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I had a good little 3.2 MP Nikon that I used to use to photograph my minis but it was taken from me at gunpoint so I had to get a new camera. I found a Kodak Z1285 on sale for $85 so I got that. It says in the specs that it has a macro mode but I for the life of me can't seem to figure out how to activate it. Any help on this issue?

Kodaks usually have the top dial with the flower. Barring that, try to see if there are any manuals online, call up a kodak person, or go into a camera shop.

Look for the little flower symbol somewhere on it. It could be a button or on a dial (different kodak models put it in funny places) and either switch it to that mode ( the screen will verify with "macro mode" or push the button.

Next, take some sample shots at varying ranges. Start at 10cm and go back to 60cm (that's 4"-24" for non-metric people). You need to find it's "sweet spot" for macro photography. Use a stable surface for these, as you don't want hand shaking to factor into it. (you're looking for the range where it is in focus, and you may need to zoom in on the photo afterwards.)

My camera for instance, has two macro modes. CU (<90cm) and ECU (<10cm). I know this because my manual tells me so, but I actually learned it by playing around with it for a few hours before RTFM.

As a warning current Kodaks have a pretty poor macro mode in the current introductory cam's. I own an m853 and it's difficult to really shoot anything up close without both a tripod, perfect lighting, and over six thousand devoted men praying for the picture to not look grainy and terrible.

My shots are usually pretty grainy.

I found this after a bit of searching..

http://askville.amazon.com/Kodak-Z1285-High-Resolution-Zoom-Digital-Camera-love-feedback/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=10268069

Cardamon Richagno says:
Unlike many cameras, the Z885 and I guess the Z1275 and Z1285 don't have an ultra-close macro mode. The close-focus mode is only about 8 inches. The camera it replaced had a macro mode that goes down to about 4 inches. Most of the current line of Kodak digital cameras have a macro mode in the 4-8 inch range. There are other makers with a closer focus macro, but you really need to ask how often you'll use it.
If you're shooting a flower at 12MP, you can easily crop it to get a closer focus.

There is a manual focus mode on the camera that's a bit tricky to use. In P/M mode, you select MF (far right on screen, above the ISO setting). Press the joystick, you'll see a small scale appear on the screen. Press the "North" area of the 4-way controller, it will enlarge the central portion of what's on the screen. Then you use the 4-way controller to fine-tune your focus. Release the controller, the screen will switch back to a full-scene view.

One more thought: try switching the camera to single AF, which limits the focus area to the center of the screen. This is sometimes more accurate than the multi-AF setting.


and this as well.. it's a good review.
http://nerdyblog.com/2008/04/24/kodak-z1285-hd-at-value-price/


and another reviewer said this..

"I had a problem with the first Z1285 (Bill - 7/29/08)
Over all we really like the camera and were not turned off by the first experience. We took our first one back as the auto focus would make a clunk sound every time it focused. With the second Z1285 it does not do that.
A little disappointed with how long it takes between shots to process but we were spoiled with our other camera we bought five years ago for six times the price. There is a burst 3 frame feature to help this, but you have to wait for about 10 seconds for them to process. You should be very happy with this camera for this price range. It is a newer model than the Z1275 for those who may have wondered as I. No macro past 8 inches, but you can get as low as four inches by going into the program manually and work the af."

So, it seems the macro will work, but you might have to settle for 8 inches (18 cm) or with some work you can get 4 inches (9 cm)..

I hope that helps some.

Another note: if your shots are too grainy, try changing the ISO settings (make them lower). If you're using ISO400, try using 100. Of course, with ISO 100, YOU WILL NEED A TRIPOD. Still, for mini photography, you really need a tripod anyway.

From someone used to using ISO 60-100 film, the grain at 400 is huge. The digital version is no less huge.

Yeah, it's a shame it's no good really at the macro thing but it was cheap, I got it on sale for around 60% off. So I guess I make do with what I got and pick up a tripod and do a light box.

You can get a tripod for 12-19 bucks at Walmart. They are almost all universal (and cheaply made).

The main purpose of a tripod is to help keep the camera stable (and eliminate hand-shake - the main cause of blurry-photo syndrome). It doesn't have to be a $1400 Manfrotto to do the job.

If you can use the self timer function with macro, this eliminates a further cause (camera shake from you pressing th shutter button.)

My camera, for example, has a wireless shutter release function (IR remote). Older film cameras had a cable release, which did the same thing.