Best Point & Shoot for Macro Photography

Hello Everyone!

 

I'm interested in getting any recommendations on the best available point and

shoot camera for macro photography (specifically floral life). Most reviews

address the DSLR, but since I do a fair amount of travel I was looking toward a

point and shoot.

 

Any suggestions are gratefully appreciated.

 

Best regards,

Karen

Karen,

 

You can do excellent macro work with one of the Canon Gn series. Here is an article about macro work with P&S cameras.

 

http://www.mplonsky.com/photo/article.htm

 

Good luck!

The Canon G series will let you mount a macro flash - I wouldn't do any macro without mine.

The <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%

2Fwww.amazon.com%2FCanon-PowerShot-Image-Stabilized-Zoom%2Fdp%2FB000EMWBV0%

2Fsr%3D8-1%2Fqid%3D1171771313%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%

3Delectronics&tag=cyclingshots-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Canon

S3IS</a> has macro and super macro mode, which makes for <a href="http://

www.flickr.com/groups/powershots3is_macro/pool/">some really creative shots</a>.

Although, the <a href="http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/S3IS/S3ISA4.HTM">flash

is not as flexible</a> in macro mode.

You will almost need a reflex camera for decent viewing. The Canon with the electronic viewfinder as shown is better than a camera where you compose on a screen on the back which are almost worthless for close ups except in studio use.

 

For ease of use, nothing beats a reflex camera with a removable lens. Look at a Rebel XTi. Small and plastic for weight savings, but get a Canon macro lens.

 

Olympus 4/3 system is small and light also and they make two macros, a 35 and 50. These are perfect considering the sensor size. The 35mm equivalent is 70 and 100mm.

 

I urge you to get a real camera, just get a small light one rather than a P&S, for this work if size and weight are important. The consumer kit zooms are not the best for close work either.

What you appear to want to do is not Macro but close-up photography and all digicams will do that for you. For true macro you need a DSLR and extension tubes. This is one of the advances of the digicam over the SLR and even DSLRs unless equiped with 'so called macro' lens, they all focus to quite close distances, 10cm and better.

 

Some prefer to get a long zoom model and use Close-up lens, not to get closer, but to keep away from the subject and use the zoom to get tight framing. Having Image Stabilisation is almost essential when working that way.

To add to an earlier thought about camera-back LCDs being useless for macro work, this is generally true. However, if a camera can play the images it has talken on a TV, it may also be able to play a live view on a TV before an image is taken!

 

I used to do a lot of this with even the cheapest digital cameras, when I captured super-close shots of device buttons for user manuals that I was writing. (I also took many of these shots through an auxiliary close-up filter that was taped in front of the main camera lens.)

 

This is, of course, a kind of "studio setting" that was mentioned earlier. So it wouldn't work too well for mushroom shots out in the woods.

 

Sincerely,

 

Dave

I suggest a Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6. Best camera I've ever had for macros. It's a DSLR-type, so it has manual functions and various metering. go to www.davidalexanderstudios.com and look at my Blossoms and Buds gallery. Every picture in that album was taken with the KM Z6, most in Macro and SMacro mode. Bigger than a Point and Shoot, but way smaller than a DSLR. Hope this helps!

Though it is almost as big as a DSLR with a zoom lens, the Sony R1 has a fantastic Zeiss zoom lens and a big APS-C size sensor to give you quality output. The cam is a generation old by now, but with the big sensor and excellent optics, barring some major breakthrough in sensor design, it won't get outdated anytime soon. It will also give you a good control on DOF when you need it for Macro work, and double up as a nice all around travel cam.

I have had excellent results using the Lumix FZ7 for macro-flowers. I have made outstanding 16X20 prints usinf the tiff mode with this camera. I have also used the new Lumix FZ50 for the same subjects and the prints are even better. The difference is small and the price differencial could be the deciding factor. With the FZ50 I used the RAW mode converting to tiff with BIBBLE PRO.