Photographing Finds and Find Spots
Modern metal detectors weigh a ton, the last thing you need
to be doing is weighing yourself down with a large amount of
complicated photographic equipment.
Fortunately with the advent of affordable compact digital
cameras there is no need to lug around an SLR and a variety of
lenses.
For photographing find spots all you need is a simple
compact digital camera. If you can get a compact digital
camera with a decent macro function, so much the better, as
you can also use it to photograph your finds.
A camera that fits in your pocket and takes good sized
(2GB+) SD cards is what you should be looking for. SD cards
can be bought so cheaply now from sites like amazon.co.uk that
you can even use them for backs ups. Once you have filled one
card just put in a new one and store the old full card
somewhere safe in case you have a computer melt down.
A quick word of caution about photographing find spots.
More and more, metal detectorists are sharing photographs of
their finds online. It used to be that you only got to brag
about your finds once a month at your detecting club's
meetings. Nowadays, internet bragging rights are where it's
at. When you are snapping shots of your coin or artefact still
sticking out out of the clod of earth, is there anything in
the background that might unable an unscrupulous individual to
identify the find location? Buildings, a church steeple, a
road etc. Also, the landowner might not appreciate photographs
of their property being plastered all over the internet and
your local finds liaison officer, museum or archaeologist
might prefer that exact find spots are kept secret.
Be sure to charge up cameras batteries and check your SD
card has space on it (or that you have a spare SD card) before
heading out. It's no good having your camera on you if you
can't use it when you need it.
|
