Best point and shoot for macro?

[yog_sothoth]

<p>While goofing off with a fujifilm 12 MP point and shoot, I noticed that at iso 100 and the macro setting that it did surprisingly well. While the point and shoots are not anywhere near as good as a DSLR at anything other than base ISO, the small sensor is actually good for macro to get depth of field. </p>

<p>Which point and shoots give the best macro capability? It isn't the thing they usually tout on the box.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>I use my 7 or 8 year old Olympus P&S more often than the dSLR to photograph stuff for online illustrations or sales. It's excellent for closeups and handles casual photos with good DOF more easily than the dSLR with macro lens. The latter involves a major production, rigging up a tripod, multiple lights, reflectors, etc. With the P&S it's much easier for casual closeups. And the quality is more than good enough for online JPEGs.</p>

<p>No idea which current P&S is the best at this. Altho' I use Nikon SLR and dSLR bodies, I've preferred Olympus P&S cameras for the past 10 years. Have had three or four of 'em so far. They do macro very well, maybe because of their history in optics. Even does a fair job with copying slides to digital files, very comparable in quality to an early generation Minolta film scanner.</p>

[gordonjb]

While I cannot say which P&S is best for macro, I can say that I have been using my Canon G10 for macro quite a bit and the results are good. Shooting close up with the lens at a wide angle gives a unique perspective to macro shots which I am beginning to see possibilities for. And yeah that huge dof field can be useful at times and a curse at other times.

[aldrich]

<p>Hi Stephen,</p>

<p>A couple years back, I had a Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6. I found it to be excellent for macro, it will focus up to about an inch away from your subject. Unfortunately, one of the spousal stipulations for purchasing a DSLR was to sell the Z6, so I don't have it anymore. You didn't state if the Fuji was yours or if you were in a store thinking of buying it...so FWIW, you may be able to find one used in the $75-$100 range. It is a larger P&S though...what they call "SLR-like."</p>

<p>Like Lex & Gordon, I can only speak for what I've used.</p>

<p>--Ryan</p>

[James G. Dainis]

Most point and shoots have a close focus, macro, of 1 to 2 inches. Most of them also suffer from barrel distortion. That would be bad when doing a macro shot of a postage stamp. For what it is worth, the most often recommended cameras on the eBay photo forums for eBay use are the Canon A series, A570, A620, etc.

[saul_blumenthal1]

<p>I have a Canon PowerShot A650 and am very happy with its macro ability. At the widest focal length it can focus at less than half an inch. The small lens combined with the swiveling LCD screen make for shots that would be very hard or not possible with an SLR. Here's a shot taken this weekend with it.<br>

[matthew_newton]

<p>Not really macro use, but like Lex I use a P&S for product photography (at least to sell on the Bay). I just hold my Lumiquest mini-softbox over the popup flash on my wife's Sony superzoom P&S and it actually does a fairly good job (if not stellar). For actual macro work though I use my 35mm film SLR because of the possibilities of lighting setups and being able to do 1:1.</p>

[hjoseph7]

<p>I got a Panasonic TZ5, not sure if it's the best, but it detects macro mode automatically. Great little Camera. </p>

[jeff_bubis]

<p>I'm using an LX-3 for this and have found that it takes fantastic RAW macro shots. Often I can get them at ISO 80. When printed, I find it hard to tell the difference between shots from the Panny and from my 40D.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>The barrel distortion James mentioned is a good point. Whenever considering a P&S for macro or closeups look for a model that can handle close up focusing at the telephoto end of the zoom range. That will minimize the distortion. My Olympus C-3040Z has a 35-105mm zoom (equivalent - true focal length is much shorter) and at the tele end there is very little or no distortion with closeups. So it's useful even for photographing documents without distortion. My earlier Olympus digicams had fixed lenses, no zooms, and did suffer from extreme barrel distortion in closeups.</p>

[rcsenn]

<p>I have had the some experience with the Sony Mavica's(I think) and the FujiFilm S7000's. Personally I liked the Sony best. I was primarily taking pics of defects in weldments and forgings that were illuminated under a blacklight. Typical indication sizes I was able to capture were down as small as 0.3mm in diameter. Barrel distortion was not really a primary concern, as the indications were often in the center of the frame.</p>

<p>Rich </p>

[i_benikesh]

<p>My favorite shooter used to be the Oly FT. Now for macro with a P&S Ihave found a use for all the 43mm accessories of the old FT. The Oly sp510uz has a barrel very close to 43mm and can be made to accept these accessories with no permanent disfiguration. I keep a reversed UV filter permanently attached and to this can add a polarizor or close up lenses, and even a reversed 38mm normal lens. A half frame negative fills the field with the 38mm lens. All of these ride easily in&out with the power button. There are more possibilities that I haven't gotten around to yet. <br>

Ira</p>