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Hey everyone, haven't been very active recently. I'm considering buying a camera so i can take pictures of my models and set up a Painting and Modeling Blog or two. No idea what cameras are best, so i thought i'd ask you experienced folks.

I want to spend as little as possible and get a camera that takes pretty great pictures of models. I'll probably need a cheap tripod as well. Any ideas?

I don't know too much about the camera part, but for the tripod, see if you can get a copy of a gorilla pod. They work a charm for me.


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There ya go

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Tripod-Flexible-Octopus-Bubble-Gorilla-Pod-Camera-/250779363963?pt=AU_TripodsMonopods&hash=item3a639d6a7b

This one's Hong Kong but I'm sure there are others.

Thanks for the heads up. Seen these around but i wasn't sure if people liked them or not. I guess it would be better for table top use as well. Takes up less room AND it's bloody cheap. Thanks for the help.

First figure out how much money you want to spend. Do not get stuck on brands either. Here are the features you want to look for and ideas I have

1) You want to look for a camera with a good macro setting. Go buy an memory card and go into a camera store or big box store and take a mini with you. Take a few pictures with each camera you think might have the macro setting you want.
2) read about cameras on dpreview.com. they have great consistent reviews based on great test and a very indepth review criteria. They are the place to read camera reviews that are meaningful an not a bunch of opinion.
3) Make sure you have a camera that can set to aperture priority. You want a wide open aperture like f2.8 or so. When you shoot, make sure you backup and shoot telephoto if you can. this will allow you to have the focus on the mini and everything else will be out of focus.
4) definitely get a tripod. Gorilla pods are great for some things, but I'd get something with longer legs. Find a cheap one on craigslist.
5) make sure you can turn the flash off on the camera as you do not want to use it for photographing minis. we will get to lighting below.

Lighting:
Go find your self some cheap daylight balanced fluorescent or LED work/craft lights. You want two of them

Backgrounds:
You want something plain and will not detract from the mini. I would recommend something in a light to middle gray.

if you are in the usa, go to costco. good prices and good cameras. i got an olympus 600uz for $140 usd.

I use a vivitar 10 mega pixel. I do not use a tripod the built in anti shake works very well. Cost $50.


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The pics i have uploaded are not useing it. I havent painted anything since I bought it but have used it on WIP s works great

Synchro wrote:1) You want to look for a camera with a good macro setting. Go buy an memory card and go into a camera store or big box store and take a mini with you. Take a few pictures with each camera you think might have the macro setting you want.

I won't be able to visit a camera store, going to buy the camera online. How much will i have to spend to get a camera that'll do the job?

Synchro wrote:2) read about cameras on dpreview.com. they have great consistent reviews based on great test and a very indepth review criteria. They are the place to read camera reviews that are meaningful an not a bunch of opinion.

Thanks, i'll check out that website.

Synchro wrote:3) Make sure you have a camera that can set to aperture priority. You want a wide open aperture like f2.8 or so. When you shoot, make sure you backup and shoot telephoto if you can. this will allow you to have the focus on the mini and everything else will be out of focus.

Does that work for multiple models?

Synchro wrote:4) definitely get a tripod. Gorilla pods are great for some things, but I'd get something with longer legs. Find a cheap one on craigslist.

Thanks, i'll weigh up which one will work best for me.

Synchro wrote:5) make sure you can turn the flash off on the camera as you do not want to use it for photographing minis. we will get to lighting below.

I never thought of that, good point.

Synchro wrote:Lighting:
Go find your self some cheap daylight balanced fluorescent or LED work/craft lights. You want two of them

Will do thanks!

Synchro wrote:Backgrounds:
You want something plain and will not detract from the mini. I would recommend something in a light to middle gray.

I'm going to use the technique described in some of the articles. A large sheet of white card.
Thanks for all your help!

Orinoco wrote:if you are in the usa, go to costco. good prices and good cameras. i got an olympus 600uz for $140 usd.

I'm in the UK so thats not an option, thanks for the input though!

Mal the Wolf wrote:I use a vivitar 10 mega pixel. I do not use a tripod the built in anti shake works very well. Cost $50.

Seems like a nice camera, cheap too. I'll read up on it!

Well, there is a costco in Reading.

A low end cannon powershot camera should do well enough for what you want. They retail $100 or less. Used on eBay for cheaper if you want to go that route.

Thank you so much everyone for your help. Did some further research and i'm planning to get the Vivitar 10 Mega Pixel that Mal the Wolf suggested. Thanks again.

LostSoulCasey'sLaw wrote:

Synchro wrote:3) Make sure you have a camera that can set to aperture priority. You want a wide open aperture like f2.8 or so. When you shoot, make sure you backup and shoot telephoto if you can. this will allow you to have the focus on the mini and everything else will be out of focus.

Does that work for multiple models?

It will work for multiple minis/models as long as they are all roughly at the same distance from the camera.
Here's a tutorial that might be of help http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm

Nijal

Thank you. When i get the camera i will have another look at the tutorial but for now it seems very clear and concise.

Don't get too hooked up on macro.

Go for a camera with high Mega Pixel and then take your pictures from a small distance.

Take plenty of pictures to be sure of some good ones, and use a picture editor to zoom and crop the pictures, this will IMO give better results than fiddling with macro.

Sounds like a good idea. Any particular picture editor that i should use? Free is best for me.

Also don't get hooked on the Megapixels. It's just a fancy way of saying tha tthe image is big. There are A LOT of crappy cameras out there with a big megapixel number and junk everything else.

I'm a bit of a camera snob so I won't go into my opinions, but one option, take a mini with you to the store and take some photos of it with the display cameras. At least then you'll know if you feel comfortable using the camera and adjusting the settings ect. before buying it.

I finally bought a camera. And i bought it online so i had to rely on reviews. The Vivitar camera seemed great on paper but all of the reviews i found were horrific. I settled on:

Fujifilm FinePix A160 - Digital camera - compact - 10.2 Mpix - optical zoom: 3 x - supported memory: SD, SDHC - silver

It seems well reviewed as well:

http://www.thomasmayphotography.com/compact-digital-camera/fujifilm-finepix-a160-super-tiny-super-cheap-and-super-amazing/

Hopefully i'll have some pictures up soon.


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Oh and it was £55 with delivery.

not a bad price for what it is. looking forward to pix!

Oh man! Just had a wee play about with it and its a fantastic little piece of equipment, i'd recommend it to anyone looking to buy. Funnily enough i've used a similar if not identical one before that my friend has, i just never realised.

I'm going to have to pick up some anglepoise lamps then i'll get a couple of photo's up to show how good it is. Thanks for all the guidance everyone. Oh and the dakka articles on photography are great if your wanting to get more out of your camera!