It\'s an Olympus Camedia 5050 Zoom.
It has a minimum focal length of 2cm (about 4/5th of an inch)
That\'s in focus. Some of the blurry effects are actually the way the paint dried. I know it\'s in focus because it is a hard camera to focus for macro work, so I take multiple shots starting for to close, moving it slightly until it\'s too far. I move until it\'s noticably out of focus.
Then, when looking at the images on the computer I pick the best.
I think the graininess is an excellent example of just how important a good basecoat is.
I\'ve had a bit of problems with grainy basecoats, especially with white spraypaints. Here\'s a few tips I got from Passion Figurine.
Buff the bare metal with that green plastic dish scrubber, or even steel wool.
Apply the primer in 4-5 thin coats
Anyway, so the grainyness is from the primer. If you want the perfect miniature you cannot ignore or cheat on any part of the process. Something I\'m going to have to come to grips with.
BTW, I think I had some of the epiphany I was looking for. The really great painters are using the techniques of Maxfield Parrish - basically building an opaque image with transparent colours. Something I didn\'t want to believe, because it means a lot more work.