Digital camera, which?

Question

I want to take photos of earrings and things close up and clear like the ones on eBay. Mine just come out blurry or just crap because of the flash glare. Can anyone tell me what one to buy to take great photos like this one: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/A-gorgeous-10kt-yellow-earring-with-diamond_W0QQitemZ200058909839QQihZ010QQcategoryZ43172QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Thats just an example so you can see what I mean. You can see every detail in that photo and I want to do it! Thanks

Answer 1

A DSLR with a macro lens is the pro way to go, but this is not at all needed for eBay. Pretty much any point and shoot with a macro setting will do nicely.

Use your macro setting and experiment. Let's say you have a point and shoot camera with macro and a flash on the camera. You might have to go to a manual mode to do this, but...

Put your ring on a nice background surface. I like to just put it in a ring box. Zoom out at least half-way so that you will be working about a foot away from the ring. Be sure that you get focus confirmation. Shoot a picture USING flash. Check the LCD for the result. If you have overexposed the ring, use the EV adjustment to reduce the exposure. For small items, I often find that I need to reduce the exposure by about 1.0 EV. (That's -1.0 EV.) It is better to have the ring properly exposed and the background underexposed, so just worry about the ring for now. Using a deliberate underexposure will cure the "too shiny" appearance of the stones and metal.

If you know how, you can use either full manual exposure or just Aperture Priority and choose a smaller aperture (larger number) to make the ring show up in better focus.

If you have a DSLR, post your question again stating the kind of camera that you have and the lens that you are using and we will give more details.

If you are doing any image processing at all, such with Photoshop or it's cousins, you can crop the image to 800 pixels by 800 pixels and use Supersize images on eBay. I always use the Picture Pack when I am selling anything of any value.

Check out http://www.members.aol.com/swf08302/heartring.jpg which I did a while ago using a Nikon Coolpix 5400 exactly as described above. I do NOT think this is acceptable, but we decided not to sell the ring anyhow, so I didn't bother to do a better job. It's still better than some I've seen. I don't keep old photos of sold items around, so I don't have much to show you, but at least you know that it's possible to get an acceptable result even without spending huge dollars on your equipment.

The key things to remember are:
-Macro setting
-Zoom out to get about a foot away from your subject
-Use flash
-Try different EV settings and expect that you will end up with a negative EV setting, such as -1.0 EV.

Here are a couple more auction photos done as described:

800 x 800 http://www.members.aol.com/swf08302/yorkie01.jpg
800 x 800 http://www.members.aol.com/swf08302/montblanc05.jpg

Answer 2

Most modern digital cameras should be able to take pictures like that... As long as you use the camera correctly....

1.Turn on the Macro setting (usually indicated by a flower symbol)
This allows the camera to perform close-up focusing, on some cameras this can be as close as 1cm.
2. Turn off the flash(usually indicated by the jagged Arrow symbol)
Using the flash for close-up work will cause glare.
3. Take the picture in daylight... for pictures like those of the earrings... set-up a nice environment on the window sill.. put the items on a piece of material for example.

If you need to buy another camera (I assume you are looking for a cheaper compact camera as opposed to a more advanced SLR) I would recommend the Fuji F10... It is a great all round camera which is specifically designed for low light which will make it easier for you to take pictures without the flash, it also has a good close-up macro.... The F10 has been out for about a year and so is now more affordable. The newer F11, F20 & F30 are also equally as good.

Answer 3

two points to take good photos.
1. Use a tripod and make sure there is absolutly no camera shake
when you press the botton.
2. overlight the object to force the camera to use a faster shutter speed. if you dont have photo lights, use two or three flexey desk lights.
once you have these points sorted most decent digital cameras
should be able to do the job.

Answer 4

two ways;

one build a light tent...sounds dramatic, but all it is is some greaseproof paper between you and the items to be photographed. yes..you can cut a hole so you can see...

if its got a zoom, stand back and zoom in, this lessens the glare from teh flash

or go outside, or next to a window during daylight, and shoot it then.

Answer 5

You can drop in on my 360 and see what the tiny little CD33 Koday Easyshare does. I like it for 3.1 megapixel-isn't all horsepower, just works. It's from Walmart.

Answer 6

i could not view the photo but hp cameras work really well, go on sale often, and last a long time!

Answer 7

buy one with an adjustable lens,they arent cheap though,around 300 quid for a cheap one.

Answer 8

buy one with zoom lens light glare refelction 55mm

Answer 9

Sony is the best product .

Answer 10

I found some good info here.