Photos of pot plants growing

I want to put a digital camera on a tripod to take pictures of my pot plant's daily growth. I intend to just leave it in the room with the plants.

What I am looking for is a cheap camera that will be able to take clear pictures of trichromes. If it can do this I assume pictures of the plant will be clear, crisp and with good color as well. These are the cameras I have found on ebay that I feel may do the job but I am open to expert, experienced advice other than to purchase something that is out of my budget/price range ($200+ USD).

Polaroid IS2132 16MP Camera, Zoom 21X Optical, 105X Digital

Polaroid iX5038, 20MP Camera with 50x optical zoom

Polaroid iX6038 Digital Camera 20MP Zoom 60x Optical, 120x Digital

Vivitar IE3035 18MP camera with 30x optical zoom

At first I thought the Vivitar xx14 would be a good choice but from what I see from youtube I don't care for the picture quality of its video so I doubt I would like the picture quality of its photographs. That and I do not believe it capable of taking close ups of the trichromes muchless clear pictures since it is only digital zoom. I want to record the plant's progress as the trichromes turn from clear to milk.

I am asking for advice as I do not know what zoom I require to take clear pictures of the trichomes. I don't need a trichrome to take the whole frame of the picture, although that would be my wish list, but if I could get a sense of how the trichomes are progressing by taking a snap shot that would be ideal. My hands are too shaky to use a jeweler's loupe and I am hoping to be able to use a camera to observe and record my progress.

I also considered the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC W800/830 and the Cannon Powershot Elph 180 but then decided on the above for their more powerful optical zooms in hope that they will do the trick for the close ups to tell the changes of the trichromes.

Having a big zoom range isn't the same as having a good close-up ability, or sharp picture quality. I doubt any of those cameras listed will focus close enough to picture tiny leaf-hairs clearly.

You need a camera or lens with good 'macro' ability, and most fixed-lens cameras won't do that. Their close-focussing mode tends to lock the zoom at a wide-angle focal length, which doesn't allow a lot of magnification.

Research cameras with good close-focussing ability, rather than those having a huge zoom range. It's not the same thing. Also, zooms with a huge range tend to be less sharp.

It's the camera's maximum magnification factor that you want to know, and this figure isn't usually something that's 'bigged up' in advertising blurb or in a brief list of features. Going by zoom range alone isn't helpful.

One of the issues you will face is shallow depth of field.

Regardless, I recall some stunning close ups of snowflakes using a relatively inexpensive camera shooting through an old non-macro lens turned backwards. You may want to search using some of that info.

I've never had much success doing close up or macro work with compact or bridge cameras. It's something of a lottery working out which part of the subject they are focusing on, and manual focus is not always well implemented. I very much prefer using manual focus on a digital SLR, I would look into getting a second hand DSLR with an 18-55 kit lens - they can focus in quote close. A dedicated macro lens would be ideal but those are more expensive. I use a Pentax KM 10MP camera with an 18-55 lens for photographing small items for sale, it's over 10 years old but it does the job very well. The 10MP is more than adequate for the usage you describe.

As stated, depth of field is very limited and nailing correct focus is critical. With the camera on a tripod you can use slower shutter speeds and use a small aperture like F/16 to give reasonable depth of field. Use a remote release or the self timer to avoid shaking the camera when you press the shutter. And switch off image stabilisation, vibration reduction etc when using a tripod.

By the way I had to google to find out what a trichrome is.

You might find these two links useful:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/whatphotographygear.com/cameras/8-best-cameras-for-macro-photography.html

And

https://chasingheartbeats.com/macro-point-and-shoot-camera/

Both mention the Olympus TG-5 or 6.

BTW. It's trichome, with only one R.

Trichrome was probably a defunct brand of colour film.

Whatever camera you settle on, remember that the plant will GROW.

So the early shots, if you are planning something like an animated sequence, need to leave "room" for the later, much larger object.

Jes' Sayin' as you probably have already thought of this.

My favorite for this is the sequence of Dunder, the pup, growing up

Thank you. All your advice has been helpful.

Sorry about the spelling of trichome.

What is "Pot"?

It’s what calls the kettle “black.”