Camera for close-up photography ?
 

Am interested in purchasing my first digital camera. One of my prime uses will be to copy pages from books and areas of charts. The library I use allows digital cameras, but NOT flash.

The material copied will be stored on my computer for use as reference material only.

Would like some suggestions as to what I need to look for in a camera.

The answer is take a look at the Nikon line.

But more importantly get a tripod. If you are going to be taking pictures where you can't get extra light from a flash, you will want something to hold the camera steady in low light.

I agree, Nikons have great macro capabilities

Re: Camera for close-up photography ?
 

This actually depends on the size of the area you intend to copy. FIRST, if you intend to copy a whole page, almost all average cameras with a descent lens plus one or two close-up lenses can do it. SECOND, you will need a camera with very good macro capability only if you need to copy the size of a $0.37 stamp. The Nikon Coolpix 4500 is the king of all macro capable cameras especially that you can point its lens to whatever direction freely. (Or, if you don't mind, there are many 950 and 990 available on eBay with good price.) If you do not need such capability, a cheaper camera with a descent close focusing capability with a set of reasonable close-up lenses will satisfy your need because you perhaps don't care too much about the image quality as long as you can read it easily. In this case, Nikon's Coolpix 2500 is also good. I mention Coolpix 2500 is because it is on its way out and can be had for less than $200.00 on eBay and elsewhere. A set of close-up lenses with +1, +2, +4 diopter costs you about $50.00 and cheaper on eBay. Of course, you can also use other cameras.

In addition to a camera plus close-up lenses if necessary, you will perhaps need a light source that can be placed more than 20cm to 30cm away from the book/paper to be copied and still can provide sufficient illumination. A tripod is of course also needed.

If you are interested in Coolpix 2500, please refer to the "Close Up" and "Copy" pages of my 2500 user guide. If you are interested in a good macro camera (e.g.,Coolpix 4500), please take a look at the following links:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...essage=4936523
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...essage=4940566
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...essage=5021937
The magnification used in these links are not very accurate. However, you can use the ruler shown in each image to make a comparison/decision.

In general, you can use indoor lighting to do your copy job; however, shutter could be too slow and the white balance may be difficult to handle. Try Nikon's SL-1 Cool-Light or Samigon's FRL-1 Halo Ring Light. You can find the information near the bottom of my 950/990/995/4500 user guide.

Hope this can help you make a good decision.

CK
http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam
Nikon Coolpix 950/990/995/2500/4500 user guide