Getting a good image of a coin

[cheaver]

I use an ordinary desk lamp with a craft bulb in it. My craft bulb itself is blue - but it gives off a white light.
Choose a good background - I used to use an indigo coloured dictionary to sit my coins/medals on for great pics - now I use a turquoise hardback folder, sometimes tilting the lamp if necessary. Night time is best for my coin pics using the white light.

[johnwash1]

The people talking about how many megapixels are being hoodwinked by adverts. Think about it. The picture on ebid is unlikely to be much more than 1000 pixels each side, otherwise it would be too big for all but the most extravagant screens. 1000x1000 is ONE megapixel, in other words any digital camera made in the past 10 years has more than adequate megapixels.

Camera manufacturers love to try to outgun each other by saying the have more megapixels, but the lens quality is far more significant.

If you're doing close-ups you want a good macro lens (some point and shoots can be surprisingly good), good lighting (not flash) and ideally a tripod to avoid camera shake.