Digital Camera for project logs

[Tolinwiz]

I\'ve decided that starting painting logs will help motivate me to paint more then I have been the last few months.

I don\'t really care about having extremely high competition level photographs of my minis. Just decent, viewable pictures for people to look at.

The camera will really only be used to take pictures of minis, so anything beyond that level of picture will be of little use to me.

The only knowledge I have of cameras is what I gleaned from the first 5 pages or so of this forum, and it seems that a solid macro feature is the key component.

Most of the \"which camera\" threads are pretty ambiguous as to what the person is after, with no real budget mentioned.

I\'d like to spend as little as possible to have a camera that can take pictures of minis that people will be able to look at and pick out detail. Not talking blurry cam phone pictures, but just your standard whatever, WIP logs. Somewhere in the 100-300 range preferably, but willing to spend more, if there are zero options in that range.

I appreciate any feedback, and or cameras you guys would reccomend, as you\'re clearly more expert then I could ever hope to be .

Thanks much everyone.

 

[COG]

i would suggest a point and shoot (ie a basic camera with the macro settings) something from any of the major lines (ie nikon, cannon, fuji) would do you fine.
i would suggest something with a tripod mount of the bottom. it looks like a bolt hole.
any of the cannon sd or a range would do you fine. http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ProductCatIndexAct&fcategoryid=113.
not sure about links in the new format.
nikon has some nice L or S series
http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Digital-Camera/index.page
ive used a nikon for quite a bit and recently (last 2-3 years been using a canon both work for what your looking for)
good luck

 

[CaelynTek]

I actually use a Kodak Easy Share 9 MP point and shoot for all my mini photography, just make sure you get one that has a Macro mode.

I set up my backdrop on my hobby desk, pull my daylight lamp down to light the mini, then just set my camera about 6 inches in front of it and shoot away. I usually take a couple shots of each angle to choose a best from, but really they always come out adequate for the purpose. Also always make sure you do a white balance adjustment for your lighting set up.

When your looking at camera specs, look for Macro mode and they usually will also give the shortest distance for focus on the Macro mode.

 

[Dragonsreach]

I don\'t really care about having extremely high competition level photographs of my minis. Just decent, viewable pictures for people to look at.
The only knowledge I have of cameras is what I gleaned from the first 5 pages or so of this forum, and it seems that a solid macro feature is the key component.
Ok from what you are saying I would suggest a good compact digital camera in any of the top Marques Canon, Nikon etc.
But it may be as well to go to your local camera store, preferably one which is a proper store (not a huge chain or fanchise) with a mini to explain what you want to do. They should be more helpful if they understand your requirements.

One thing to consider though is that although a macro feature will allow you to get up to 0.0000025mm to the mini the lens isn't best suited to work that close unless it's a specialist lens/camera. Best distance will have to be discovered by trial and error.
Also don't forget that a good post photo shoot editor is worth the CD's weight in gold, or in the case of GIMP the download time it takes.

There are several articles on photography to peruse in the Article section which will help with the setup and the post production phase.


I\'d like to spend as little as possible to have a camera that can take pictures of minis that people will be able to look at and pick out detail. Not talking blurry cam phone pictures, but just your standard whatever, WIP logs. Somewhere in the 100-300 range preferably, but willing to spend more, if there are zero options in that range.
Now rather than go "Full on" expense for a camera look to the second hand market, you might be able to find a camera most suitable to your needs. I've picked up a couple of Nikon Coolpix cameras off Ebay for general slobbing about with and they have had reasonable macro features.

Hope this helps a bit.
Oh and don't be put off from asking questions, we'll answer.
They might not be sensible answers but they will be answers.