what's the best Macro zoom digital camera?

Question

we sell on e-bay and need a good camera to take close up shots and details of small items

Answer 1

If you want to upgrade from your current camera, get a DSLR from Nikon or Canon. Then the lens becomes the determining factor in your quality. You don't really need a zoom lens, because your subjects aren't going anywhere. I use various Nikon's and a Nikon 60 mm macro lens. Canon would have comparable equipment. But... You don't really need to spend $1,000 on a macro set-up to get excellent pictures for eBay. The thing is, unless you are using an FTP site for images, you can't show more than 800x800 pixels anyhow. Try the technique I describe below and see if you don't get better pictures with your current camera. I used (and use) various Nikon Coolpix cameras for eBay for several years and always got pleasing results.

I happen to have some photos from old auctions on an FTP site. I think that these were all taken with a 3 MP Nikon Coolpix 885, probably 5 years ago.

http://members.aol.com/swf08302/carvina.jpg
http://members.aol.com/swf08302/konkontu.jpg
http://members.aol.com/swf08302/skullfront.jpg

Almost any point and shoot with a macro mode will serve you well. The thing is, I feel that you need to use the flash to force the aperture to close while still having enough light for an exposure. Many here will tell you different, but follow this advice and see what you think.

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 of coin photos done exactly as described:

http://www1.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=57759389/PictureID=2801041875/a=75953750_75953750/t_=75953750
http://www1.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=57759389/PictureID=2801041874/a=75953750_75953750/t_=75953750

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

If you are interested in a full description of an SLR set-up, post a new question and ask specifically for that information. I'm gathering from the nature of your question that you might be in the point and shoot market.

Answer 2

Probably one of the best sellers and eBay photographers on eBay is a gentleman that goes by the user name "camerajim".

His in depth discussion on eBay photography, macro shooting, and lighting techniques are one of the most straightforward and easy to understand that I have read.

His recommendations (and I agree) are the Fuji FinPix A540 line of cameras. Very easy to use controls, a good quality lens and the ability to be able to focus down to 1" really make this a strong camera to consider.

Couple this with an affordable price and good everyday shooting ability this is very strong contender.

Check "camerajims" blog out (http://www.sigma-2.com/camerajim/cjgselecting.htm) for tips on selecting the best camera.

Good luck!

Answer 3

What price range are you looking at? I myself would go with a Canon Digital Rebel. You can probably pick up an "original" digital rebel (6.3mpix) for about $400 or so and the 18-55mm lens that comes with it has a minimum focal distance of 11".

Answer 4

canon sd600
I have this camera
as close as one cm