.

I agree

[azda]

Black foam background, no tripod, 8MMP cannon camera with marco mode and natural light

[Red Riley]

Black foam background, no tripod, 8MMP cannon camera with marco mode and natural light

That's a good photo and a good coin. Coins with good lustre usually photograph well. However, I am still looking of a way to reliably photograph bronze/copper coins around 'fine' especially Edward VII and George V.

[azda]

I never take a picture in direct sunlight Derek, i find the pics distort somewhat, generally shaded natural light.

Rev of same coin

Edited May 21, 2011 by azda

[AJWcoins]

Well just a quick thankyou going out to all the contributers in this topic its been some interesting reading.

I've been taking many photos and scans of coins over the past few months and now have some ideas on how to improve my photos so thanks. In case you were wondering what I'm using its a Fujifilm J210 10mp held by hand (first thing I'm gonna do is get a tripod)using the scene recognition auto mode with macro and take the photo as close as I can with out blocking the light. My light source is daylight which is slightly filtered by a net curtain. I then crop the photos on my PC afterwards.

Here's a recent example of a photo

There's many more in the gallery section on my site thanks any feedback would be great.

[SionGilbey]

Well just a quick thankyou going out to all the contributers in this topic its been some interesting reading.

I've been taking many photos and scans of coins over the past few months and now have some ideas on how to improve my photos so thanks. In case you were wondering what I'm using its a Fujifilm J210 10mp held by hand (first thing I'm gonna do is get a tripod)using the scene recognition auto mode with macro and take the photo as close as I can with out blocking the light. My light source is daylight which is slightly filtered by a net curtain. I then crop the photos on my PC afterwards.

Here's a recent example of a photo

There's many more in the gallery section on my site thanks any feedback would be great.

Looks good!

Nice lighting and backdrop, looks very natural.

Very slightly fuzzy and not cropped square; a small section on the left edge of the coin is cropped out.

The pictures on your site seem sharper though.

[Peckris]

Well just a quick thankyou going out to all the contributers in this topic its been some interesting reading.

I've been taking many photos and scans of coins over the past few months and now have some ideas on how to improve my photos so thanks. In case you were wondering what I'm using its a Fujifilm J210 10mp held by hand (first thing I'm gonna do is get a tripod)using the scene recognition auto mode with macro and take the photo as close as I can with out blocking the light. My light source is daylight which is slightly filtered by a net curtain. I then crop the photos on my PC afterwards.

Here's a recent example of a photo

There's many more in the gallery section on my site thanks any feedback would be great.

Looks good!

Nice lighting and backdrop, looks very natural.

Very slightly fuzzy and not cropped square; a small section on the left edge of the coin is cropped out.

The pictures on your site seem sharper though.

Interesting. I'm seeing the whole coin on my screen (the left edge flush with the left hand border). And it looks sharp too. Certainly sharp enough for coin detail purposes. Maybe you have a problem with your monitor?

[Nick]

Interesting. I'm seeing the whole coin on my screen (the left edge flush with the left hand border). And it looks sharp too. Certainly sharp enough for coin detail purposes. Maybe you have a problem with your monitor?

It's certainly a good enough photo to see all of the coin detail, but I agree with Sion - it's slightly fuzzy. Could be slightly out of focus, or just a bit a camera shake.

[Nick]

It's certainly a good enough photo to see all of the coin detail, but I agree with Sion - it's slightly fuzzy. Could be slightly out of focus, or just a bit a camera shake.

Looking at the background, I think it's just that the subject is not quite perpendicular to the camera. I think the bottom is slightly nearer the camera than the top and given a low depth of field the top half is slight fuzzy.

[Red Riley]

It's certainly a good enough photo to see all of the coin detail, but I agree with Sion - it's slightly fuzzy. Could be slightly out of focus, or just a bit a camera shake.

Looking at the background, I think it's just that the subject is not quite perpendicular to the camera. I think the bottom is slightly nearer the camera than the top and given a low depth of field the top half is slight fuzzy.

I have a tiny spirit level which I use to adjust the tripod/stand once it is in place.

[Peckris]

It's certainly a good enough photo to see all of the coin detail, but I agree with Sion - it's slightly fuzzy. Could be slightly out of focus, or just a bit a camera shake.

Looking at the background, I think it's just that the subject is not quite perpendicular to the camera. I think the bottom is slightly nearer the camera than the top and given a low depth of field the top half is slight fuzzy.

Yes, the background is certainly out of focus at the top corners. But on the coin itself, any 'fuzziness' is so marginal it is almost immaterial. There is no element of coin detail, tone, wear, mark or blemish that cannot be seen clearly. If I was judging that item on eBay from that photograph, I could do so without any reservation or doubt.

[Nick]

It's certainly a good enough photo to see all of the coin detail, but I agree with Sion - it's slightly fuzzy. Could be slightly out of focus, or just a bit a camera shake.

Looking at the background, I think it's just that the subject is not quite perpendicular to the camera. I think the bottom is slightly nearer the camera than the top and given a low depth of field the top half is slight fuzzy.

I have a tiny spirit level which I use to adjust the tripod/stand once it is in place.

Very sensible. An alternative, for those with a digital SLR, is to reduce the aperture (increase the F number). This gives a greater depth of field and shows more of the subject and background in focus.

[AJWcoins]

Well thanks for all the replys I just checked on the off chance what a fantasic response.

So until I pop in to town and get a tripod there isnt a lot I can do as handshake becomes an issue if I move further from the coin and use the zoom. Doing this would allow me to take the picture from a more face on angle as insuring the right amount of light won't be an issue as the camera would be further away but using the zoom as the tripod would keep it steady.

Hope you can understand what I'm trying to say there and thanks again to everyone the feedback is really appreciated.

Also is there a section on this site about chargebacks/fraud etc as I have a rather suspiscious order atm and am a little unsure how to proceed (sorry off subject here)

[SionGilbey]

It's certainly a good enough photo to see all of the coin detail, but I agree with Sion - it's slightly fuzzy. Could be slightly out of focus, or just a bit a camera shake.

Looking at the background, I think it's just that the subject is not quite perpendicular to the camera. I think the bottom is slightly nearer the camera than the top and given a low depth of field the top half is slight fuzzy.

Yes, I think it is more a trick of the mind as the background is irregularly fuzzy but the coin is not very fuzzy at all.

The camera shake is very very small but I know that when I buy any expensive coins I do expect flawless photos (I'm a bit picky!) so buying the tripod was a good call.

Good luck in future photos AJW!

[Accumulator]

Can anyone suggest a cheap digital camera which I can buy just for photographing coins? I know it needs a macro mode and I will need lighting and a tripod as discussed above. I can't see me using the camera for anything else so possibly I could get something which plugs into the USB port and uses the pc screen for display? I presume digital microscopes are not suitable though?