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Hi everyone,

I only have my Samsung Galaxy S5 phone to take photos of my painted miniatures and although it is a good camera for a mobile, it just isn't doing my painted miniatures any justice.

To all those painters out there, what is a reasonably cheap camera (and lense) that is decent at taking pictures of miniatures and really picking out the details? I know about the light box and lighting etc, but in terms of actual camera, I have no idea. Also would I need a small tri-pod for the camera?

I am a novice in terms of photography so would prefer the camera to not be too complicated to use. I've got a little bit of photoshop knowledge so can do some of the basic edits such as adjusting tone, contrast, lighting etc on the finished image.

Many thanks in advance!

In a hobby this expensive, you may want to first state what price range "reasonably cheap" means to you.

Yes price range and do you mind having to look up and experiment? DSL cameras are tricky to use until you master them. I still need practice with mine.
I bought my Nikon D90 with a 50mm lens off ebay for $300.

If you have a smartphone, use that. They usually have very good cameras. I used my smartphone for taking pics of minis (until I broke it-but that's another story). But now I'm stuck with a Vivicam F126 that takes pictures that are crap.

One other thing to consider in addition to your camera, is your photo setup. You can pick up a decent light tent for around $50, or make one out of a cardboard box, some wax paper, and a few old desk lamps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yipi-1_2_TE

May want to watch this.

Price probably varies, there are some good articles you should probably look for about taking pictures, both about lens, digital cameras etc before you really decide on something.

I will say, just my two cents, as a non-photography expert I love my Nikon Coolpix P510, it's probably old now, I didn't get it specifically for miniatures but it works well enough for me. If I can ever figure it out, it does have a manual setting etc. It was an onsale buy a good bit ago, like two years, I think.

But anyway whatever you end up looking at, I'd say do some research and see what people are saying about that specific model. Maybe look at it in a store, try it out a bit. Anyway, good luck

I've had good success with my crappy point-and-shoot. It actually takes better mini pics than my micro 4/3 as I don't have the right lenses for minis.

I suggest a used DSLR like an old Canon T2i. They are very cheap, and will take almost exactly the same photographs as a thousand-dollar new model (like a T6s). Most of the advancements in the last 10 years have been things like better live view, video recording, metering, better autofocus -- things that you don't need at all for miniature photography. Craigslist, people sell them at a great price as they upgrade through new cameras, or sometimes you see them at camera shops that deal with used stuff for very cheap, bundled with some starter lens.

The real kicker, though, is camera lens. A good camera lens is really expensive. As you probably don't want to spend $500-$1500 on glass, you'll get the best results from a prime (fixed focal length) lens, as opposed to a zoom lens, and at the lower end of the scale, you won't get macro (1:1 lens start at $400 ish).

So, look for something like a 50mm f1.8, used. Keep in mind that lens HAVE gotten a lot better over the years, so, for example, a 50mm made in 2014 will be much, much better than a 50mm made in 2000. The new 50mm 1.8 STM lens for Canon cameras, for instance, are super sharp, focus like a dream, have excellent contrast and color, and are relatively cheap to boot (can be had for a hundred bucks new).

Thanks for the tips guys. Was just looking around the £100 (around 150 US dollars) to £150 mark maximum with hopefully something a bit less.

Flickr has all the camera and lens information for each photo, (as well as the aperture and some other settings IIRC), so another good bit of research might be to scroll through Flickr photos until you find the style you like and look at the photo specifications.

Personally I take all my miniature photos with my iPhone 5 rather than my DSLR. I love the iPhone camera for miniature photography.

I feel like I do okay with my Polaroid iE826 even though the reviews online will tell you that it is a terrible camera. I got it at Walmart for about 60 dollars (US). It has decent zoom capability and does have a macro setting.

Worth a read mate...

http://www.technobezz.com/fix-samsung-galaxy-s5-macro-focus-problem/

Thanks everyone, that is really good advice. I will definitely be looking at all those options in the new year.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Crispy78 wrote:
Worth a read mate...

http://www.technobezz.com/fix-samsung-galaxy-s5-macro-focus-problem/

Thanks mate, that is awesome. My old Samsung Galaxy S3 used to have a pretty decent Macro mode that is missing from my S5. I have seen from that article there is a magnifying widget on the S5 which does what the macro mode on my old phone used to do. I had no idea about that widget, so for the time being I have something decent that I can use until I can afford a dedicated camera