We all need a good chuckle , so here is my photo rig !

[stoneman227]

My photo rig ,no amscope or anything fancy ! So just look and chuckle at my fancy craftsmanship and a result .

[Peter]

It works well and that's all that counts. Just goes to show what you can do with a little creativity!

[Roller]

Nothing wrong with that. You should have seen some of my riggings. LOL

[onecent1909]

It works... and work very well
I have a standard 50mm lens with a macro adapter and a magnifier off a fish eye adapter for a video camera plus a circular polarizer, 2 lamps and a white poster board as a reflector for mine...

[willbrooks]

Nothing to chuckle at there. Well done.

[ray_parkhurst]

I like it! What lens are you using on front of those extensions? Do you adjust focus by moving the camera tiny bits back and forth? Or is one of those extensions adjustable?

[GrumpyEd]

That's well done and high tech compared to what I used. Often a lense in a cardboard tube that fits my old camera.
As long as you get the area of interest to fit and get the right lighting then you can get decent pics.

[stoneman227]

Thanks all !
Actually this is the last in a long line of experiments that ran the gamut from hand held, to taking a 4x5 enlarger apart to use as a copy stand. The problem with all of these methods was the coin and camera were always held by different supports. Movement and mirror slap ( no mirror lock on my camera ) would cause just enough vibration to blur the results.
Surprisingly some of the sharpest results came from holding the camera down to my kitchen counter and propping the coin up in front of the lens, no vibration.
So I threw together this sled . The angle is enough to keep the coin upright , there is a piece of steel screwed to the top of the sled and a magnet hot glued to the bottom of the block that holds the coin so that the coins position can be adjusted back and forth and a small bar clamp provides a ledge to adjust the coin up and down . This allows me to hold the camera tightly to the sled so that even slow shutter speeds can be used.

The tubes are just plain m42 tubes , have not found a cheap helix adapter , and the lens is a 35mm Tominon from a Polaroid mp-4 copy camera. For full coin shots I use the Tomioka 60mm macro lens in front. Fun stuff !!!

[jfines69]

Nice set up and really good pics... Very ingenious!!!

[mustbebob]

Looks like something the military would use to test rocket motors Very well done, and the pics speak for themselves!

[Arjohn]

The pictures show that the rig works -- I think it is great -- You made the light bulb turn on for me when stressing the coin holder and camera need to be joined. That eliminates SO much vibration!

[ray_parkhurst]

...The tubes are just plain m42 tubes , have not found a cheap helix adapter , and the lens is a 35mm Tominon from a Polaroid mp-4 copy camera. For full coin shots I use the Tomioka 60mm macro lens in front. Fun stuff !!!

Fun indeed! The 35mm Tominon is a good lens for this, pretty sharp and good working distance.

There are 17-31mm helicoids available on eBay for good prices, though they are from China so long shipping times.