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Meldi Roveca coin
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 3:26 pm    Post subject: Meldi Roveca coin Reply with quote
Another coin, Gaulish this time.



Subject: Bronze coin of the Meldi, Gaul. 60-40 BCE. This is a cast then struk bronze coin, the casting sprue areas clearly visible here. The full design also has a legend in Greek lettering, ΡΟΟΥΙΚΑ (Roveca) which is off the flan on this example. A galloping horse and triple circle motif are clearly seen. The literature references for this coin are La Tour 7660 and Receuil des Inscriptions Gauloises (RIG) IV, 242. The coin is 15mm in diameter.

Technical: Nikon D40, Micro-Nikkor 55m f/2.8 @ f/4, 1/500s, ISO 200. Direct natural sunlight. Tripod, remote release.

14 NEF images composited in Helicon Focus 4.3 to obtain the depth of field (took 4 hours!). My first attempt with that software; next time I will crop first :) Mainly the software carefully reconstructed the out of focus dust which I then cloned out from the background ... really looking at the most in-focus raw image there isn't much difference between it and the final composite. Some details of the broken sprue edges at the back are clearer here.


PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 4:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
very nice Chris!
How do you moved 14 steps on 1 mm distance ?


PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 5:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Poilu

Carefully and very slowly? I cannot imagine that kind of control. Smile Smile

patrickh

Chris another beautiful coin. Amazing to think it is still around after all this time. I suspect the issue with Helicon is the extremely shallow depth for which you are compensating. I also suspect you might get better results with a tilt/shift lens or possibly a reversed lens (say a 20mm). More indirect/reflected lighting will also help (I only suggest this because I spend all my time cursing the fact that I dont have lots of lights for taking macros). Just sheets of white paper discreetly placed would help. Smile Smile Also did you see the recent samples of the Rodagon enlarging lens in a bellows? Amazing.


PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 5:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
poilu wrote:
very nice Chris!
How do you moved 14 steps on 1 mm distance ?


I don't (yet) have a focussing rail. So instead I cheated and moved the focus on the lens. Since the 55/2.8 has a very nice focus ring, it moves like 300 degrees and most of that is 0.75m to 0.25m focus range. So I was doing small movements of a few millimetres rotation on the ring.

That did mean that the coin gradually got larger from shot to shot, but the software compensated for that.


PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 6:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
For such a thin object, wouldn't have been enough to make two takes at f/32 and combine those two?


PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 6:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
patrickh wrote:

Chris another beautiful coin. Amazing to think it is still around after all this time. I suspect the issue with Helicon is the extremely shallow depth for which you are compensating.


Extremely shallow DOF (actually from photomicroscopy) is what Helicon Focus is for. In this case the DOF was larger than I thought, so the 'best' focus actually took in most of the coin. Mind you they all looked similar in the viewfinder, it was only when the images were checked at 100% that it was clear which shot was sharpest.

patrickh wrote:
I also suspect you might get better results with a tilt/shift lens or possibly a reversed lens (say a 20mm).


I'm interested to try a reversed lens, plan to try an adapter. I don't yet have a wide (apart from the kit zoom) but would like to get a 24mm at some point. The 20mm Nikkors seem very pricey compared to the 24s.

patrickh wrote:
More indirect/reflected lighting will also help (I only suggest this because I spend all my time cursing the fact that I dont have lots of lights for taking macros). Just sheets of white paper discreetly placed would help. Smile Smile

Yes. I took a second set with a diffuser (thin white cloth) between the open window and the subject, but it cut out too much light. Reflectors are, as you say, what was needed here. The top of the coin has a blown out hilight in this series, unfortunately.

patrickh wrote:
Also did you see the recent samples of the Rodagon enlarging lens in a bellows? Amazing.

Hadn't seen, will look for.
Thanks for the comments everyone!


PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 6:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
reflectors (diffusers) will flatten shadows and kill texture detail. I wouldn't use them.


PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 7:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Maybe a point & shot can do this job.
The sensor is so small that you get a big deep of focus.
It's also possible to use a reversed 50 mm for micro photography.
I have seen some amazing macro with point & shot on the web
Look also what Jes do with the Caplio GX100 in his tutorials


PostPosted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Orio wrote:
For such a thin object, wouldn't have been enough to make two takes at f/32 and combine those two?


Yes, but this lens is sharpest between f/4 and f/5.6 apparently - and as I was cropping in and throwing away the corners I went for f/4.

Old coins like this are not very flat, often curved and fairly thick (compared to modern coins). But also I wanted to try out the Helicon software before the 30-day trial runs out Smile

Edited to add: and the Micro-Nikkor stops down to f/22, doesn't go to f/32


PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 2:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Sensor diffraction becomes an issue beyond f16


PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 3:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
That image wouldn't look out of place in a museum catalogue, interesting to see how you've done it. I love the thought that this was passing throught the hands of people 1000's of years ago, and here it is back into digital life.


PostPosted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 5:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
poilu wrote:
Maybe a point & shot can do this job.
The sensor is so small that you get a big deep of focus.
It's also possible to use a reversed 50 mm for micro photography.
I have seen some amazing macro with point & shot on the web
Look also what Jes do with the Caplio GX100 in his tutorials


Smile Thanks, Poilu. The GX100 has a nice lens. Most shots on the tutorials are hand held, (with stabilizer on) and manually focused. I find it unvaluable, but I think it's little pricey. I paid more for the Caplio than for the Pentax.

Jes.
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