advice needed please

[fred]

Hi All
I have received this PM from one of our fellow geeks asking for advice for a camera also with taking photos of close ups of blooms.

thanks Fred

Questions

I need help in close ups of my orchids. What are the best criteria for getting the best color picture and the best focus on the picture? Is there a good camera that wold do both that you would recommend ?

[Orchidementia]

Good lighting is the most important thing when taking macros, no matter what kind of camera.

It would be helpful to know if this person wanted an DSLR, SLR, or a point and shoot type camera, and how much s/he wanted to spend.

[fred]

Rachel I posted the info and sent a message back with a link to this thread

I think we could be looking at what sort of camera to buy or what sort of camera do we use and somewhere in the ball park of price
example .. ( like I replied a canon powershot + my Olympus DSLR )

so we are looking at what camera ( open to suggestions )

also in my reply I have said that the Canon powershot ( 6 meg ) is a good camera with manual settings.
Also a Tripod

The Olympus DSLR ( 10 meg ) is also a good camera with a Macro lens and a Tripod

I do not know the members recommended budget

I guess for a newbie to play around with the Canon powershot is a fairly reasonable priced camera that will take good close up at around $250 dollars


as I alao said that the Olympus with a Macro lens is in the ball park of $1,000 dollars

Tripods can be from anything from $20.00 to 4 to 5 hundred dollars

gosh this post had me thinking of when I went shopping for the prices

[Orchidementia]

The set up I usually use (Canon Xsi 10.1 MP + macro lens + filter + macro ring flash or zoom lens) is about US $2K but I think I've gotten some very nice pics with my Sony CyberShot 7 MP with Zeiss lens - a point and shoot - that I bought for around $200.00.

Practice (and good lighting!) more than anything though is the most important thing. I have a nice camera and equipment because my husband loves me a lot. If it were just me doing the equipping, I'd be using the Sony exclusively!

Part of what my husband does involves evaluating cameras, and the reason he got me the one he did is because it has the best options and performance. In his opinion, to get a better one, you'd have to pay much, much more.

[hera]

Aren't you spoiled

[Andrew]

Budget is of course the first question. SLR's and macro lenses are great for those who can afford them. Though not as flexible as a SLR+macro lens+tripod with rails, I've had reasonable success using just a compact camera and a tripod. Most mid range digital compacts have a macro setting and allow you to adjust the aperture, shutter speed, etc and manually override the autofocus. I use an Olympus C770 - I don't recall the tripod model off hand. I use the super zoom setting and stop down the aperture to maximise DOF and use either a remote shutter release or the camera's timer to reduce camera shake. Yes, it's a bit fiddly but as I still haven't made the upgrade from film to digital SLR it's much easier for putting photo's on the web that my other camera.

[1buzz]

I am the guy above that Fred calls " one of our fellow geeks" Thanks for all your suggestions. I am really new at this and I'm willing to pay for better close up orchid pictures. To be more specific: I am only interested in taking close up pictures of my Orchids. I have trouble getting the orchid in focus and getting the colors looking good (especially the white on Orchids). I have a pretty good Camera (Fuji FinePix S9000) It can take Macro and Raw pictures. I intend to get a tripod but I think if I could get closer in focus by way of my camera (maybe by some sort of close up attachment) and/or by buying another camera I hope I can could do better. Would I be better off with a SLR camera that I could change lenses (so I could get closer pictures ie macro lenses) or would I be better off with a camera like Canon Powershot that can get me good RAW format and able to get me closer to the orchid by way of their 1 CM Macro CM Macro.I am really impressed by RAW format as to what it can do to make the close up orchid picture better than JPG. Thanks Buzz Kemble

[ Edit please do not post email address in the open forum please use the PMing system ]

[Tarad]

I have a Canon Powershot that takes pretty nice pics, but i always wish I had bought the next more expensive one Tara

[Orchidementia]

Originally Posted by 1buzz

I am the guy above that Fred calls " one of our fellow geeks" Thanks for all your suggestions. I am really new at this and I'm willing to pay for better close up orchid pictures. To be more specific: I am only interested in taking close up pictures of my Orchids. I have trouble getting the orchid in focus and getting the colors looking good (especially the white on Orchids). I have a pretty good Camera (Fuji FinePix S9000) It can take Macro and Raw pictures. I intend to get a tripod but I think if I could get closer in focus by way of my camera (maybe by some sort of close up attachment) and/or by buying another camera I hope I can could do better. Would I be better off with a SLR camera that I could change lenses (so I could get closer pictures ie macro lenses) or would I be better off with a camera like Canon Powershot that can get me good RAW format and able to get me closer to the orchid by way of their 1 CM Macro CM Macro.I am really impressed by RAW format as to what it can do to make the close up orchid picture better than JPG. Thanks Buzz Kemble <ekemble@sbcglobal.net>

You will get better quality pictures from a DSLR. RAW/jpg doesn't make any difference in focusing the shot; those are just two ways of handling data.

My Canon DSLR stores images in jpg and RAW; many of the newer models do.

[Sugar Magnolia]

I have a Samsung BL1050. My bf gave it to me so I have no idea what it costs, but it is amazing. A tripod makes a super huge difference, to me at least. Even though my camera has an 'image stabilization' feature (for my shakey hands), the tripod seems to work the best.

[1buzz]

OK,I'v been looking for what I have been told what I should do to get good close up pictures of my Orchids . You need to have a DSLR camera because of the ability to interchange lenses so i can have a Macro lens. I have checked out some of the best and Canon EOS 400D as the Camera and Canon EF 100 MM F2.8 Macro as the lens.They combine to be about $1450.00 . Then there is a cheaper model Olympus E 520 as the camera and Zuiko 35Mm F3.5 Macro as the lens. They combine to be about $538.I would love to have the cheaper model but I want to have good quality and good focus. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[kid a]

I bought a nikon coolpix L18 last year and have had excellent results with it at only 8 mp. When I bought it was around $150 now they have better Nikon coolpix models for the same price with higher mp. It was pretty cheap and works very well for me! Here is an example of what an 8mp nikon coolpix can do:I think Restrpia muscifera is preggerz!!!!
there is a picture of a close up of a very small seed pod you can see how small by noticeing the lettering on the tag next to the pod for comparison lol.

[tansyflower]

I have been eyeing off new cameras as well.

My current one is only a 4mp Fujifilm s5500, which has been fantastic BUT same as Buzz's, I don't seem to get that super macro detail.

Does anyone have any thoughts as to 2nd hand cameras? Or (like most electrical/techy things) is it a waste of time and possibly money?

I was actually eyeing off a Fujifilm s9500 on Ebay. From what I understand from reading this I still won't get the close-up detail???

[plucker]

I have a Canon powershot SX100IS and have had a fair amount of success with the macro mode.

Like it has been said, I think the most important thing is a tripod to steady the ship. My previous camera would simply not take a clear picture without it.

The next important bit is the light. My camera has light settings which I can manually adjust to suit the conditions. I usually adjust the exposure settings and also the white balance to match the conditions.

I can end up taking dozens of photos and delete just about all before I find the best one. Digital is great.

My camera only cost a few hundred A$ and is suffice for my needs at this stage.

[Orchidementia]

Originally Posted by 1buzz

OK,I'v been looking for what I have been told what I should do to get good close up pictures of my Orchids . You need to have a DSLR camera because of the ability to interchange lenses so i can have a Macro lens. I have checked out some of the best and Canon EOS 400D as the Camera and Canon EF 100 MM F2.8 Macro as the lens.They combine to be about $1450.00 . Then there is a cheaper model Olympus E 520 as the camera and Zuiko 35Mm F3.5 Macro as the lens. They combine to be about $538.I would love to have the cheaper model but I want to have good quality and good focus. Any thoughts or suggestions?

That's not a bad price on the Canon; you might want to wait until they offer the package with the upgraded kit lens and buy the macro lens separately. Also, the equipped flash is adequate for some situations - but will often cast shadows you don't want; you may be unhappy with your images until you practice a bit.

Don't forget to tack on however much Photoshop (or Aperture) is going for these days to your price; you'll need some sort of decent program to process your photos, no matter whether you use RAW or jpg.

[pitik101]

Originally Posted by 1buzz

OK,I'v been looking for what I have been told what I should do to get good close up pictures of my Orchids . You need to have a DSLR camera because of the ability to interchange lenses so i can have a Macro lens. I have checked out some of the best and Canon EOS 400D as the Camera and Canon EF 100 MM F2.8 Macro as the lens.They combine to be about $1450.00 . Then there is a cheaper model Olympus E 520 as the camera and Zuiko 35Mm F3.5 Macro as the lens. They combine to be about $538.I would love to have the cheaper model but I want to have good quality and good focus. Any thoughts or suggestions?

With you really wanted DSLR - Canon DLSR body with 100mmF2.8 is a great macro set-up, it will give you life size images. Alternatively, a Nikon body with 105mmF2.8. External flash unit (ring flash will be ultimate) will be a great advantage on low light situation. A tripod or even a monopod will help you stabilize your camera set-up during photo shoot against shake. This set-up does come with a price, especially if you are going for that specialized macro lenses.

My cheapo set-up for macro/closeup is with 50mmF1.8 plus kenko extension tube and external flash with diffuser. I won't recommend the even cheaper manual focus extension tubes, bellows, stacked lenses and reverse lens set-up which will yield even higher magnification since your quite a newbie. You can explore that once you feel comfortable with macro and getting the hang of it.

My suggestion is to get your hands first on the set-up you want, go to a camera store try it and see how it feels.

Some P&S camera option that yield DSLR like macro images are Canon's Powershot SX10 IS and SX1 IS....both of which comes with a 28mm lens and 20X optical zoom (yes, 20x )

hope those helps in your decision making...rather than confuse you more.

[1buzz]

Well after getting the forum’s suggestions I decided against buying a new DSLR Olympus camera and Macro lens for $538 because they say it is very difficult to focus. Instead I came across a pretty good DSLR Camera on E-Bay for $500 with no sales tax & no shipping costs. I got a Canon EOS Digital Rebel with two separate lenses thrown in. The first lens is the one that went with the camera Canon EF-S 18-55 MM F3.5-5.6 but the sale also included a Macro lens , Canon EF-S 60 MM F 2.8 Macro. It's the second lens that should help me improve my focus and quality of my close ups of my Orchids. The camera also has a good RAW + JPEG format. Thanks again for all your suggestions and lets hope it stays together. I must say that tansyflower gave me the idea of looking for a second hand DSLR camera on E-Bay. Maybe some day I can get what the experts say is the best Canon lens for close ups , Canon EF-S 100 MM F2.8 Macro which is a major step up. I would appreciate any of your thoughts and suggestion about my camera and/or the lenses.

[plucker]

You can get tripods really cheap which will help for your photos.
I have also used a piece of ply and put a mat coat of black paint on it for a background. It is against the house and doesn't get in the way. It was the cheapest way I could manage the background thing.