macro photography

[jabtas]

Here is a macro taken with an Olympus C4000.

Check out my gallery for some other examples of what this camera is capable of.



Tim

Oly C4000

Canon EOS 50e

http://tim-clay.fotopic.net/

[_shadow]

Thanks Lin for explanation, One more sample, It's a normal size watch. Picture was taken from 12" (~ 30 sm). FZ10, 12x zoom, +4 macro lens.

[_shadow]

forgon to mention, it was only resized to meat site requirements

[bakpakr]

Fixed lens digital cameras may take some nice close up images but they may also be limited in functions someone used to using a good film camera with typical accessories is used to. One issue is macro versus closeup. Many people talk macro but essentially just shoot closeup as I am doing herein.

Can one force the camera to stop down to minimum aperture aka aperture priority?

When stopped down to minimum aperture does a flat target, perpendicular to camera, produce an image sharp corner to corner? In other words does it have small enough aperture to do so? At the normal closeup working distance is the lens corrected for corner to corner frame sharpness? In other words despite the fact the center and corners are different distances.

Can one manually focus withthe cameraand if so is it accurate?

Major advantage of dSLR versus fixed lens digicam is an image too close to fixed lens camera to view due to parallax between the optical viewer and sensor can only be viewed with the lcd display. If outdoors that may be very difficult to view and focus manually at. An optical SLR view is far superior for closeups versus lcd displays.

Is there a tripod socket? Otherwise it is a kids toy.

Is there a way to take a shot at any moment without shaking camera ala cable shutter release or more likely a remote control? One ought not have to depress the actual camera shutter with one's fingers or in many situation shake would result. One needs to be able to do so at an instant as a bug will not wait for your timer to tick off nor will a wildflower stay still in intermittent breezes.

[Lin Evans]

Can one force the camera to stop down to minimum aperture aka aperture priority?

Of course you can. But in many cases with a small sensor fixed lens digicam, depth of field at F4 will be better than DOF at F16 with an SLR.

When stopped down to minimum aperture does a flat target, perpendicular to camera, produce an image sharp corner to corner? In other words does it have small enough aperture to do so? At the normal closeup working distance is the lens corrected for corner to corner frame sharpness? In other words despite the fact the center and corners are different distances.

Yes, absolutely. This depends on the lens design and where, on a zoom range the optimal macro point falls. Just as there are a variety of qualities in 35mm macro lenses there are a variety of qualities in fixed lens digicam's abilities to get great macro shots. The CP series Nikon cameras have incredibly distortion free macro capabilities.

Can one manually focus with the camera and if so is it accurate?

With most fixed lens digicams manual focus in indeed possible, but in most cases it's not necessary for macro work.

Major advantage of dSLR versus fixed lens digicam is an image too close to fixed lens camera to view due to parallax between the optical viewer and sensor can only be viewed with the lcd display. If outdoors that may be very difficult to view and focus manually at. An optical SLR view is far superior for closeups versus lcd displays.

With LCD focus, one uses a sunshade/loupe combination like the PhotoSolve product Xtend-a-View which not only provides a great sunshade which completely blocks any reflection, but also magnifies the LCD for precise focusing and composition. Again, there is almost never a need to focus manually as with the SLR. The much greater relative depth of field makes getting hand held macro shots much more convenient with the fixed lens digicam than with the SLR. A tripod is almost always needed for serious close-in macro work with an SLR and is rarely needed with a fixed lens digicam.

Is there a tripod socket? Otherwise it is a kids toy.

I have a couple dozen fixed lens digicams and they all have tripod sockets. I've never seen a fixed lens digicam without a tripod socket - maybe a "Barbie Cam" doesn't have one, but this is begining to sound like "you" have never seen or used a fixed lens digicam.

Is there a way to take a shot at any moment without shaking camera ala cable shutter release or more likely a remote control? One ought not have to depress the actual camera shutter with one's fingers or in many situation shake would result. One needs to be able to do so at an instant as a bug will not wait for your timer to tick off nor will a wildflower stay still in intermittent breezes.

Many fixed lens digicams come with remote controlled shutter devices which work with infrared. Many others can be used with 3rd party remote release devices. Personally, I use one made by HarborTronics called the DigiSnap 2000. This device allows not only remote release, but also allows computer controlled timed exposures so one can "wake up" the camera, expose, focus, shoot a frame, and repeat at any interval the user selects to get beautiful time-lapse sequences.

Here's a typical CP990 Nikon hand held capture of a small honeybee - In all seriousness, I could not have taken this image with my $9000 11 megapixel Canon EOS-1DS or any of my other professional digital or film SLR's. Try setting up your tripod, getting down to the bug's level, standing on your head to get manual focus, and asking the bee's cooperation with staying put while you compose and shoot.

There is a place for SLR and serious macro work, but in my experience there are far more good macro shots of insects being taken with digicams than with SLR's whether it be digital or film. It's another world you really need to investigate seriously if you are interested in insect macro photography.

Best regards,

Lin

[kex]

I think the Canon Powershot cams do pretty well with macro shots, too.

I got the A60 and I'm still very satisfied with its macro abilities:

[npronpro]

nice capture!