Best for Macro

Hi, I have not been on for awhile. This post is for my brother. He has an ebay store and he needs a good camera around$400.00 that is great with macro shots. He shoots alot of collectible cars, toys etc and wants with that shows great detail.

Could someone please recommend one or two so I can give him some ideas.

Thanks,
Teeny

For $400, I wish I could recommend the G12, but it costs more than that.
It has a 1cm minimal focus distance and, of course, excellent image quality.
Alternatively, your brother can get a used G11 or even a G10, which is a superb
macro performer, especially when coupled with a Raynox - see here in the link below:

http://d-spot.co.il …ndex.php?showto​pic=233336

(Image credit: Allon Kira)

The Canon S Series of cameras work amazingly for macro
I had the S5IS and in super macro, you could be touching the object your shooting

The S was, perhaps, good for macro, but the current S90/S95 are awful.
The minimal distance is 5cm - not nearly enough for good magnification.
I have absolutely no macro skills, yet I followed this spider below for an hour with my S90, in vain.
The SX30, however, could be a better macro performer, as a much later replacement of the S5, and 0cm macro range.

S90 spider:

Well, considering that anything he photographs, he'll have to resize down to around a 2 MP (or less) file, he might just as well not worry about the ultimate macro; just shoot with whatever he gets and crop to fit instead of resize to fit.

Teeny - The Fuji HS10 gets very good reports on Forums for Macro ability. I can agree with that - it does work very well.

The US Price is around $350.00 (I've Googled it at $339.00) so fits his budget.

Standard Macro Wide-end is 10cm to 3-metres / 0.3ft to 9.8ft
Tele-end is 2m to 5-metres / 6.6ft to 16.4ft

Super Macro - 1cm to 1-metre / 0.4" to 3.3ft.

The HS10 works well on a table tripod. The twist-zoom makes adjusting distance setting precise and easy.

At ISO 100 and 200 there is almost no noise, and at ISO 400, very little.

It has RAW and RAW+JPEG for processing to better detail from 15MB+ RAW files.

The fast-continuous shooting, at 10-7-5-3fps, can be used in Macro Mode (For moving insects, quickly changing light, etc.) JPEG only, RAW, and RAW+JPEG can be used. In RAW modes fastest continuous is 5fps or 3fps.

The Manual Focus works quickly and accurately, with an On/Off magnifier if needed. (Press the AE/AF button on back of the camera. The camera then uses the AF function to approximate focus, then "rock" the focus-ring on the barrel a few mm either way to "centre" sharpest focus.)

The HS10 uses SD/SDHC cards up to 32GB. Power is 4 x AAs. Eneloop rechargeables give 400-450 stills images (no flash or video), and AA alkalines or lithiums can also be used. I get about 300 stills from alkalines, and Fuji claims 700 from lithiums, but I can't verify that.

The barrel face is threaded for 58mm filters.

When used for "no vibes" work, the 2 or 10 second Timer is quickly accessed via the Down-Arrow of the 4-way pad.

If needed, Video at 1920 x 1080, 1280 x 720, and 640 x 480, works in Macro or Super Macro Modes, as does High Speed (slow-motion playback.)

Under "Scenes Modes" there is a Preset for Text and Documents.

Any questions elsewise - post back.

Dave.

eyalg... please elaborate on the features of this spider pic that you'd want to improve...

exwintech.. you seem to know a bunch, so I'll ask this of you, hoping for some insight...

I do a lot of macro shoots with a canon a1000is (inexpensive, but fits in my pocket better than my eos) also, and have a problem with my depth of field... from long ago with film slr's, I remember that to get a wide depth of field I need to use a small aperture, and this results in, unlike the spider pic above, all of the subject is in clear focus. Do you concur with this?

I have a little Canon SD1400 that does a pretty sweet job with macro. Not to expensive, I think they go for around 200. And 14 mp so lots of room to crop.

seekertom wrote in post #11606079
eyalg... please elaborate on the features of this spider pic that you'd want to improve...

I just don't consider my photo 'macro' at all.
Look at the image in the link I posted above,
imagine a scale between my awful shot and that amazing macro.
What I would have liked was going up that scale a few notches,
without being a macro expert or having a Raynox attached to my camera.

Seekertom - What you recall from Film-SLR (which is "full-frame") - re DOF, would much more apply now to DSLRs using Macro lenses.

Look at some of the DSLR Macro shots around. Often, a tiny object like a spider, will have eyes and 'face' in very sharp focus, while body or legs will "fall off" focus - where that's the very shallow DOF-effect the shooter wanted.

That is, the DSLRs, even crop-body, will have 12+ times the sensor size of a P&S, and dedicated close-range focus Macro lenses.

P&S has a very small sensor, and however good, the lens-assembly has to be "general purpose" to be able to do the other functions. Simply because of the sensor size and the lens-assembly's focal length, shallow DOF isn't usual.

You have an EOS, which is a good DSLR - but you might not have a Macro lens, as dedicated good-quality Macro lenses aren't cheap. Do you have a lens similar to the Sigma 17-70mm 'Macro', which allows focus down to 8" at 1:2.3?

Canon does an EF 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro, at quite modest pricing, that you might look at.

I'm going for a Pentax K-R in a few months, partly because it's a good device - and partly because of the plethora of M42 and K-mount FSLR lenses about at fairly low prices - including macros. I already have a few, including a Tamron 80-210mm with 1:2 Macro setting (on digital body said to be much better than its "usual" functions) - and is 1:1 with the APS Teleplus 2x TC, which I also have. Should be quite educational finding out just how well that actually works....

Dave.

Thanks, Dave. Honestly, I haven't used my eos for awhile... life keeps getting in the way of living, for me. I always have the a1000 in my pocket so I sometimes get interesting shots along the way. Obviously the eos needs more intense attention than just shoving it in my pocket, but now since I seem to be having focus problems with the a1000, I will probably start using the biggie again. Will be pack with something to post when I can. Love taking pics, but don't always have the time.

exwintech wrote in post #11605900
Teeny - The Fuji HS10 gets very good reports on Forums for Macro ability. I can agree with that - it does work very well.

The US Price is around $350.00 (I've Googled it at $339.00) so fits his budget.

Standard Macro Wide-end is 10cm to 3-metres / 0.3ft to 9.8ft
Tele-end is 2m to 5-metres / 6.6ft to 16.4ft

Close focussing was a criterion for me also with a pocket camera. (Though I have macro lenses for my DSLR.)

I've just taken my Canon S95 out of the box and it seems to focus down to less than 5cm from the front of the lens (wide). The other camera I was considering was the Lumix DMC-LX5 which would focus down to 1cm from the front of the lens.

I believe the S95 at the telephoto end, focuses to about 30cm.

Simon... Servalan????

yes! Servalan... http://www.bbc.co.uk …kes7/servalan/i​ndex.shtml

She had me captivated then, she does it to me now.