posted 11-04-2005 03:31 PM            

I am thinking of asking Santa for a new digital camera. I want one that takes good quality photos in general and also silver close-ups. My current one does not let me turn off the flash, which is why I have problems with reflections from the silver.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Tom

posted 11-04-2005 05:37 PM            

I have the Nikon D70S and its great. Some digital still cameras do not have a manual mode, which lets you shut down the flash if you don't want it. Some of the Nikon Coolpix cameras are good too and probably less expensive.

If you want to "grow" into your camera, rather than grow "out of it" get one that takes interchangeable lenses. You can get a macro/micro that will focus down to a few inches.

I also have Paint Shop Pro and Adobe Photoshop. The photos I post here are very nice but ridiculously large, so I'm experimenting with making them smaller.

Russell

posted 11-04-2005 11:51 PM            

I saw a presentation recently by a professional photographer of pictures he had taken of plants, flowers, various insects and butterflies in the botanical garden of our city. He used a digital Nikon camera and Adobe Photoshop software. The results were astonishing - flowers that were not there in real life magically appeared in his photos, colors were enhanced and intensified, and close up pictures showed amazing detail. Some of this was done by his camera, but a lot was accomplished by his skillful use of software to alter what the naked eye would actually see.

posted 11-05-2005 04:53 PM            

FWIW Although I am digitally dumb I have several friends that I spoke with re a good camera. If it is great close-up's (such as marks that are difficult to see) that you need to get they recommend the Sony Mavica MVC FD-73, apparently the macro feature is super.

Though not "new" it is their camera of choice. I must also add that when I attend the NYC Triple Pier Show I see those cameras in many of the dealers booths.

Good luck with whatever choice you make. I hope Santa finds you what you need!

Stay safe. Jersey

posted 11-07-2005 02:47 PM            

Below are two shots of a tiny mark (from a previous thread) taken with digital single lens reflexes fitted with similar macro lenses, one with image stabilization and one without, which will serve to illustrate the point.

The reason that telephoto and macro photography both benefit from image stabilization is that camera movement as well as image size is magnified - the greater the magnification, the greater the apparent movement, which results in blurring of the image. Macro photography has benefited from the requirements of telephoto photography, in that image stabilization was developed for long lenses, so it is not surprising that "super zoom" cameras can have super macro performance too.

Sony was the first to utilize this technology (my old 14X FD91 is still quite useable for small images, but lacks the higher resolutions now available for larger images), but abandoned it along with the super zooms which were too expensive and did not sell well at the time -- they are now reintroducing it. Single lens reflexes (such as Cannon and Nikon offered IS, but built into the lens, so that it was necessary in each lens and at the same time required new lens mounts so that they obsoleted all their old lenses. Recently Minolta (now Konica Minolta) pioneered IS integrated into the body, so that all their old lenses can be used, as well as third party lenses. The Maxxum 7D was the first, and an award winning "photographer's camera," allowing a seamless transition to digital photography for film SLR users but proved too complicated for beginners. This has been followed by a 5D, smaller, lighter, and simpler, after the fashion of amateur digital cameras.

This technology has been incorporated by Minolta in cameras with built-in lenses, and increasingly by other manufacturers. Predictably, those with the best macro performance are those with the longest lenses. Panasonic and Minolta are the leaders in this area right now, having gone through a series of cameras culminating in the compact, light weight 5 megapixel Konica Minolta DiMage Z5 and the Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ5. You can read excellent reviews of these (and other) cameras (including wev's FZ-20) on this site. I saw some images taken by a friend's Minolta Z5 a couple of days ago (both macro and telephoto), and was very impressed. The principal differences I see in these two are that the Minolta has a "super macro" function (which gets even closer that the regular macro setting) and the lens is threaded so that additional supplementary lenses can be added for even grated magnification (no such threads are evident on the Pansonics, at least in the photos, but there may be an adapter available). The Minolta sells for about $100 less. If you are interested in either of these (or any other) try to find a camera store which sells them so that you can handle and compare (always a good idea if one is not particularly camera savvy) and make up your own mind (you can't always believe everything a salesman tells you).

posted 11-12-2005 12:16 AM            

Really neat discussion.. The image stabalization process has been around for years on the motion picture cameras, and it is nice to see that it has moved down to digital still photo cameras.

I am also in the market for a general use digital. My Sony Mavica FD 73 has been good for ebay photos, but I really can't get a non grainy enlargement bigger than 4" by 5". I have been using my Nikon equipment for anything I need printed larger.

But.. the digital (instant and cheap) is the wave of the future. And.. it saves silver that can be used to make the things we love... Toast racks!

Thanks as always..

Marc

posted 11-12-2005 05:50 AM            

As an ex-professional ship photographer I love digital for the editing abilities, but have seen enough of digital cameras to realize that they are not quite there yet !
In UK developing a 36 exposure colour negative film and transferring to a CD costs me USD 10.

The only thing to watch is image quality on the format. I immediately turn all worthwhile JPEGs to TIFF and keep as archive . With JPEG several changes and re-saving to file can degrade the image .With TIFF its usually your fault !

Also for Close up work you do need to be able to work at the telephoto end of the lens, not, as so often happens with digital cameras , at the wide end. At the telephoto end you can get lighting in easily - I find the equivalent of 100mm on 35mm to be about right. This is even more of a problem if you need real magnification with the lens on extension tubes or bellows.