Pic quality

[IndianaSmith]

I have a digital camera (HP320 I think), and can take, host & post pics. My question is how do you all take such good "close-up" shots of a single coin. lol, I can hardly see them in my hand (atleast without glasses).

I'll need to know for all the coins I intend to find in the near future

Smitty

 

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[ashleen]

My question is how do you all take such good "close-up" shots of a single coin. lol, I can hardly see them in my hand (atleast without glasses).

My question, too; Smitty! thanks for asking.
I have a digital camera with NO macro
So I never post finds. I can't take a decent pic of little stuff to save my life
Good luck.

 

[IndianaSmith]

My question, too; Smitty! thanks for asking.
I have a digital camera with NO macro

lol, that brings-up something I failed to mention, I'm not extremely computer-savvy. so any help needs to be in laymans terms

So I'm assuming "macro" is sort-of a zoom (type) feature? I guess I need to look at the instructions that came with my camera, maybe I have that on mine?

Smitty

 

[rommelvon]

I have macro on my canon, but if you do not have macro on your camera, use a magnifying glass to enlarge the coin, and take a picture through that

 

[SomeGuy]

"Macro" is the ability of the camera to focus at extremely close range. Without a macro setting, most cameras can't focus closer than about 3'.

You can get around this if you have enough mega pixels. Just get as close as you can sharply focus and take the photo at full resolution. A 3 megapixel camera will produce an image about 2000 pixels wide x 1500 high. This is way too big to post on the web, so crop out all the xs leaving a 640x 480 pixel image of your coin . Do not reduce the image, just crop it in your photo editor leaving only your subject. When displayed on the computer screen, this will show a large, sharp image.

A scanner is also an easy way to show detail on flat objects such as coins. Most scanners are set to a default resolution of 150 dpi, you want to change this to 600 dpi. When viewed on the computer screen, this has the effect of making a sharp enlargement. Again, crop out the excess.

 

[stoney56]

So I'm assuming "macro" is sort-of a zoom (type) feature? I guess I need to look at the instructions that came with my camera, maybe I have that on mine?

Smitty

It doesn't look like you have a macro setting, only a 4X digital zoom.
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/HP/hp_320.asp

Try this, put a magnifying glass up against and centered over your camera lens. Set a coin on a table or somewhere where there is good lighting and contrast. Look at the LCD window in the back and move the camera to where the clearest view is and take a pic. Your resolution should be 640X480--makes it so much easier to post.

 

[IndianaSmith]

Thanks for the advice all! That'll give me a starting point. Probably the best thing it to do some "experimenting" with some of the advice give here. I do have a scanner, so I'll try that as well as the camera with a magnifying glass.

Thanks!
Smitty

 

[weasel606]

i use a free program called (gimp) i load my picture then i crop what i want out of it save it then resize it and save it again , works good for me http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

 

[TXPlugKutter]

I had the same problem with taking pictures. The flash either messed the pic up or I was too shaky to get a good shot. I went to Staples and bought a $100 scanner and solved the problem. It takes high quality scans without any problem.

Hope this helps.

 

[IndianaSmith]

Thanks again all for the advice. I played around with my scanner, and that may be the way to go. lol, never would have even considered it as an option. I might have to try my digital camera as well, just to see which gives the best results.

Smitty