Best Point and shoot Camera

[km6xz]

As with any part of visual arts, light, its color temperature, level, and diffusion determine more than any element whether an image comes out right. If you have good light for the subject and your intent, just about any camera can take just about any photo hanging on gallery walls. The advantages of higher end gear and lenses come into play primarily in the extremes of low light, fast erratic movement, or resolution. One advantage of small point and shoot is their very small apertures that give a deep field planes of focus, so focusing does not have to be as precise, so more of the different distances between various objects in the frame will be in focus. A disadvantage of small aperture is low light sensitivity so noise and dynamic range suffer unless well lit. For the type of micro or macro(macro is technically a 1:1 image size on the sensor or greater and Micro is the term used for less than 1:1 reproduction) would describe individual components but shots of chassis or something as large or larger than the sensor is just close focusing which does not require specialized macro lenses. PC boards, chassis or individual component have one thing in common, the need for good lighting. You can set up some overhead lights will allow less sensitive smaller sensors to give a good signal to noise ratio and have good color capture. Lighting can be free or close to it so if one is willing to so a little of the work they can get by very cheaply in the way of a camera.
The comment about high res allows cropping. Yes, it does but cropping also lowers perceived as well as real signal to noise ratio and shows even minor weaknesses in lenses and holding technique, any motion blur will be amplified. Visually, filling the frame, will result in better image quality because more pixels span the cross section of the subject target.

[jbltwin1]

Sony DSC-W150 that the wife has is great for closeups and other things too. ONLY drawback is the reset time after a shot. It's a LITTLE slow but the pics are tremendous. I use a Panasonic dmc-lz2 for all my stuff and it cycles faster and the macro is really goog. ONLY drawback is that you are limited in the size of digital card that you can put in it. I think 2Gig is it but I'm not sure. As long as you aren't taking video, that's a boat load of pics.

[Steve A.]

Sony DSC-W150 that the wife has is great for closeups and other things too. ONLY drawback is the reset time after a shot. It's a LITTLE slow but the pics are tremendous.

I have a Sony DSC-5 (5.1MP w 3x optical zoom) with the round dial for the 12 different modes. I used to be able to get pretty good close-ups using a tripod but that was years ago and I forgot how I had it set; the close-ups I take now are the "iffy" ones I mentioned (maybe 5 good shots out of 100.)

Any suggestions on how to set this camera for electronic project close-ups would be appreciated! I have a hunch that the basic options might be similar like focus, metering mode and ISO for the Manual setting although the user interface is probably different.

BTW I bought a $1200 Sony camera in ~2000 which took great pictures (considering the low resolution) which it stored on a 3 1/2" floppy. Anybody remember one of those?

Thanks!

Steve Ahola

P.S. Does your Panasonic dmc-lz2 camera use a SIM card? I found a listing for a used one that did not include the "sim card". I guess they might have meant the memory card. So what kind of memory card does it use?

[big_teee]

I think it was Sony that had a digital camera that wrote to a small CD.
It had a small CD burner, best I remember.
T

[jbltwin1]

No SIM card. Memory only!

[Steve A.]

No SIM card. Memory only!

I just downloaded the manual so I guess it takes the full size SD cards up to 32GB. It looks like you can set the focus in Macro/Simple mode to 5cm! (With my Sony I think it only goes down to 8 inches. )

Thanks for the heads up on this model- I see that they are selling used for under $50.

I think it was Sony that had a digital camera that wrote to a small CD. It had a small CD burner, best I remember.

That model came out later. I had gotten the Sony adaptor to use a Memory Stick in a 3 1/2" floppy drive which required special software to read in your computer. That program didn't work when I upgraded from Win2k to WinXP so I stopped using the camera (it never occurred to me to get a reader for the Memory Stick- D'oh!)

Steve

[bob p]

The Sony that took 3.5" floppies? That was the Mavica.

[Danelectron]

I use a Nicon coolpix 16 mgpix. It has decent resolution. I can zoom in to shoot and zoom in on very fine details in viewing. Pretty macro. I think I paid 150, but they are cheaper now.

[big_teee]

I use a Nicon coolpix 16 mgpix. It has decent resolution. I can zoom in to shoot and zoom in on very fine details in viewing. Pretty macro. I think I paid 150, but they are cheaper now.

What model is your camera?
That is about what I've been looking at.
Does it have any manual modes?
Does it take decent Macro pictures?
I usually end up with my old Olympus in manual settings.
T

[Danelectron]

It is a Coolpix S3300. It does have macro mode. I don't know if the images I have sent to you can be manipulated, but viewing from the card or harddrive, you can zoom in pretty close before losing resolution. It does maintain focus well on macro photos, but I wouldn't know what to compare it too. It has some settings to manipulate exposure, but not really manual in the traditional sense. I used to use a 35mm SLR for everything. I didn't like the auto mode so did all manual settings. This one is all point and shoot. I never even looked at the manual 'til tonight. Very user friendly.

[Steve A.]

I use a Panasonic dmc-lz2 for all my stuff and it cycles faster and the macro is really good.

I just received the one I ordered from Amazon for ~$50 and preliminary tests look great. Thanks for the heads up! (There are several more on Amazon starting around $40 including shipping.)
Can you tell me how to set the focal length? I was able to do it the other day but I can't figure out how I did it today. (I dl'd the manual and will check that later.)

Steve