Charliemouse

Obviously your best bet is to try it. It has a native ~1:4 ratio and a MFD of 40cm, so it is certainly not ideal for macro photography. With the smaller sensor, you are looking at sovereigns being less than 1/3rd of the frame height, so you would need crop. You have 16 million pixels to play with, so cropping won't be disastrous. However, if you have a relatively recent mobile phone, that might be the shorter route to better images.

What lens do you have? You may struggle with the kit lens to close enough. You can get K-mount macro lenses, although they are few and far between. Another issue you may have is, if it has been sitting in a cupboard for a while, the lithium battery is probably very dead. Hopefully it hasn't leaked.

Agreed! I am definitely encouraging other people to contribute their experiences. Of course, as you may have noticed, I was hoping my article was really a "what you should think about when buying photography kit" disguised as a review.

I thought it would be useful to review my photography gear, discuss why I chose it and how I use it to photograph coins. For each component, I also give some disadvantages and suggest cheaper alternatives. Camera body: Nikon D850 This is the centre and workhorse of the entire set-up. I use this camera for all my photographic needs. It’s a little out of date these days, being a few years old. Nikon released it as the peak digital SLR before the incoming tide of mirrorless cameras completely dominated the market. It has about 45 million pixels (plenty), designed specifically for landscape, portrait and fashion photography, or anything requiring precision. It sacrifices response times and frame rates for this resolution, although for normal purposes you would never tell. Nikon do lower-res / higher frame rate cameras specifically for things like professional sports and wildlife photography. Another feature useful for macro photography is an electronic shutter. When you are photographing small objects, it is important to have everything locked down and still. The slightest movement will ruin the photograph. Even the shutter moving inside the camera can cause a shift of a few pixels, blurring the image. An electronic shutter, although slower than a conventional one, avoids such movement. Automatic focus stacking is a way to program the camera to take multiple shots, varying the focus position slightly each time. It is useful for photographing objects with depth, e.g. coins angled away, bars, or even some very high relief coins. Cons: It’s certainly big and chunky, as professional DSLRs tend to be. It isn’t cheap. Frame rate could be faster. It doesn’t have eye-detect auto-focus. None of which affect macro photography. Cheaper alternative: Any modern full frame or APC mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. Choose the one that matches the lens you want, not the other way around. Lens: Sigma 150mm Macro An amazingly sharp lens, with a true 1:1 reproduction ratio. It has an excellent diaphragm for producing smooth out-of-focus backgrounds (bokeh). It is unnecessarily long for coin photography. A focal length of 60 to 80mm would be fine for coins, since you don’t need to worry about scaring your subject away. I originally bought the 150mm so that I could take pictures of insects out in the wild, without needing to get too close. However, it does mean my working distance is over 1 foot away, which makes using the camera on a desk, with lighting, tripods, etc. quite cumbersome. Cons: Doesn’t interface perfectly with the camera, so certain auto-focus features, especially when tethering don’t work. No vibration reduction. Big and heavy. Cheaper alternative: See my guide to choosing a macro lens. Tripod: SLIK 700DX This is big, strong and heavy. Made of aluminium, I would not recommend this for general photography, just because it is so big and heavy. However, for macro work and astrophotography (another hobby), it is great because it keeps things very still and, generally, portability isn’t a huge issue. It can be adjusted to a very wide leg angle, to get really low for macro work, and provide a solid platform. Cons: Big and heavy. Probably not practical for tabletop use. Cheaper alternative: Any all-metal tripod. Look for an established brand. Tripods are the classic “buy cheap, buy twice” gear. Cheap tripods have the features, but when you use them for real, you soon realise they have weaknesses such as loose joints and locks, stripped threads, etc. The gold standard in tripods these days is carbon fibre, because it is so stiff, strong and yet light. But actually a metal tripod is probably more useful for macro, because the mass is useful for damping vibration, and you generally aren’t carrying it around. Plus, carbon is a whole lot more expensive. Tripod head: Manfrotto Geared Tripod Head Again, a large, heavy component built for stability. This allows very small, precise adjustment of all three axes. No need to unlock, move and relock, this saves an enormous amount of time and fiddling. Cons: Some of the adjustment could be finer. Cheaper alternative: A metal ball head. The tripod may come with one, and if you followed my advice and bought good quality, the ball head should be good enough. Be aware that tripods and heads will have a recommended weight capacity, and a camera with lens may be heavier than you think. A tripod for a phone is not going to work for a camera. Macro rail: Neewer Pro 4-Way Macro Focusing Rail Something you may not even know exists, let alone consider buying. This is for when you have everything in place, but you need to move the camera a little left and right, or forwards and backwards towards and away from the subject. Moving the whole tripod is impractical, and would be very fiddly with such small distances involved. This allows me to make tiny adjustments to the framing of the shot. Also, sometimes it makes sense to move the camera slightly forwards or backwards, rather than refocus the lens. Cons: Adds to the overall size and weight of the setup. Cheaper alternative: Don’t use one. It’s certainly more awkward and less flexible without one, but it’s definitely something to add later if you do a lot of macro shots. Remote: Aodelan radio remote trigger As I say above, the slightest movement when taking macro shots is disastrous. A remote trigger, enabling you to trigger the shutter, is an essential for the sharpest images. I use a radio trigger, as I can use it at a much larger range for other purposes. Cons: Takes up space on the camera hotshoe, and needs to be removed before using the viewfinder (which you don’t need for macro). Cheaper alternative: Any trigger, radio, bluetooth or IR, that works with your camera, is good enough for macro work. Lighting: Various Forget flashes. You don’t need anything so bright when you are using a tripod, because the subject isn’t moving. But you don’t want it too dark though, otherwise you start to get image noise. Your best option is LED panel lights, often called video monitor lights, that let you set the colour temperature. I use a IVISII G2 Pocket RGB Video Light as my main light above the camera. It has a very good brightness range, and can set the colour temperature to pretty much anything. I cover it in diffusion paper, to soften the light even more, and spread it even wider, so it becomes very ambient. I have a couple of smaller and cheaper ULANZI VL81 lights without diffusion, to improve the highlights and deal with any shadowing from the main light. Lume Cube 2.0. Beautifully built and rugged. Very accurate 5600K light, with lots of options for different effects. I use it to give a more direct light to emphasise highlights, but it is a quality bit of kit for all sorts of uses. Monitor lights usually have a hotshoe mount to attach to the top of the camera, and a tripod mount. I’d recommend using a cheap desk tripod for a few quid, to allow you to position and angle them anywhere. I use Zeadio Metal Mini Tripod + Ball Head because they can get very low, aren’t too big, and have ball heads to angle the light. I shoot everything inside a Neewer Photo Studio RGB Light Box. This means I can precisely control any reflections and ambient light from the room, to prevent mixing colour temperatures and avoid random reflections from objects or lights in the room. I set the colour temperature on all 3 lights to the same kelvins, and then use this for a reference value in post processing. See my guide on Photographing gold so that it looks like gold, for a description of colour temperature / white balance. Cheaper alternative: A window, although you would need to ensure the white balance was correct with every shot. And definitely try not to mix artificial and natural light, or you will waste a lot of time in post processing trying to fix the colour. Frankly, if you can buy something like the ULANZI lights for £20ish, you can’t go wrong.

Looking to up your photography game by moving from a mobile phone to a 'real' camera? Or do you already have a camera, but need a macro lens to take close-up photographs of your coins? Let’s explain what a macro lens is and what to look for when choosing one for coin photography. I will go into a lot of detail, but I am assuming that if you are thinking of buying a macro lens for a camera, you are OK with that. Out of scope: I am not going to cover the type of macro lens that you clip onto a mobile phone, although many of the principles are the same. I am also not going to cover adapter lenses that you fit to the front of normal lenses to make them focus closer. What is a macro lens? A macro lens is designed to focus on things very close; much closer than normal lenses can. Macro lenses have the same ‘magnification’ as normal lenses, e.g. a 100mm macro lens will be the same amount of ‘zoomed in’ as a 100mm non-macro lens. The difference is that the macro lens will be able to focus on something about 20cm away, whereas the non-macro lens will need to be much further away, probably 1-2 metres minimum. Things to look for In decreasing order of importance, these are factors or specifications you should look for when choosing a macro lens. The first ones are highly relevant to making a good macro lens, and some things that are less so. Reproduction ratio The most important statistic. Most ‘proper’ macro lenses will allow you to get close enough to a subject that the image of that subject projected through the lens and onto the camera’s sensor is the same size as the subject. This is called a reproduction ratio of 1:1. For example, with a 1:1 lens a 22mm sovereign, at closest distance, will appear as 22mm on the sensor. Since a full-frame camera sensor is just 24x36mm, that's a perfect fit and a big image when viewed on a monitor. To make the image smaller, you just move away from the subject. But you can’t make it bigger, because moving closer would move within the minimum distance the lens will focus. With lenses that have a lower ratio, e.g. 1:2, it just means they can’t focus as close to the subject, making the resultant image smaller and the photography more cumbersome. You definitely would not want to use a 150mm lens with a 1:3 ratio, as you would need to be over a metre away from the coin. Some manufacturers still call these ‘macro lenses’ despite not reaching 1:1 ratio. At the other end of the scale, there are specialist ‘super macro’ lenses that have a ratio of 2:1 or even higher. They achieve this by allowing an even closer minimum distance. These are probably not to be recommended to anyone other than professional photographers, as they come with their own set of limitations and peculiarities. Considering that, to take a photo of a 1oz coin, you will already need to be further away than minimum distance for a 1:1 lens just to fit it on the sensor, going even higher is just unnecessary. Sharpness Obviously you want a lens that is sharp. This is especially true for macro photography, where you are attempting to reproduce tiny details. It is also especially true if your camera’s sensor has a lot of pixels, say more than about 10 million. Sharpness is a factor of the design and build quality of the lens. This is very much a “get what you pay for” factor. There is information online where sharpness has been scientifically measured. You can also read reviews that will tell you if a lens is sharp, and at what aperture it is sharpest. Typically, the optimum aperture is around twice the widest aperture. Focal length As the lens gets longer, the minimum distance extends. So a longer focal length does not lead to a large image - what you gain in ‘zoom’ you lose in distance. The main consideration here is convenience. If you have a longer macro lens, e.g. 150mm, your distance to the coin will need to be about 30cm or more. That can start to get awkward if you want to photograph downwards onto a table or desk. However, the focal length will probably not make a significant difference to the appearance of coin photographs. Just the convenience of taking them. Longer focal length macro lenses, >100mm, are useful for nature photography, where you don’t want to get too close to the subject because it might fly away (or attack you). This is unlikely to be a concern with coins. But you can go too short. Macro lenses <60mm are light and cheaper, but you start to have other practical problems. You need to be so close to the subject that you can block the light, and you may not be able to use axial lighting because there isn't room. Personally, I think the sweet spot for coin photography would be 60-100mm. If you are going to use the lens for something other than macro photography, then obviously the focal length may factor more into your decision. Shorter lenses will be better for street, architecture and landscapes. Longer lenses for sport, wildlife and portrait. If all other things are equal, typically the longer the lens, the more expensive it is. Smallest aperture Lenses often have an aperture that will go down to f/20 or f/24. Macro lenses often will go to f/32 or more. This increases the depth of field, keeping more things in focus. The issue though is that when you go beyond about f/16, you will begin to get noticeable softening of the image because the laws of physics take over and diffraction happens. Diaphragm The element inside the lens that varies the aperture to let more or less light through, is called the diaphragm. The number of leaves in the diaphragm can be relevant. If the diaphragm has a large number of leaves or elements (say above 8), the hole it makes will be more circular. This leads to smoother out-of-focus backgrounds (and foregrounds) called bokeh. It’s a subjective thing that sometimes matters, but is largely irrelevant for coins. Image stabilisation A very useful feature in any lens, to reduce handheld blur. But for a setup that will spend its life clamped down on a tripod, it is irrelevant. Of course, if you might use your lens for other things, it could be very handy. Auto-focus An area where some of the biggest advances in both lenses and cameras have been made over the last decade or so, is in the speed and accuracy of auto-focus systems. Fortunately for us, it doesn’t matter, because we will be manually focusing with macro photography, with the possible exception of an automatic focus-stacking process. Either way, the speed and accuracy of auto-focus is irrelevant. In fact some macro lenses are manual focus only, in order to reduce cost and give a very smooth feel to the focusing ring, for fine adjustments. Consider that your depth of field is often less than 1mm. That is not something a camera’s auto-focus system can reliably handle. Widest aperture The main factor that determines how much a lens costs, is its widest aperture. People spend a lot of money getting very wide aperture lenses, with f/1.2 or greater. Fortunately for us, this is almost completely irrelevant, since we will be taking macro photos with a fairly narrow aperture probably between f/8 and f/16. Zoom (variable focal length) Most lenses for general-purpose use are ‘zoom lenses’. They allow you to zoom in and out of a subject. A typical example would be a 24-70mm lens. The ability to zoom is not useful for macro photography, since as discussed earlier, increasing the focal length simply increases the minimum distance, so the net effect would be the same. It also adds cost to the lens and reduces the quality (e.g. sharpness). A true macro lens will normally be a fixed focal length, or ‘prime’, lens. How much to spend? The lens is more important than the camera body. <= Remember this! This is something that people who are not familiar with interchangeable-lens cameras may not be used to. Put it another way. A camera body will last you somewhere between 3 and 10 years. The more features and technology you want, and the more you use it, the shorter its lifespan. A lens can easily last 20+ years, if you don’t abuse it. Where do you think your money should go? Personal experience: I have owned and replaced 4 camera bodies in 18 years; that's pretty slow. I am still using the first lens I ever bought, and have never replaced any. Lenses are physical, mechanical things. Their quality is determined by optics and the craftsmanship that went into them. Sure, new features occasionally pop up, like image stabilisation and faster auto-focus. But the basic operation of a lens hardly changes between generations. That is definitely not true for camera bodies, which are basically akin to computers or mobile phones; electronics that constantly evolve. First-party lenses will cost you a lot more. For example, Canon lenses for Canon cameras. Nikon lenses for Nikon cameras. Third-party lenses, e.g. Sigma, Tamron and Tokina, are much better bang-for-the-buck, and are usually close to if not identical in quality. Rule of thumb. If you are starting out buying a camera and lens, consider the total price. If you are just buying one lens, spend ⅓ to ½ of your budget on the lens. If you are buying 2 lenses, then spend at least ½ of your budget on lenses.

The gold privy mark depicts a 1929-31 Perth Mint sovereign. Something to do with a coin fair, but I really have no idea why that year.

Thanks to @Webster for this gorgeous 1994 proof Kook.

There are two relevant values. Check out the review I mentioned; they actually give both. Minimum focal distance (MFD). This is the exact distance between the subject in focus and the sensor. It is used for various technical calculations, but is actually less useful for macro photography. Minimum working distance (MWD). This is the distance between the subject and the objective lens - i.e. the front surface of the lens. This is more useful for macro, as it will determine whether it is possible to use things like the axial lighting rig, tripod, etc. (If the MWD isn't given, use MFD minus the length of the lens. That will be close.) Remember, these are minimum distances. You can always move the camera further away, at the cost of a little bit of image size, if you have the space.

What is the height of DrDaves axial lighting box? Even more precisely, what is the distance between the surface of a coin in the box, and the top of the clear slide? That would determine what your minimum working distance needs to be, with a few centimetres to spare, to avoid expensive accidents. It might be worth adding that detail into your review, for reference.

Trying lenses is always a great idea. You can usually rent them on a daily basis for a few quid. A permanent set-up (especially with your throughput of coins) is also an excellent idea. I will do a post about equipment ideal for coin photography soon. The world of macro is very different to 'normal' photography, and often has converse requirements.

Taken with the Sigma 150mm. Definitely benefited from a longer working distance. Also, a longer focal length gives that buttery smooth bokeh (out-of-focus background). If you want to photograph things other than coins, I would not hesitate to recommend this lens.

I'd like to understand why you think that. If it's just clearance, then a minimum focal distance of 20cm is plenty. That would give a working distance (the distance from the front of the lens) of about 10cm. Trust me, trying to get a stable tripod to suspend a DSLR with a 150mm lens above a coin, with a proper macro head, remote, lighting, etc, is a real pain!

I use a Sigma 150mm for photographing coins. But you just said a shorter lens is better for coins. I already owned it before getting into coins, and I use it for wildlife as well. However, it is cumbersome with the minimum focus distance of 38cm. That's the main reason I don't photograph vertically - it's just too awkward. It takes great pictures. But if I wanted to buy a macro lens just for coins today, I'd get a shorter focal length. Recommendations? I don't have personal experience using any other macro lens. When looking for new lenses, I usually would first go towards the primary third-party lens companies, i.e. Sigma, Tamron. The bang-for-buck is so much greater than Canon and Nikon, and in the last decade they have upped their quality so that only the fussiest camera reviewers would notice the difference. What about the Sigma 150mm? Sigma 150mm f/2.8 EX DG APO HSM Macro Lens Review (the-digital-picture.com) A good (older) review, which lists other macros and their minimum distances. Search out newer reviews for newer lenses. I believe this is reviewing the actual edition I own, which I think is now the previous generation. I think the newer model has better autofocus and has vibration reduction; two things I could not care less about with macro photography, but make a better general-purpose lens.

Sorry to go off on a quick tangent, but I see this misconception frequently. I will answer your question more directly shortly, but I wanted to cover something first. Focal length does not mean magnification. If we are talking true macro lenses from proper lens companies, they are almost always tuned for a 1:1 ratio. That means that, at their closest working distance, they will reproduce a (e.g.) 22mm sovereign to a 22mm image onto the sensor. Since a full-frame camera sensor is just 24x36mm, that's a perfect fit and a big image. It is completely logical to assume a longer lens will magnify more, because longer lenses make distant things closer. However, the longer the lens, the further the minimum distance you can focus with it. Therefore, the advantage you gain is lost when dealing with small objects at close range. What is the most important stat for a macro lens? The reproduction ratio. Some specialist lenses, from specialist manufacturers, do higher ratios, typically 2:1 but sometimes as high as 5:1. I would not recommend going higher than 1:1, unless you want to go down the photography rabbit hole. Some companies will call something a 'macro lens' when it doesn't achieve 1:1. It might be 1:2 or 1:3. Watch out for this. A lower magnification for the same focal length, means a longer minimum focus distance; see below. So what does the focal length mean? The focal length of a lens determines the closest working distance. In other words, the minimum distance from the lens (or sensor) to the subject, and the subject still be in focus. A 50mm macro may have a 10cm minimum working distance. A 150mm macro may have a 30cm working distance. They vary between lenses. But at those distances, the image will be the same size/magnification. What's the best focal length then? Longer focal lengths (greater than 100mm) are typically used for wildlife, when the photographer doesn't want to disturb the subject. e.g. photographing insects that may fly off. Shorter focal lengths are better when you have limited space, and are taking static subjects that you can take time over. Therefore, the obvious choice for coins is a shorter lens. Especially if you are photographing down onto a table, a long lens will get very cumbersome because you need to suspend it so far above the coin with a tripod. Are there any other differences? For macro photography, the minimum working/focus distance is the only significant difference. These lenses are useful for other purposes, and typically the longer macros make excellent portrait lenses. More generally, there is a whole host of differences between focal lengths, which I'm not going to cover here.

PM incoming.

Wait. If he went back in time and didn't bid, how would he go back in time?

Currently 133% funded. Woot!

I stuck in an extra £10, total £25.

Lot 2: £15 Lot 3: £25

Yes please.

Thanks for sharing your setup. The results are excellent, with particularly good white balance and exposure. You may consider moving this post, or at least part of it, to the new Photography Guides, Tips, Discussions & Questions - The Silver Forum section that has just been opened. We can reduce the amount of technical photography content in these photo-only threads, now that it has a new home.

I agree. I think it's a lovely coin. And with the Maklouf portrait. Proof gold, low mintage, at spot. Someone should snap this up. GLWS

Visit the sovereign photo thread. Lots of tips and experience of people going through the same.

Nikon D850, Sigma 150mm macro. Each pic is a composite of about 10 focus-stacked shots.

Thanks to @silvergaga for helping me complete my Series II of the 1oz Perth Mint Lunars. Here is a photo of my 1ozs from all 3 series.