"Digital Cameras "Which is best for Miniatures"" Topic

Have been trying to figure out brand of camera and pixel number is best for taking photos of miniatures to be used for our internet site.

Features I have been considering are size of the camera, size of viewing screen, ease of operation, dependability,
close up sharpness & clarity, depth of field, and versility.

I have been looking at the Nikon 3100 & 3200 as well as the Olympus C-720 & C-740.

Kodak and Fuji did not seem to have the close up focusing sharpness needed.

3200 pixels seems to fit the bill and price range I wanted to stay in around $300.00 to $350.00

Your experience & comments are welcomed.

Thanks Skip

I have an older Olympus camera that does a pretty good job so the C-720 or C-740 should do what you want it to do. Remember, since you will be posting to a website, resolution is less critical. Ability to capture close in detail is key.

John

I've got a Fuji Finepix A210 for something of the order 150 quid from Argos and it seems to work superbly.

And it's Linux-friendly

They're pretty much all good - the quality of the picture is 10% camera, 90% person operating the camera.

I've been using a 3.2 megapixel from HP – model 735 Photosmart. It has a very easy to use built-in macro function, and I'm pretty pleased with the results. You can see examples here:

link

and here:

link

I think that the three key features, in order, are Macro mode, manual focus, and manual exposure settings. I have a Canon A60 (£99, 2 megapixels) and it does a fantastic job, at least when I'm using it properly!

Here's a sample of 10mm figures using the A60. There are several problems here ( the centre figures are in focus but the one on the left isn't; the figures are at the wrong angle; horrible background to use; lighting not right, etc. ) but almost any decent camera can get this sort of detail.

link

I'd agree that the user has more effect on quality than the camera but what you really need to be sure of for close-ups is a good quality lens. I went for Canon (an A70 3MPx) because of this and wasn't dissapointed. Fuji get good press Nikon - great if you can afford them, I don't think that they are particularly good value though, a cheaper one will do the job well enough.

If the auto settings are good and have a wide range of options (I know that sounds daft but you CAN have different type of automiatic settings) then manual focus isn't essential (though if you can get it it is a plus).

My main problem is always the lighting, I'm still learning to get it right.

Tony H

I'll ditto djmit44 on the Canon A60. You can go with the A70 if you want 3mp, but 2mp seems fine for me.

Doug

I disagree with the coment of the macro mode being most important. My camera has an excellent macro mode (down to 1.2 inches) but at that range your depth of field goes way down. It's OK if your photographing one miniature or a bunch of mini's in a horizontal line, but if you take close-up shots of a group of minis - some closer and some farther away - then only the figs in the center will be in focus while the others will be blurred. Better to take the photo from about a foot away and then crop in am image editor to "blow up" (enlarge) the picture. The act of cropping, of course, reduces resolution so that's why you want the extra megapixels.

I like my Canon Digital Rebel. :)

Liam

I have an older model Olympus D500L and it still kicks ass. The nice thing about it is that is has an adapter ring so I can add a macro lens (which I picked up for $99 online). This really makes the close-up shots sharp and crystal clear.

Also keep in mind that your lighting is going to play a big part in how the initial pics look before you do any tweaking with image editing software. Root around this board and you'll find some really helpful info on lighting.

-Dante

I want to thank everyone for their comments and suggestions thus far.

One thing I probably did not mention but a few of you have brought up is the software needed to interface with the computer. Hope I said that right.

Is there is a difference between the Nikon & Olympus & Canon & HP regarding this?

Thanks Skip

Almost all digital cameras will come with some sort of TWAIN-driven software to download the images to your machine. Likewise, they almost always come with some sort of image editing software. Mine came with Adobe Photoshop LE (Limited Edition)--a watered-down version of Photoshop.

You can, however, download a program called Paint Shop Pro which is a really stripped down type of Photoshop. It's a LOT cheaper than Adobe's software ($69 compared to $699).

I'm sure there are a ton of other programs out there that others would recommend. This was just off the top of my head. Oh--by the way, "TWAIN" literally stands for "Technology Without An Interesting Name". I'm not making that up. You can look it up www.techweb.com

-Dante

First of all, go to this website: dpreview.com

THE BEST online reviews of digital cameras anywhere. Keep in mind that they are reviewing based on professional use in a lot of cases. But they have reviews of old cameras still on there.

For used cameras on Ebay or elsewhere:
Nikon 990 and 995 are some of the best cameras you will find. I prefer the older 990 as it takes rechargeable AA batteries and doesn't require the proprietary lithium ion like the 995. Spares are cheaper to buy and you can have more of them this way.

Olympus E10 or E20; very nice optics and all the settings you will ever need. E10 takes the AA batteries like the 990 and I prefer it because of this.

Sony with the large bayonet lense. Sony DSC-F717. They have a newer 8 MP model Sony DSC-F828, so the older one has dropped in price.

New cameras?

If I was going to outlay for a new camera, I wouldn't buy anything but a digital SLR. Why? Because ALL cameras will be outmoded. With the SLR, you can take your existing lenses and not lose the investment. We are talking major bucks here, however ;- )

Canon, Sony and Nikon make the best ones in my opinion. Get one with macro, larger lense and you should be good to go.

If you want to save some bucks, look at my used camera list. You may be able to find old store stock from some dealers online since the 6 and 8 MP converters have replaced the older models in many cases.

You don't need more than 3 MP, by the way. More MP just gives you a larger image. The quality comes from the lense and the digital conversion process.

By the way, I was the technology manager of a large regional grocery chain. I have been purchasing digital cameras in quantity and using them for 7 years now. I have personally used all with the exception of the Sony mentioned above. Kodak is unreliable in the long run. I had 5 break in my department! Not problems with the 990. The 995 was good but not as rugged as the 990. The Olympus E10 and E20 are very durable as well. Canon makes excellent cameras too.

Cheers and good hunting,

Chris

Paint Shop Pro most certainly is NOT a 'stripped down version of Photoshop' it has a very different methodology and screen/toolbox layout. In many respects it is better than Photoshop for a casual user but it does lack some of Photoshops more sophisticated filters and methods. There are compensations in other areas (it deals with vectors and layers better) but most are not evident when you only want to play with photographs.

Personally I prefer it but I think even PSP is a bit overpowered for just tidying up photos, there are many easier to use freebies out there.

Tony H

Gildas, you say tomato, I say to-mato. ;-}~

"Fuji did not seem to have the close up focusing sharpness needed."

HUH...????

Fuji have excellent Macro lenses, not only do you get a standard Macro lense but you get a Super Macro as well, This means you have to be careful cos you can easily get close enough to have the figure banging against the lense, also you have the added super bonus of manual focus as well as auto ( which is a serious must ), and to top it all you can also manually adjust the depth of field, all these features are on easy to reach buttons ( No need to search though a menu system.

All hail king FUJI... :-)

ooooops.. I forgot about your price range, I was referring to the Fuji S7000 zoom Camera...

Btw.. DONT get a Nikon coolpix

Ancientsgamer wrote: "If I was going to outlay for a new camera, I wouldn't buy anything but a digital SLR.

Me too – but not for photographing my toy soldiers.

A digital SLR would be complete overkill if all you want to do is take pictures of your miniatures and the occasional snapshot.

And, if you're not going to make large prints or just want pictures to stick up on the Internet, a decent point and shoot with a quality lense is quite capable of taking miniatures shots just as good as those coming from any SLR -and the point and shoot will easily come in at well under half the price of the cheapest SLRs currently available.

The small sensors used in point and shoots require the use of very wide angle lenses which give you a greater depth of field than that obtainable with a Macro lense on an SLR.

"You don't need more than 3 MP, by the way. More MP just gives you a larger image. The quality comes from the lense and the digital conversion process."

3 MP works fine for small prints and the Internet though more pixels can always come in handy. As Dave Gamer pointed out the larger image means that you can take your picture from further away ( with your subject taking up only part of the frame ) then crop. This will give you an improved depth of field over taking the picture from close in and filling the frame.

Things that I find really important are a quality lense and lots of manual control.

For miniatures photography I would not want to use a camera without full control of aperture ( the aperture used determines your depth of field ) , full control of focus ( either full manual control or spot autofocus ) . I also require exposure compensation and the ability to manually set the white balance.

Dave Gamer wrote: "They're pretty much all good – the quality of the picture is 10% camera, 90% person operating the camera."

Not if the camera doesn't have manual controls – if you're operating in fully programmed mode then you're lumbered with the settings determined by the camera and all you can do is point it in the right direction. Though this will give adequate or even good photographs more often than you might think.

See my photgraphing miniatures site at
link

going back a long way to answer the query from DJMIT44 about depth of field - if you're using the canon A40/60/70 cameras then zoom in to 3.0 and bring your camera back, away from the subject.

The high zoom modes have the smallest aperture setting and hence the biggest depth of field.

a magnifying close up lens helps as well - and be aware that the early models of the A range had a software problem that affected close up focus - there is a download patch on the Canon website.

Si2

Boltaction: You are doing three things there.

1) Forcing the camera to set a smaller aperture (thereby increasing your depth of field) by upping the zoom.

2) Shooting from further away. This will also increase your depth of field.

But

3) Upping the zoom increases the focal length of the lense and thereby DECREASES the depth of field.

1 and 2 will not compensate for 3 in all situations.

the way the canon software works is that at highest zoom you get the smallest aperture - I get a much deeper depth of field like this anyhow. Digital software doesn't always work like mechanical lens hardware in real cameras

Si

The pics on my website getemonthefield.com are my VERY first efforts with a digital camera and miniatures. They were done on a borrowed Nikon Coolpix 3200 and I liked em enough to go out and buy a 4300 for myself.