Camera fell in the washing machine

[T L]

Here's another very up close shot, again on a very very cloudy day. This stone has microscopic silk and looks more sleepy in natural light, but to me, it's very in focus. What do you guys think of these photos considering it's an overcast day? Do you think I could do better? Honest opinions please. The camera was originally $189, but $130 on sale with a 4gb card and a carrying case. The top pic is super upclose (cropped of the stone) of the second pic, as PS automatically crops photos and reduces their clarity/color. On the third pic, the stone looks washed out in the middle, it's not. PS did that when I uploaded. Unless you crop pics to the max, some of the color and resolution will be lost, as they're probably trying to conserve server space. I crop in paintbrush, which is pathetic, but at least the photo hasn't been altered in any way as far as color and resolution is concerned.

 

[lavatea]

Such a pretty ring. Slightly OT, but is that a LOGR setting?

 

[T L]

Wow, look at that dirt!

 

[T L]

Such a pretty ring. Slightly OT, but is that a LOGR setting?

They're both lanbo settings. Thanks.

 

[T L]

Ugh, I'll bet that was a sinking feeling when you realized what had happened to your camera!

Up until last December, all my photos were taken with an old Canon SD1000 - nothing fancy, and no image stabilization. Right before Christmas, I got a Canon S95 - still considered a compact camera, but it has IS (although I think that's a standard feature on most cameras now), a larger sensor, and can shoot in RAW. There are manual options for focusing, shutter speed, aperature, etc, but if you don't want to bother, the auto features are fairly reliable.

I do feel that the larger sensor contributes to better colors, but there are still some cases where I can't capture the exact colors I see. I still have difficulty capturing the saturation level of emeralds, for example, but for some reason, the indoor shots in the Smithsonian weren't half bad. Maybe it was the lighting? I shot another emerald in sunlight, fluorescent, indirect natural light - all were horrible and washed out.

I now shoot exclusively in RAW (but the S95 has options of RAW, jpeg, or both). It does takes up more memory, but rotating between two 8GB memory cards gives me plenty of space. The camera comes with Canon Digital Photo Processing which I use to crop, edit, and convert to jpeg files. It's not any more complicated than the Picassa program I was using, and the difference in image quality is worth it.

I have a love/hate relationship with tripods. I know that a studio setup with a tripod will yield the sharpest images, but I never use one. I like the freedom of using natural light, then walking over to incandescent light without having to breakdown and set everything up again. Plus, I like to photograph my gems in the lighting I would naturally see them in - not through filters or a translucent dome. Having said that though, stabilizing the stone and the camera is KEY. Image Stabilization can only make up for so much wobble. Even then, your photos may be passable, but they'll still suffer some loss of sharpness, and this will be most noticeable when you tightly crop.

One other thing to note: my old camera had a silver body, and the S95 has a black case. I really notice the black being reflected in the gemstones, so I have to compensate for this by either backing away, shooting through a hole in paper, or photographing the stone at an angle. I wish cameras came in white for this reason, but I doubt they'd be very popular.

ETA: in addition to dpreview, I also like snapsort.com. There's another site too, but I can't remember the name....

Cell,
Forget photographing emeralds, you'll never get an accurate shot, even if you're Kenny with a $1,000,000,000 super computer run state of the art camera and studio setup. Although if Kenny is reading this, I welcome him to try.

I'm pretty careful not to photograph stones wearing bright colors, or by tilting them in a way that they don't reflect my dark clothes. My grey car is where I photograph the most becuase the interior is pretty neutral, and it lets some natural lighting in. In fact, I think the grey interior probably washes out some color, but I don't feel like doing a studio set up. I might do a tripod like Freke suggested though.

 

[T L]

In very dim natural diffused light in my den, about two inches away from the stone. I had to really crop up close so that the photo wouldn't lose resolution when I uploaded it. Honest opinions please. Do you think I can do better with a lumix, cannon??? I have no idea. I like to get very up close and personal with my gem photography as many people know. PS shrunk it, so I uploaded a more cropped versions of the same photo. Notice how the color is better on the more cropped photos. Only the top photo has retained it's original size and color.

 

[davi_el_mejor]

I like the new pictures TL! Try saving as a .png instead of .jpg mine come out less grainy that way when I shrink and post them here.

If my camera won't focus properly in indoor lighting I trick it by focusing far off and then moving it back to the close up shots. I also use a tripod and longer exposures sometimes to get the right focus and colors when the sun isn't out

 

[T L]

Thanks Davi,
Here's a png version of the top photo in this thread page.

 

[davi_el_mejor]

interesting, on my monitor at least, I see some interesting differences, but really the pictures look very similar. The reflection above the left prong is the most noticeable difference to me but that's about it. The .png IME allows you keep the actual size of the picture larger with smaller memory size

 

[PinkTower]

I think the shots you posted are very good, provided you want to spend that much on a point and shoot. The cost is going to continue to drop on them.
There one article after another now about the point and shoot going the way of the dinosaur because of camera phones. I can see why, because my husband has a newer model Droid phone and the pictures are incredible.

If I want to go to more trouble, I haul out the DSLR, and I do. Hope this helps.

 

[Largosmom]

I've also started playing with my new iphone camera. It isn't bad...using a loupe with it does allow a close shot!

Nice macros by the way!

 

[kenny]

Keep in mind 14 MB and 14 MB can be very different.

Sensor size is very important and overlooked.

14 Megapixel in a larger sensor will look MUCH better than 14 Megapixel in a smaller sensor.

 

[aviastar]

Adding my recommendation to the others that suggested the Canon G Series. I have the G10, bought after playing with a friend's G9, and LOVE it. They are on the pricey end of digital cameras, but one of the best fully digital, non DSLRs on the market.

This ring isn't mine, I borrowed it as a tester, but I shot this with my G10, in Macro mode, indoor lighting, on a stable ringstand/tabletop, no tripod. This was the first frame I took; it has been cropped but not altered.



Best of Luck!

 

[T L]

Keep in mind 14 MB and 14 MB can be very different.

Sensor size is very important and overlooked.

14 Megapixel in a larger sensor will look MUCH better than 14 Megapixel in a smaller sensor.

Thanks for keeping that explanation simple Kenny

 

[PrecisionGem]

As Kenny stated, sensor size is very important for high resolution pictures, however a small sensor allows for a much smaller lens and greater depth of field than a full size FX sensor on a digital SLR.

TL, your new pictures look very good, is this a new Nikon you just got for these?

 

[T L]

As Kenny stated, sensor size is very important for high resolution pictures, however a small sensor allows for a much smaller lens and greater depth of field than a full size FX sensor on a digital SLR.

TL, your new pictures look very good, is this a new Nikon you just got for these?

Thanks Gene,
It's a Nikon S6000. It's a recently discontinued model, so I got it for a good price, $60 off, and since it's from Costco, I also got a 4gb card, and a carrying case with it. I thought I'd buy another Nikon since I'm more familiar with the controls, but I'm not happy with the incandescent lighting shots still.

All these shots were taken in my car on a very overcast snowy/drizzing/freezing day. I haven't seen the sun in ages. I forgot what it looks like, but I would like to get some sunshine shots since for some reason, my last camera performed best in the sun. The photos were more in focus and the color was better.

 

[PrecisionGem]

Auto focus will work better in brighter light, so it could be that outdoors there is more light, so it's focusing better. What about the color balance control? Can you set it for incandescent light, or better yet, make a color balance custom setting by shooting a white piece of paper?

The lighting is the most critical part of the picture, and getting good indoor lighting will most likely require some additional lights beside you normal lamps in the room. The other problem with the small point an shoot camera's is that in the macro mode, they get very close to the stone, so you are naturally shading it. I try to get as far back as possible, with my current lens I'm around 6 or 7 inches away from the stone. I'm thinking of switch to the Nikon 200 mm macro which will allow the camera to be further back. Only problem is the lens is $1800.

 

[T L]

Auto focus will work better in brighter light, so it could be that outdoors there is more light, so it's focusing better. What about the color balance control? Can you set it for incandescent light, or better yet, make a color balance custom setting by shooting a white piece of paper?

I tried futzing with the color balance to no avail. Incandescent photos are horrid for me. If I try against a white piece of paper, the color balance goes to yellow, and vice versa. I have no luck with artificial light shots unless I'm in Home Depot, or somewhere with very strong overhead lighting.

 

[LD]

No tripod, but many people who post photos in this forum don't use a tripod, and still get nice clear shots. The lighting in my kitchen is also terrible and very yellow, I hate it. I have to see how this one shoots outside.

I've got a Canon IXUS that's a few years old. It has a 10 mega pixel capacity with a zoom lens. Macro photos are normally fairly good and not fuzzy (I don't use a tripod). However, I have found that the camera is sensitive to different coloured backgrounds so, in macro facility if I try to take a photo with a black background it is always fuzzy. Swap to a lighter colour and no problem. It replicates colour fairly well except Emeralds and Alexandrite - but hey, I've yet to find a camera that does either of those well!

The camera has the ability to adjust white balance, different types of incandescent lighting and you can add tone to the picture (which I very rarely use). It has a manual over-ride that is useful it the automatic function isn't doing what you want.

To use on holiday for normal pictures it's superb. All round it's a great camera and has a video capability also.

 

[T L]

No tripod, but many people who post photos in this forum don't use a tripod, and still get nice clear shots. The lighting in my kitchen is also terrible and very yellow, I hate it. I have to see how this one shoots outside.

I've got a Canon IXUS that's a few years old. It has a 10 mega pixel capacity with a zoom lens. Macro photos are normally fairly good and not fuzzy (I don't use a tripod). However, I have found that the camera is sensitive to different coloured backgrounds so, in macro facility if I try to take a photo with a black background it is always fuzzy. Swap to a lighter colour and no problem. It replicates colour fairly well except Emeralds and Alexandrite - but hey, I've yet to find a camera that does either of those well!

The camera has the ability to adjust white balance, different types of incandescent lighting and you can add tone to the picture (which I very rarely use). It has a manual over-ride that is useful it the automatic function isn't doing what you want.

To use on holiday for normal pictures it's superb. All round it's a great camera and has a video capability also.

Thanks LD, I also notice that auto white balance reacts to different backgrounds on my camera too, so I really have to futz with it if I do use it. However, the sunlight white balance acts well. Incandescent, forget about it, unless the lighting is really strong as in the Home Depot, or Costco, for example. However, one looks rather strange taking gem photos in the Home Depot or Costco, and trust me, I wish I could. I love how my rings look in those places.

 

[cellentani]

Auto focus will work better in brighter light, so it could be that outdoors there is more light, so it's focusing better. What about the color balance control? Can you set it for incandescent light, or better yet, make a color balance custom setting by shooting a white piece of paper?

I tried futzing with the color balance to no avail. Incandescent photos are horrid for me. If I try against a white piece of paper, the color balance goes to yellow, and vice versa. I have no luck with artificial light shots unless I'm in Home Depot, or somewhere with very strong overhead lighting.

TL, you use the white paper just to custom set the white balance - not for taking the actual photo (unless you want to, of course). You can use the custom white balance feature in any lighting, not just incandescent, and it's supposed to be more precise than the preset white balance controls.

 

[T L]

The sun came out!! Haven't seen it in 10 days or so.

Focus is amazing when the sun is out. I think I can see subatomic particles now. So is this camera a keeper???

Those are actually inclusions in the second photo that I never saw before until I had this camera, so while I first thought it was dirt, I cleaned the gem, and they remained.

 

[kenny]

Didn't Kenny have a thread on photography a while back?

Kenny is the last person I want in this thread. No offense to Kenny, as he takes the most beautiful remarkable photos ever. However, I can't understand one iota he says about photography, and I don't have a bazillion dollars to spend on photography equipment. I just want to take nice clear, semi-decent photos with an easy little point and shoot. Is that asking too much?

I finally read the whole thread.
Thanks for the compliment, TL.

Also thanks for the feedback that I need to work on writing in a more understandable way.

 

[Arkteia]

Beautiful photos, TL!

 

[colorluvr]

TL, I think your photos came out great, especially for the price your paid for your new camera. I'm impressed (and a bit jealous - lol)

I know what you mean about sunlight vs indooring lighting. I always took pretty decent photos with very little effort when I lived at 3000ft in the "land of the sun". I just used "auto" everything on the camera and didn't even think about it. Now that I live in the land of "no sun" and in a house that gets no natural light through the windows, even when there is sun, I had to start from scratch in learning how to use my DH's camera with the macro lens that he got me a couple of years ago.

I have spent a bit of time (but not much additional money) playing with my setup because I enjoy the process (although it still can be quite frustrating). Kenny's explanations usually are over my head also, but with a little time spent looking online and some helpful suggestions from Kenny (in plain speak) and others, AND finally actually reading the camera manual, I have figured out some of my problems and my indoor photos come out decent some of the time. I also enjoy trying to get the really closeup inclusion shots, but that still involves MUCH trial and error.

I HAD to invest in fullspectrum bulbs and an inexpensive light box or ALL of my indoor photos would still come out yellow, no matter how I set the camera. As far as the tripod is concerned, I have no option to that either, as I just can't hold the camera steady enough to get a good shot, so I just set up a little area in the spare room with the lights/tripod/cube when I want to take an "up close and personal" shot of my stones.

 

[T L]

Didn't Kenny have a thread on photography a while back?

Kenny is the last person I want in this thread. No offense to Kenny, as he takes the most beautiful remarkable photos ever. However, I can't understand one iota he says about photography, and I don't have a bazillion dollars to spend on photography equipment. I just want to take nice clear, semi-decent photos with an easy little point and shoot. Is that asking too much?

I finally read the whole thread.
Thanks for the compliment, TL.

Also thanks for the feedback that I need to work on writing in a more understandable way.

Thanks Kenny, but I think you need to write a book on photographic technique. There's just far too much information for a novice like me to digest, especially when you, or any photography aficionado for that matter, tries to cram it in some posts in a thread. Not your fault, as the subject of photography is very complex, more than most people give it credit for. I doubt anyone could make the subject easy without writing a step by step "Photography for Dummies" book.

Your photos do take my breath away and leave me in a puddle of drool. I'll never ever get to your level of photography, but you do provide a lot of inspiration to not just gem lovers, but photography lovers as well.

 

[T L]

Auto focus will work better in brighter light, so it could be that outdoors there is more light, so it's focusing better. What about the color balance control? Can you set it for incandescent light, or better yet, make a color balance custom setting by shooting a white piece of paper?

I tried futzing with the color balance to no avail. Incandescent photos are horrid for me. If I try against a white piece of paper, the color balance goes to yellow, and vice versa. I have no luck with artificial light shots unless I'm in Home Depot, or somewhere with very strong overhead lighting.

TL, you use the white paper just to custom set the white balance - not for taking the actual photo (unless you want to, of course). You can use the custom white balance feature in any lighting, not just incandescent, and it's supposed to be more precise than the preset white balance controls.

I don't know Cell, I've tried manually adjusting white balance with white paper in the background, and it just doesn't work for me. I think the lighting in my house also is pitiful and very yellow, which may contribute to the lack of white balance control. Thanks for the advice though.

 

[T L]

Beautiful photos, TL!

Thanks Crasru!

 

[T L]

TL, I think your photos came out great, especially for the price your paid for your new camera. I'm impressed (and a bit jealous - lol)

I know what you mean about sunlight vs indooring lighting. I always took pretty decent photos with very little effort when I lived at 3000ft in the "land of the sun". I just used "auto" everything on the camera and didn't even think about it. Now that I live in the land of "no sun" and in a house that gets no natural light through the windows, even when there is sun, I had to start from scratch in learning how to use my DH's camera with the macro lens that he got me a couple of years ago.

I have spent a bit of time (but not much additional money) playing with my setup because I enjoy the process (although it still can be quite frustrating). Kenny's explanations usually are over my head also, but with a little time spent looking online and some helpful suggestions from Kenny (in plain speak) and others, AND finally actually reading the camera manual, I have figured out some of my problems and my indoor photos come out decent some of the time. I also enjoy trying to get the really closeup inclusion shots, but that still involves MUCH trial and error.

I HAD to invest in fullspectrum bulbs and an inexpensive light box or ALL of my indoor photos would still come out yellow, no matter how I set the camera. As far as the tripod is concerned, I have no option to that either, as I just can't hold the camera steady enough to get a good shot, so I just set up a little area in the spare room with the lights/tripod/cube when I want to take an "up close and personal" shot of my stones.

Thanks, good to hear. It does take amazing photos in sunlight, so that's a plus. However, it's like the UK here. Never a day of sunshine. We had some this morning and it went away immediately.

I need to move to Arizona to take good pics all year round!! LOL!

Sorry about your lighting issues.

 

[kenny]

TL, you are too kind.