Hey Guys, My iphone camera doesnt seem to cut it when taking pics of coins. Anyone suggest any point and shoot that would do a better job? Looking to spend <500
I still use a 10mp Fuji finepix. You can get heaps of good point and shoots for under $200. Dick Smith currently has Nikon S3500 for $118. 20mp with 7x optical zoom. Everything you would need for coin shots.
Funny that I was using a $1200 35mm camera and my girlfriend was getting better photos with her iphone4. Even close ups of the hallmarks. Takes a little while to work it out. She was also using a light box, helps heaps to retard the reflection, from memory the light box was $79 at local camera guys.
I've had an Olympus SP-500 UZ and currently using an Olympus SP-590 UZ which takes reasonable shots of coins, insects, you name it, it's a fabulous camera. I've been looking at buying the Olympus SP-820 UZ which, although it's not the latest model from Olympus it's value for money imo at under 300 bucks. http://www.olympus-europa.com/site/...ras/traveller/sp_820uz/sp_820uz_features.html The SP-820 takes 4 x AA batteries so...that's a bonus plus there's no lens to fit or buy, ya just shoot. If you purchased say... a camera under 300 bucks and also buy a decent tripod, you'll end up with very good images. Images pending.
What you need to establish is what type of photo, a full shot or a "Macro" detailed shot of an area. The biggest mistakes people make is, they try to get too close so the camera doesn't focus. They do not have enough light so a slow shutter creates blurry shots. They handhold instead of using a tripod. All of these can be fixed with your iphone and spend the other money on coins. However if you want to take it further then look at how often you will use it elsewhere. Are you going to take it with you or every now and then, do you have any other photo graphical interests.
And don't forget to strip the location /EXIF data from the photos before you post them or give them to anyone.
Thanks very much guys. After EM posted about Nikon S3500 i had a look at the reviews and ordered one. In saying that the Olympus SP-590 UZ looks very good. Tempted to cancel my order.....dammit decisions decisions
Use a tripod if you get the shakes. Lighting and subjects background/contrast makes a huge difference. Experiment with different lights/lamps and shooting angles. Also make photoshop your friend.
Nope! Photoshop is BS and if you use PS to enhance your images that's just plain Bullshite. If you take an image of a coin, make it the best image you can...show the good and bad points but never lie or photoshop your images! The above images have been resized only, they haven't been shopped! Piss poor effort for those guys who would even contemplate PS an image for sale! H
Totally agree , I'll spend half an hour lining up a shot Take 5-6 shots & only use one in the end I only use PS for resizing & cropping , I've forgotten how the rest of it works :lol:
Settle down. Not suggesting pics get doctored to cover flaws. I use it to better show the natural colour of nuggets that doesn't show properly under artificial light. Havent had a buyer send them back because the pics were photoshopped yet.
For those of you that shoot Jpeg (99.5%) the camera is doing ALL of the processing for you. If on the other hand you shoot RAW images you will need to edit these. If you ever take the camera out of Auto or Macro you may get these extra settings. As EM mentioned PS it is to White Balance, Sharpen, Contrast and Crop as required. It is not editing blemishes or marks and making it look unnatural that is wrong. Even the best shot still needs editing, and it can be the difference between a good shot and a GREAT shot... Also us Light Room it is much, much easier and does 99% of what Photoshop does. As a final note, a bad shot is a bad shot, or blurry etc... no amount of photoshop will ever fix that, trust me I have tried so Yes get it right in camera first.
Got the Nikon S3500 finally from dickies. Pictures are worse than the camera on the iphone 5. Im going to make a light box and see if that makes any difference.
Set it to macro and dont use zoom. Try different lights and angles and backgrounds for better contrast. Try a tripod if you drink a lot of coffee or booze and shake like I do.
I've been thinking about moving on my Canon EOS 500D. Might see it in the Sydney August barter thread.
