Calling MonkeyPie, Beau or any other photographers!

[Maisie]

Further to our chat in SMTR I wanted to ask more about macro settings on point and shoot cameras.

Its obviously much cheaper for me to buy a ''normal'' camera rather than a posh one with lots of lenses. The camera I have at the minute is a Sony Cybershot DSC-W80. I looked it up and it says the macro setting is:

Macro Focus Range: 1.57 in. to Infinity (w) / 13.78 in. to Infinity (t)

Whatever that means lol! Its all very technical to me. If I want to take fabulous photos with a normal camera what should I be looking for. I want to photograph my children and my rings.

I know that this subject has been done a lot but I really would like some fresh perspective. (roughly translated means its easier to ask again than search. I know, I am bad)

 

[MonkeyPie]

Hi Maisie!

What you want to look for is how close you can get to your subject - the closer you can get (either phsyically moving the camera, or zooming in) the better. Let me research your camera that you have and I''ll see if you need something more than that - I haven''t looked at the Cybershots in a long time.

 

[MonkeyPie]

Ok so what I see is this:
In macro mode you''ll be able to get as close to your subject as 4 cm at wide-angle and 35 cm at telephoto.

You want to be able to do better than that. From what I can tell it isn''t a true macro, and the macro setting is shoddy at best. (This is judging by the amount of reviews I have read complaining about how it has a "brown" cast and is hard to focus.)

When you''re looking at cameras, you want to look at reviews. If you want a Point and Shoot like this one that has better capabilites, that is. Take a look here:

http://www.imaging-resource.com/WB/WB.HTM?view=dp_macro

All of these are recommended by their macro first and foremost.

 

[Maisie]

Thanks MP! I really appreciate you taking the time to help me. I agree that the macro on my camera is pretty useless! I can''t get as close as I would like to because the thing I am looking at gets blurry. I maybe get 1 in 50 clear photos!

I am off to read those reviews now.

 

[MonkeyPie]

Date: 4/10/2009 3:11:15 PM
Author: Maisie
Thanks MP! I really appreciate you taking the time to help me. I agree that the macro on my camera is pretty useless! I can''t get as close as I would like to because the thing I am looking at gets blurry. I maybe get 1 in 50 clear photos!

I am off to read those reviews now.

I totally understand - it took me ages to figure my macro settings properly on my Powershot (this was long before my bigger cameras). A tripod makes a HUGE difference even if you have Image Stablization on your camera. You can get a little desktop tripod for around $10 that works just fine.

 

[strmrdr]

zoom 1/2-3/4 the way out and shoot from ~10-12 inches from the ring.
That should get you the best quality from that camera.
I used one about a week ago to take some insurance photos for a friend.
It does a decent job at macro if the light is right.
It will not focus in low light or if there isn't enough contrast.
Try sitting the ring on a dark background. either blue or black.
Or use the focus trick here:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/bling-pictures-understanding-focus.75890/

 

[MonkeyPie]

Date: 4/10/2009 3:31:20 PM
Author: strmrdr
zoom 1/2-3/4 the way out and shoot from ~10-12 inches from the ring.
That should get you the best quality from that camera.
I used one about a week ago to take some insurance photos for a friend.
It does a decent job at macro if the light is right.
It will not focus in low light or if there isn''t enough contrast.
Try sitting the ring on a dark background. either blue or black.
Or use the focus trick here:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/bling-pictures-understanding-focus.75890/

Karl touched on something here that may tide you over until you get a new camera - shoot on the regular, not macro settings, from about a foot away, and then crop around your ring/gem. It will give you something close to macro, it will just be zoomed in. I''m pretty sure this is what Beau does, judging by her images.

 

[EricaR]

I highly highly recommend the Canon SD series of point and shoot camera. I have a big Nikon DSLR but grab my Canon just as often. It takes great macro photos, and I''ve used it for some amazing wildlife/nature photos.

 

[beau13]

Date: 4/10/2009 3:37:05 PM
Author: MonkeyPie

Date: 4/10/2009 3:31:20 PM
Author: strmrdr
zoom 1/2-3/4 the way out and shoot from ~10-12 inches from the ring.
That should get you the best quality from that camera.
I used one about a week ago to take some insurance photos for a friend.
It does a decent job at macro if the light is right.
It will not focus in low light or if there isn''t enough contrast.
Try sitting the ring on a dark background. either blue or black.
Or use the focus trick here:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/bling-pictures-understanding-focus.75890/

Karl touched on something here that may tide you over until you get a new camera - shoot on the regular, not macro settings, from about a foot away, and then crop around your ring/gem. It will give you something close to macro, it will just be zoomed in. I''m pretty sure this is what Beau does, judging by her images.

I shoot jewelry or insects, & flowers with the macro setting always..but I do crop them, to zoom in even more.

 

[Octavia]

Date: 4/10/2009 3:14:24 PM
Author: MonkeyPie
A tripod makes a HUGE difference even if you have Image Stablization on your camera. You can get a little desktop tripod for around $10 that works just fine.

Just a note on this -- with a lot of P&S cameras, you should actually turn off the image stabilization if you're using a tripod. The way IS works, parts of the lens mechanism moves to compensate for user movement. With a tripod, there's no user movement, so the movement created by IS can cause your photos to be blurry. It's not true for every single P&S, but I know it is for mine...so if you find that your photos are still blurry with a tripod, try turning it off and see what happens.

 

[MonkeyPie]

Date: 4/11/2009 12:59:14 PM
Author: Octavia

Date: 4/10/2009 3:14:24 PM

Author: MonkeyPie

A tripod makes a HUGE difference even if you have Image Stablization on your camera. You can get a little desktop tripod for around $10 that works just fine.

Just a note on this -- with a lot of P&S cameras, you should actually turn off the image stabilization if you''re using a tripod. The way IS works, parts of the lens mechanism moves to compensate for user movement. With a tripod, there''s no user movement, so the movement created by IS can cause your photos to be blurry. It''s not true for every single P&S, but I know it is for mine...so if you find that your photos are still blurry with a tripod, try turning it off and see what happens.

That''s a good point. Some of them shut the mechanism off if there''s no movement, too.