Ultrazooms in Denistry?

[Kamran]

Hi,

I want to know if ultrzoom cameras like S2 IS, H1 and FZ series are able toget satisfying resultas a macro camera for dental officeuse.

If this is true, they have many attractions compared to a DSLR, such as lower price, simplicity and of course over 10X zoom capability.

What I'm concerning, is the amount of distortion of ultrazoom lenses in macro photography.

Does anybody know about this issue?

[mtclimber]

Kamran-

Take the Canon S-2 IS for example, there have been few cases of reported distorted images due to barrel distortion at the closest ranges, and the S-2 can get very close in the Super Macro mode.

Perhaps the best way to verify this is to look at large collections of macro images, such as this link which contains many macro images from the S-2.

http://www.dcresource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7041

MT

[schmiedel]

Well,

Talking about the S2, here's my experience:

SuperMacro works from 0-12cm more or less, and causes some minor barrel distortion.

Macro Mode has trouble focusing if too close, and sometimes small subjects can cause trouble using this mode.

Normal mode with superzoom (full 12x) is known to cause some pincushion distortion, but I can't notice it on my pictures.

I use my S2 with wide angle lenses (0.7x Raynox) and Tele lenses (1.5x Olympus). Raynox has some cool macro lenses, check different solutions from Lensmate: http://www.lensmateonline.com/newsite/S2.html

I really don't think that any P&S camera will render you excellent results without add-on lenses due to focusing distances, however some add-on lenses with good characteristics might solve the problem for you.

Regards

[Kamran]

MT, schmiedel,

thank you.

both links were very useful.