Need Help

[Anilv]

Hello All,
I am a new user to this forum and need some help in buying an digital camera. My main intention for digital camera is to do macro photography. I am not a photography expert so I am looking for some advice from you guys/gals about which is the best digital camera to buy that is easy to use and also be used for macro photography - very close photos. An example would be of precious stones like diamond, ruby, etc...
I am not sure how much I want to spend, but I need a camera that will allow me accomplish extremely close photographs. Appreciate your help...

[sGu]

it's down to camera if you want mainly shoot macro photos, all you need is a macro lens. Camera body will produce images at different resolutions, for a 10D with 6.3 mpx, you can easily print up to A3, is that big enough to meet your needs?

nowadays cameras are pretty good at produce large fine prints, but still down to your personal skills on light manipulation in order to produce creative and quality images, camera is just simply a tool.

1Ds is obviously by far the best to produce largest prints from digital camera, but it costs more than people can afford, well most of us; 1D MKII is also good and new, but still, it's pricy; your best bid would be either 10D or 300D, IMO

[Andy_T]

Anilv,

welcome to the forum.

You're not exactly in the best place, as this forum is for users to sell and buy their cameras.

-> Maybe some moderator could move this to 'Talk about photography'?

When you ask which camera is best, you also have to tell what amount you think about spending. The answer will be different if you say 500$ or 1500$.

Best regards,
Andy

BTW: take a look at this thread: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=38777&highlight=diamond

[Belmondo]

Your wish is my command---good call.

Welcome, Anilv. You're amongst some of the friendliest, most helpful people you're ever likely to encounter. You're now one of us. :wink:

Tom

[Anilv]

Thanks for the reply. I am really looking for big/large photographs for printing. The main purpose is to be able to take macro photographs. Your suggestion of using macro lens is good, but for that I have to buy the digital SLR so that the lens can be changed. Is it possible to achive the same macro photography using the digital point-and-shoot cameras??

it's down to camera if you want mainly shoot macro photos, all you need is a macro lens. Camera body will produce images at different resolutions, for a 10D with 6.3 mpx, you can easily print up to A3, is that big enough to meet your needs?

nowadays cameras are pretty good at produce large fine prints, but still down to your personal skills on light manipulation in order to produce creative and quality images, camera is just simply a tool.

1Ds is obviously by far the best to produce largest prints from digital camera, but it costs more than people can afford, well most of us; 1D MKII is also good and new, but still, it's pricy; your best bid would be either 10D or 300D, IMO

[eastcoast909]

Anilv:

sGu was correct, it depends on what you want. If you are after a physically large print of your picture (greater than 8 X 10) then you are probably not going to use a Point and Shoot digital camera.

Some of the new digital P&S camera's do take very large ( >6 Mpix) photo's however, at a correspondingly larger price than the 4/5 Mpix ones and should be able to produce very large prints.

Most of the P&S Canon cameras (if not all) have a Macro mode on the camera ("S" series and "A" series "G" series), although I would hesitate in describing the "G" series as a P&S :D :D .

There's a whole bunch of people in that forum who would be all over me! :wink: :wink:

All the series I have mentioned also have third party lens adapters and can accept true Macro lens.

Here is a site that uses a G series camera for macro work. http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/shnewday/my_photos, check it out to see if this might be an acceptable quality for you.

You are also going to need a tripod and other accessories, possibly a light box to get the best presentation on jewels, but that can wait until you make your choice in cameras.

Hope that this helps,

[zakmckracken]

Check this website for some samples of macro work, using G1 and G3 cameras:

http://www.mplonsky.com/photo/

There are also some great tutorials on how to shoot macro using different techniques.

This guy is really good ! :shock:

On a personal oppinion I think you should consider the new G6 with the Macro Lens 250D. The 7.1 Mp will give you large prints, and the G series in general are very reliable when shooting in a "set up - prearranged" environment