Which camera is best for eBay...

[nana-lala1]

listings of close up snaps of small items (in my case coins).

Just bought a Nikon Coolpix & though it has a close up function the pics are blurred.

Thanks nana

[cee-dee]

Here's a coin for you:-

[Anonymous]

Off topic a bit , the proplems i face while taking my moon pics, zoom in the light goes down, increase the iso and speed the picture becomes to bright, i think the word NaNa is lookin for is what photographers term "BRACKET" a shot, as you say take loads of shots at different iso, speed and whatever settings the camera has, remember those (by taking notes as you experiment )that work well or give you the shot you want, then as CD says try a photo editing programme to get the exact shot you want. its a learning curve of trail and error, but you will get there NaNa. 

[nana-lala1]

Thanks Pete, I'm sure I will because I have an interest in it now, slight problem for me is a few months ago I had a large brain tumour removed (thankfully benign) & I'm still recuperating so my abstract learning capabilities  are a bit slow just now (but getting better) - so it will be a bit of slowly, slowly catchee monkey. Thanks for the confidence boost.

CD - I'm slowly turning green with envy at your shots  - That Indian coin shows such clear detail.

regards to both nana (Jane) 

[cee-dee]

The other side of the coin. Hand held, room lighting:-

[ronnie-dog]

Nana.......the problem with your coin picture is camera shake.

you need to support the camera better while taking the pictures.

try not to jolt the camera when pressing the shutter button.

woooooooooooooof

[Anonymous]

HI NaNa, if what ronnie dog is saying is true, you may be able to buy a camera remote shutter release, i find the one i use on my canon 1100d while takeing my moon pics reduces camera shake to zero.

[cee-dee]

The ultimate defence against camera shake is a tripod.

The reason I "hand-held" the pics of the coins was to show that a steady hand and a reasonable technique can produce decent pics, But, using a tripod and either a cable release or remote shutter release should, with reasonable lighting and technique, produce pin-sharp pics.

[duck_a_lorange]

---

@nana-lala1 wrote:

listings of close up snaps of small items (in my case coins).

Just bought a Nikon Coolpix & though it has a close up function the pics are blurred.

Thanks nana

---

I have a Nikon Coolpix with a macro function. I've had it for three years now.

The reason your macro pictures aren't clear is because this camera does not have a centre focus.

(Where's the head banging smiley?)   Don't blame yourself.

If you watch the back of the camera when you have it in macro mode you can see it focussing beautifully on the table, or your feet, or the blimmin horizon - but never on the object on the centre. I like to take pictures of insects in my garden and I get round this by focussing on something large close to the thing I want to photograph then moving the camera up and down until the bee or whatever looks in focus, then I take the picture, and even then it isn't always sharp.  If the light isn't particularly good I use flash.

You can get a good macro picture, some of the time, but it is a real pain.  (The camera was a gift so I don't feel I can replace it just yet )

The only thing I like about this camera is that it uses AA batteries.  And the fact that I've left it out overnight in the rain twice now and it still works.

[ronnie-dog]

I have to disagree with you Duck.

The image shown by nana in this thread suffers from camera shake.

if nana would get the metadata from the image file it would show the shutter speed used.

[duck_a_lorange]

You're right. I didn't even check the model - mine's L22 and this is S3300.  (I was venting! ).

The L22 does have the hand-shake reduction thing though which does seem to work for me and I don't see that in the S3300 product description - maybe the OP should make sure that any camera she does get should have that feature?

[nana-lala1]

A bit of improvement see attached - image mode at 4608 x 3456 - ISO sensitivity at 800 - cropped on M/Picture Manager.

Taken indoors artificial light no flash - supported hand held - subject 1p coin.

Thanks for everyones advice 

[ronnie-dog]

much better.........though you still have some camera shake.

are you able to support the camera with both yer elbows on table?

[nana-lala1]

Yes ronnie but since op I have an ever so slight tremor in my hands, its getting better but from what I've read here I think I'm going to splash out on a tripod.

But I still like what I here about the nikon P80 and 2nd hand price isn't out the way to much. I've got watches on 2 just now.

Thanks nana

[cee-dee]

IF you buy a P80, it has vibration reduction for use when using the camera for hand held shots. The default is set to ON.

However, if you use the camera on a tripod, you should turn vibration reduction OFF.

Enabling or disabling VR is done via the set up menu which is easy to access by rotating the mode dial (on top of the camera body) to SET UP. You then use the multi selector (on the back of the camera) to scroll to the item you want to set up. Choosing something is simply clicking OK (in the centre of the multi selector). To leave the set up menu, you just rotate the mode dial to the mode you want.

I don't know if a pro photographer would recommend returning any settings of a secondhand camera to factory defaults (Reset in the set up menu) and starting afresh but I would. Ronnie?

[ronnie-dog]

indeed CD.

  reset the camera to default settings and then set it up for yer own preferences.

wooooooooooooooof

[electric*mayhem*band]

My other camera's a Brownie.