S5Is: How to take Macro Photos?

I just rec'd Canon S5IS 3 days ago, and I'm stumped. I'm used to taking macro photos for last 6 years with a Sony DSC707, and it took really good shots. All I had to do was leave it on Auto, press the Macro button, zoom all the way out, and it worked great.

My macro photos on the S5IS are blurry and terrible. I need to take shots of coins using normal indoor lighting.I have a lot of photo experience, but this has me stumped.

Either I'm doing something wrong, or the camera is defective(unlikely!) and I need ro return it quick.

Can someone point me to correct step-by-step procedures for making Macro and Super-Macro work? I find the manuals very unsatisfying on this.

Thanks so much, RJ

Post an example?

OK, here is attached example of photo of a quarter.
Some are a tad better, but none are nearly as sharp as other older and cheaper cameras I have around.
Taken in decent overhead and nearby lighting. 4" from lens. Zoom all the way out. No flash.


Handheld, shooting on AUTO, using defaults. ( I do note that the shutter speeds on this camera, indoors, no-flash, are very bad. Why so low? My 6-yo Sony is much more capable than this.

And why is SuperMacro only available in the non-Auto modes?

Who out here is using Macro indoors? As you know, you can't really use a flash on a really close subject--you get huge reflections. Is this camera's Macro only feasible for outdoors, like flowers and bugs?
Thanks,
RJ

I just rec'd Canon S5IS 3 days ago, and I'm stumped. I'm used to taking macro photos for last 6 years with a Sony DSC707, and it took really good shots. All I had to do was leave it on Auto, press the Macro button, zoom all the way out, and it worked great.

My macro photos on the S5IS are blurry and terrible. I need to take shots of coins using normal indoor lighting.I have a lot of photo experience, but this has me stumped.

Either I'm doing something wrong, or the camera is defective(unlikely!) and I need ro return it quick.

Can someone point me to correct step-by-step procedures for making Macro and Super-Macro work? I find the manuals very unsatisfying on this

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The only Macro indoors shot I think I have is of crayons. And the first couple came our blurry like above, I at first thought it was my camera, turned out it wasn't, was just me.
Hope you get it worked out!

Have you tried manual focus?

I don't know about S5IS, but, my A720IS. I put the A720IS in macro mode and leave the lens at the wide end, I then get the camera within an inch or so of my subject.

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Thanks. I have tried that. Problem is, the camera shifts the shutter speed to around 1/15, which is impossible to hand-hold, thus blurry shots. I need to be able to take shots with normal/plentiful indoor lighting.
I'd prefer not to have to shift over to Manual each time I do macro. I can't figure out why my ancient Sony DSCf707 from 2001 can easily do this on Auto, with only 5MP, yet this new S5IS struggles. Also, on Amazon all the reviews rave about the Macro. But how? It seems S5IS doesn't have a lens designed to do indoor photos without a flash? I am fairly certain problem is with me, not the camera, but what I really need is some kind of guide or forum or ? that lists advice and tips on how to do macro shots well with this thing, and I can't find it.

http://www.s5users.com​/forum/index.php

If by "Auto", you mean the "Green Box", that doesn't let you set ISO; you had a 1/8 sec. exposure at ISO 200 which accounts for a good deal of blurriness. Setting ISO to something faster and adding more light will get you a more realistic shutter speed. But Macro always is more demanding of light than "normal zone" photography because the indicated aperture is always larger than the actual aperture in use (aperture diam./focal length, or in the case of macro aperture diam/total lens extension so at life size an f/2.8 aperture is really f/4 for exposure purposes).

My advice, if you haven't already, get a mini tripod.

For macros, I use my lowest ISO setting and F8. I use 10+ macro lenses (get HD2 ones if you can), and I use the exposure to let the light in using that to regulate the image till it seems right. Manual focus is the order of the day, then, when you have it as good as you think you can get, gently nudge the tripod at it's base ever so slightly and get several shots in using the delayed timer.

When they appear on your monitor they almost never look like the LCD shows them to be, the idea of taking a few, is so you can keep the best ones and bin the rest.

'Fraid I can't speak to insects tho, I find them a pain to shoot, but my advice would be to get a macro ringlight attachment and go for a shutter of around 1/160 and open up the apature. the more light you have, the better your shot will be.

And remember... don't worry if it's dark, you can rescue dark images, and fix digital noise to a degree at ISO400+ ... but a whiteout, no, you can't rescue information from a whiteout. Trial and error is where it's at - but remember, manual mode is king.

If you take different depth of field shots of the same item, you can focus stack them too, interesting trick that one, produces some neat results. But the camera is not the be-all and end-all of the image, it's merely the initial capture device.

Hello, I am pretty new to photography, and even newer to this forum. I just purchased my S5is about a month ago, and am loving it, I have taken about 1500 shots so far with it. I am still a little leery about posting my shots on the forum, I am still learning and when I think I have something good enough to share I will start sharing. Anyway like I said I am pretty much a photo newb, and I don't know if this will help or not, but I think the only real good way to get good looking macros with this camera is to use a manual setting, I pretty much always use M so I can quickly adjust everything I need to . I just shot a pic of a penny, I don't have a good indoor light source, like you have, if I did this would have looked a lot better, and a had a lot less shadows, but I think it came out looking very clear. I do plan to purchase a ring light for doing these kind of shots that will help a lot, but it seems like you have a good enough light source.