jonathan_hamilton

<p>Many thanks indeed all - really appreciate your responses!<br> Take your point - auto exposure is bad - presume that auto exposure and auto ISO are 1 and the same thing. <br> Just to clarify (again, please excuse my ignorance) - is there a difference between auto exposure and TTL metering? <br> Also - just to follow-up on my questions above:<br> - Can anyone recommend a good remote flashgun arrangement that is ultra simple to use and appropriate for our setup please?<br> - Can anyone reccommend a really simple tabletop tripod other than the Gorillapod range please?<br> Many thanks again!</p> <p>Best regards,</p> <p>Jonathan</p>

<p>Hi Will<br> Thank you for such a comprehensive reply!<br> - Completely take your point on the lighting and PP being the most important. My wife is not technically minded and has taken to using good natural light rather than advanced lighting setups. This has had reasonable results with an iPhone camera. We also have a Canon EOS 100D DSLR but the sheer variability of available controls mean that it is not practical for her to use. <br> I am interested if there might be a simple remote flashgun that she might be able to experiment with on a basic level. <br> Having looked into the ringflash, I ended up getting the basic and simple Aputure Amaran Halo - and intend to use in continuous mode, rather than as a flash. She really just needs something that is as effective as possible from a simple setup.<br> Regarding pp - she is not au-fait with Photoshop and is not likely to dive into the detail of that. She is good at manipulating the basics in Irfanview. I wondered about whether Photoshop Elements might be a good intermediate move for her. She will not be shooting in raw - we tried this and it simply was too advanced for her. We are not looking for spectacular results, just reasonably good for eBay / Etsy.<br> - Am expecting to get one or two typical lighting setups and I will program the pre-set modes on the camera for her to suit these conditions. Agreed that auto-modes are unlikely to be ideal, although they are not necessarily going to produce poor results.<br> - Have tried to encourage her to use a tripod before and it has not ended well, hence my feeling that image stabilisation is a requirement - completely appreciate that this is not ideal. I did wonder if a simple tripod like a Gorillapod might be worth trying. She didn't like the complexity of the Manfrotto that I got for her previously. Would be very interested if you have any suggestions as to a <strong>very simple</strong>, effective, possibly tabletop tripod that you could recommend?<br> - Definitely take your point on the 1cm macro being largely irrelevant compared to actually having a macro mode.<br> - (Please forgive my naivety) Why would auto-ISO not be relevant if using controlled lighting? <br> - Thank you for advising re. the depth of field. More by luck than anything - I chose this model as it has a small sensor.<br> - Interesting re. the comparison with a smartphone sensor - the results will be very interesting! Have ordered a P7800, it will arrive in a week or so, will post our comparative results.<br> - Another point is that I have also been seeking an effective compact camera for VLogging. As it happens this appears to be one of the very few decent p&s compacts that has an external mic input and a decent articulating screen. So by getting this, we are achieving both requirements.<br> Any further thoughts or advice given our circumstances much appreciated!<br> Best regards,<br> Jonathan</p>

<p>Hi Larry<br> Love this thread, great question!<br> I am about to do what you were doing - purchase a simple, straightforward p&s camera primarily for simple jewelry photography. My wife sells jewelery online, she is not a camera expert and is already getting reasonable results with a basic smartphone. We are looking for something simple with good semi-auto modes. This has been a fascinating thread to read through. <strong>I would be very interested to hear which camera you ended up buying and if you would do the same again with today's technology?</strong><br> My conclusion from reading throught this whole thread and associated links is: <br> - The Ricoh WG-5 appears to be a remarkably appropriate camera for this task with a great, 1cm macro capability and electronic image stabilisation. <br> - The ideal camera would have: a good macro mode, decent image stabilisation, a tiltable screen, filter threads for a lomography ring flash or a built-in ring flash (as with the Ricoh), ideally set up on a tripod with a remote flash or timer, good depth of field range (which probably equates to a really good auto-ISO with all things being equal). My opinion is that a custom preset mode is also a bonus as is the ability to use an external flash. Finally, I would prefer a touchscreen to allow fast and easy focusing on the key area. <br> <br />Having spent the last 4 hours researching this, I have come to the intermediate conclusion that the best available for our type of basic, simple requirement is: The Nikon Coolpix P7800. The only downside that I can see being the absence of a touchscreen unless a newer model has been released?<br> Would be very interested to hear your thoughts and of those who contributed to the thread, especially Peter Hamm and Rob Bernhard.<br> I have also bought a copy of Light - Science & Magic which looks like a very solid part of the long term plan.<br> Best regards,<br> <br />Jonathan</p> <p> </p>