"New a good camera for taking pictures of miniatures." Topic

Okay it is almost 30 years since I was a Photojournalist major candidate. I know composition, lighting, depth of field, shutter speeds, development and processing so on and so forth.

But what I need is a cheap (under $150.00 USD) digital camera for photos of miniatures for my blog site.

Recommendations?

VR
James Mattes

Well, first thing you need to know, James, is that they don't use film no more… :)

I think these days compacts are so sophisticated you can probably be good using anything that is currently in production. Just bring a figure with you to the store, snap a shot, review on the LCD – the result on a computer screen will probably be better, and at any rate there is always photoshop…

I guess what you want specifically though is a camera with manual or at least aperture and shutter speed priority options, so you can control the depth of view.

I can compensate for the automatic depth of field of cheaper digital cameras with lighting so that is not a great issue. Mostly I will be shooting single figures or one or two ranks (15mm-40mm figs) so I do not expect to have much trouble doing so. I will take my 15mm ACW Balloon, and a few zombies to Best Buy, Wal Mart, etc. and see what works well.

Film IS a lost art form. Just try and get good quality B&W anymore!
VR
James Mattes

I would take a look at a Canon point and shoot. I had a lot of luck with my wife's since you could set things like aperture and shutter speed. I would look for a mid-range Powershot model and check the features. You should be able to get one well within that price range.

For what it's worth, when that camera was dropped and broken, it was replaced by a Panasonic point and shoot. Even with Leica glass it leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion. I shoot with a Pentax SLR myself, but I haven't found a point and shoot of theirs to my satisfaction.

Just make sure it has a 'macro' setting – some do & some don't. On Sony cameras it is usually a 'flower' symbol on either the joy-pad on the back of the camera or it is set from one of the menus that come up on the screen.

If the counter staff can't actually find & demonstrate the macro feature on a camera, just leave & find another shop, it just not worth the hassle of dealing with ignorant staff who are just pushing whatever junk the shop is getting the biggest kick back from this month.

Following Dans Short Attention Span

This is shot without tripod on the Society of Ancients stand at Campaign ..

(6mm Chariots by Baccus from the game Call it Qids)

It's taken with a Canon PowerShot 5 Mpxls model I picked up cheap in a supermarket a few years ago (I paid about £40.00 GBP IIRC, although I would confess it was a clever purchase): I'm not claiming it is a wonderful shot, but nor am I claiming to be a wonderful photographer.

It was taken on the move on a relatively basic setting at a show … and in the old days I wouldn't have imagined you could get something like that photographing 6mm on such a standard 'point and shoot' camera.

NB that's from a while back – so a basic midrange Canon would be way better than mine, today …

Phil
EDIT – just seen bsrlee's comment … and yes this is self focussed on the macro (which is also a flower symbol on the Canon)

Models of cameras change so often these days, that it's best to just go to the store and try out the cameras. Switch to the macro setting (some do this automatically) and see how easy it is to take close up pictures of the fine print of whatever product boxes are lying around.

One non-miniature use thing to note. Some of the digital cameras in your price range don't do a great job of quickly capturing movement or have a brief lag. I'm very happy with the Sony Cybershot for minis and general use, but the brief delay between pressing the shutter and the picture being taken can make it a bit difficult to get action shots of my active baby son.

Most cameras will fit the bill. Compact cameras with small sensors already have huge depths of field. As long as you can turn off the flash and set a timer you should be good. Even if you can't get close, crop and resize should be sufficient.

Here's a couple of examples with my current camera. The lens doesn't focus very close but due to the high megapixels of modern cameras I'm cropping then resizing anyways.

Just try and get good quality B&W anymore!

Well, there is this: link

Get one with a timer so you can put it down and let it take the picture.

As pointed out above, with the pixel counts now you can take pictures of specs in the sky and blow them up to detailed pictures of jets.

You don't need to be right on top of the pictures to get them big, just have to edit the picture.

Clarification: The camera I refer to above is the Cybershot DSC-H70.

Well, first thing you need to know, James, is that they don't use film no more… :)

LOL!
Good to see you're still kicking around James! Good luck on your quest – I think there are tons of good options nowadays. Best, Dean

"Leica has announced the M-Monochrom, a black-and-white version of its M9 full-frame rangefinder. The M-Monochrom has no color filter array in front of the sensor, meaning it captures more of the available light but cannot perceive color."

Wow. For a moment I thought that was an April Fool's joke or an Onion article.

You need the digital equivelent of an SLR – something you can step down the speed on and cut out the flash. Flash is not your friend with photographic miniatures. So probably $150 USD is not going to work.

You *do not* need an SLR. As long as you have aperture control, I think you'll find that the camera is the least important part of the setup. A point-and-shoot camera that allows you control over the aperture is just fine.

You need aperture control because a wider aperture means shallower depth of field (less depth is in focus) and a narrower aperture means longer depth of field (more stuff is in focus). The trade-off is that narrower apertures allow less light into the camera, so you will need a slower shutter speed.

The best thing I ever got for photographing my minis is a light box. I bought one, but you can make one yourself. See here: link

You will also want a tripod, because of that slow shutter speed.

You can see the results of my efforts here:

link

I use a nice Canon…. it has a macro function.. that's all I need.
JJ

I've taken pretty decent pictures of minis with my Android cell phone…..I'm just sayin….

Honestly the camera's in most smart phones are at a level that people would have recommended for taking pictures 8 to 10 years ago. You don't have a lot of control over their settings, but I can get reasonable pictures of my minis with my iPhone camera. That's not saying they are amazing, but I'm not ashamed of any of the pictures I've taken with it and posted online.

You don't NEED a DSLR to take miniature photos.

Pretty much any of the consumer point and shoot compacts can do the job (4.5mp up).

The important details are light coming in and stability.

Use a tripod or something else that will hold the camera steady (handholding for macro is a leading cause of blurriness (aka is that blur supposed to be?).

One with a self timer independent of macro would be good (some have them on the same control dial/button so it's an either/or thing). Set it up, half-depress to lock focus and fully depress to start the timer. This will help with remaining shake from shutter trip.

I use a DSLR because I've ALWAYS used an SLR. MY first camera at age 12 was an Olympus OM-10. My second was an OM-20. My 5th is a Pentax DSLR that is currently 6 years old but still does the job.).

I've replaced my Canon with a Panasonic Lumix dmc zs20
So far the leica lens has been superior.. when I get a chance to post new photos I will try to link here.