Most important feature for good close ups

I am about to have my son in only 2 more months! I am interested in learning more about photography. Since becoming pregnant I have gotten really interested in it after seeing some gorgeous infant/maternity photography. I want a camera that I can take pics of my family and my son and have clear good quality pictures. I would like to be able to blow them up as well...possibly 11x14's. I want to be able to take close ups of my little boy when he arrives...I am looking to spend less than 300.00. I just want to get the best I can for that...Hopefully I can upgrade again soon! Any advice on what to look at or what features are most important for those types of pictures? Any help would be AWESOME!!!

well congratulations!! first on the baby and second on the interst of photography.. if i'm not over stepping i'd like to suggest that you get maternity shots taken.... you could maybe even find a photographer on here.. as for cameras for the budget you have in mind I might suggest a used Pro 1 or any of the G-series cameras they can often be found at good prices.. you won't be able to accomplish a lot of DOF with the sensor sizes but, if you're willing to invest a bit more money there are used 10D's or rebels with the nifty lens that you will get you far..

sari

I am sorry what do you mean by DOF?

meganecp wrote in post #2226876
I am sorry what do you mean by DOF?

depth of field.. when you look at baby close-up shots what you see is often a lot of selective focus.. the composition on the foot with the rest of the baby blurry or Out of focus in the background.. DOF is one of the best tools in close-up portrait photography... you accomplish this by shooting with a large apperture (or small number).. this allows you to pick and choose your DOF.. when you have point and shoot cameras.. (cameras with smaller sensors they aren't capable of shooting with a lot of DOF and creating bokeh).. that's where the DSLR's come in... the camera's with interchangeable lens choices.. you have to choose them by speed, the smaller the number the faster the lens.. for example my 50mm 1.8 is faster then my 70-200 4.0, focal length.. a point and shoot will often have more zoom capabilities than DSLR's because we have to buy them to be able to shoot close-up or far away. ... I know there are folks better at explaining this.. In general it's all about what you want out of your photos.. You maybe perfectly happy with a point and shoot camera.. and there are some very nice ones out there.. but, what you maybe seeing is portraits that you can't really accomplish with point and shoot cameras.. and if so, there are some fairly inexpensive choices out there... for example a used rebel can be had for five hundred dollars and a 50mm 1.8 is under a hundred dollars.. there are ofcourse memory cards, batteries, flashes, other lenses etc.. that come along with owning a DSLR.. it's all a matter of what you want out of it and what you're willing to spend..

sari

Welcome to POTN, meganecp, and congrats on your new arrival.

With a budget around $300 (US Dollars), I think the Powershot A620 or A630 are your best bets. They are both quality cameras. The A630 has more mega pixels, which will allow you to print bigger enlargements while maintaining decent image quality. They are both easy to use with a lot of the same features that are found on the more expensive cameras. You will have a lot of fun with both and you will take a lot of great pictures.

Thanks!! I am going to check into those cams

Here is a picture I like....I am trying to post a pic for the first time so I hope this works!

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That's a very nice photo. Thanks for sharing. That is a great example of the DOF that Sari mentioned. The focus is on the baby's foot while the background is recognizable but out of focus.

meganecp wrote in post #2226851
I am about to have my son in only 2 more months!

Congradulations!!!

meganecp wrote in post #2226851
I am interested in learning more about photography.

Many cameras on the market today take great pics easily blowing up to 11x14. So much of this depends on what you want. There are a number of quality SLR-like P/S cameras such as Canons S3, Nikons 8700/8800. Fiji's 9000 all of which will deliver what you have described. Additionally, they are powerfull enough to to keep one busy for a long time unless your looking for some specific feature like changable lenses, multiple pics a second, spot metering or such.

meganecp wrote in post #2226851
...... I want a camera that I can take pics of my family and my son and have clear good quality pictures. I would like to be able to blow them up as well...possibly 11x14's.

Pretty much any P/S of 5 m-pixles or more will do this.

meganecp wrote in post #2226851
I want to be able to take close ups of my little boy when he arrives...

Canons 100mm Macro with a full set of Kenko tubes. That'll get you down to the pore level.

meganecp wrote in post #2226851
I am looking to spend less than 300.00. I just want to get the best I can for that...Hopefully I can upgrade again soon! Any advice on what to look at or what features are most important for those types of pictures? Any help would be AWESOME!!!

Any of the above though a bit over the $300, but not by much, are very good cameras capable of just about anything a DSLR is capable of. They also have quite flexible lenses going from macro to telephoto without changing the lens.

What about this camera?

Powershot s3 IS

I hear the S3 is a very good camera too. It is regarded by many to be better than the A series. I think it costs more than $300.

For the budget, there isn't anything better. In fact, if you want better performance than the S3, which I consider to be pretty much the very top end of the point and shoot category, you will be headed into digital SLR territory, and that will be AT LEAST 2-3X more expensive.

Note.....you're unlikely to get the attractive background blur that the DSLRs offer (a known limitation of the S3) except in extreme closeups.