Half decent cheap camera for close-up photos?

[HighFidelityGuy]

I'd like to purchase a cheap digital camera that will mainly me used for taking photos of circuit boards and fairly detailed close-up stuff like that. I want to spend as little as possible and will consider second hand. I'm talking less than £50 if possible. I know very little about photography so to try and better explain what I'm after, this is about as close-up and detailed that I would ever wish to get:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj220/kingbusoms/pcm1716.jpg

If that level of closeness or detail isn't possible for that price then something like this would be ok:

http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj220/kingbusoms/5.jpg

I just want to be able to read all the PCB markings and have everything roughtly in focus, I don't need to be able to zoom in on individual components or anything fancy like that.

I currently have an old 2MP camera with no optical zoom and if I try to take a photo of anything within 1 foot of the lens it just comes out as a complete blur. So I'm guessing most cameras made in the last few years will manage better than that but there are so many to choose from I wouldn't know where to start.

So if anyone has used a cheap camera that could handle this then please let me know.

Thanks. :)

[Reid Malenfant]

Hasn't your camera got a Macro setting? The button looks like a flower/tulip :scratch:

[HighFidelityGuy]

Yep and it makes bugger all difference that I can see. I guess I'm just trying to focus on things that are too close to the camera even for it's macro mode?

I was looking at a Samsung on ebay that sounded quite good until I read that it's fcus range was 80cm to infinity. I'm guesing that means it can't focus properly on anything within 80cm which seems pretty crap. Have I understood that correctly?

[Reid Malenfant]

See if you can find a good secondhand Fuji F100fd

The pictures will be more than adequate, you'll be incredibly surprised how good the Macro is :cool:

To say i was astounded is putting it mildly :eyebrows:

[HighFidelityGuy]

Thanks Mark. It looks like they can be found for between £120 and £160 which is a bit more than I was hoping to spend but not too bad. I'd stretch to that if necessary. I'll use this as my current benchmark.

From looking at it's specs it can focus down to 5cm in wide angle mode which I guess would account for it's good macro ability. That should help me compare against others.

Cheers. :cool:

[HighFidelityGuy]

It also looks like the current Fuji model F70EXR (http://fujifilm.co.uk/consumer/digital/digital-cameras/advanced-compact/finepix-f70exr)and F80EXR (http://fujifilm.co.uk/consumer/digital/digital-cameras/advanced-compact/finepix-f80exr)can be found new for around the same price as well and they both have a minimum focus of 5cm. So perhaps they could be a good option. They've both won awards and both seem to be about the same price but the 80 has more pixels so I guess it's the better of the two. Does the F80EXR look any good to you?

[Reid Malenfant]

Thanks Mark. It looks like they can be found for between £120 and £160
I got mine new off of fleabay for £115 i think & about 2 years ago ;) I bet they'll be a lot cheaper now ;)

As for the 5CM thing, sounds abut right to me :eyebrows:

Just looked myself :scratch: There is only 1 on there & it's more expensive than when i bought mine :lol:

[HighFidelityGuy]

I guess they're a classic now or something. :lol:

I've read some reviews of the newer Fuji EXR cameras and quite a few customers seem to be having problems with grainy images, even on the top of the range model. It seems the EXR feature fiddles around with the image too much in an attempt "improve" contrast etc and ends up cocking it all up.

I found a review site that recommends the Canon IXUS 105 as a good compact model and it has a minimum focus of 3cm. I found a review of it that includes this photo as an example of it's macro mode:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1297/4593544403_8f374b1e6d.jpg

I couldn't ask for more than that and for about £95 it seems like a good deal. :eyebrows: I think this seems to be the best option so far.

[DavidF]

I use a Nikon 5700 for most things but its without a range finder light, which almost amounts to a design fault. Indoor pics are joke.

For a couple of years now I have been using a Nokia N95 smart phone which does close up stuff reasonably well. It then has the advantage it links in with my outer and I can get pics sent to my computer with a just afew "clicks" no fussing around with cards etc etc).

HTHs (I paid 100 for mine 2nd hand ....not sure what they are now)

[Clive]

Don't get too hung up with how close you can focus. What you need to know is whether macro mode gives you 1:1, 1:2, 1:4 etc image size. I doubt you'll get 1:1 in a low cost camera.

[Mark Grant]

Some of the older Nikons are excellent.

I had a Nikon Coolpix 950, then a Coolpix 990 then a Coolpix 995 ( A geek I know :) )

A photo from my old 2 megapixel Coolpix 950:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5047/5330124461_49c5fc1b44_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/yo43yo/5330124461/)
Test photo taken with Nikon Coolpix 950 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/yo43yo/5330124461/) by Mark G. in England (http://www.flickr.com/people/yo43yo/), on Flickr

Look at the size of those surface mount resistors compared to the photos earlier in the thread :eyebrows:

Full size original 1600x1200 file is there if you look for it :)

Not bad for a 2 megapixel camera :)

Wish I had kept it but I sold it for ones with more pixels :rolleyes:

Another good one was Nikon Coolpix 4500.

make sure you buy something that works if buying on ebay.

Coolpix 995 and 4500 are good choices:
http://www.pbase.com/roine/macro_test


A really old photo of mine of a tame hedgehog on pbase taken with coolpix 995 in our garden way back in 2002
The bird bath ( large plant pot saucer from Ikea for about £3...) is still in the same place in the garden 9 years later and gets filled every day by my wife :) . what a great camera that was.
http://www.pbase.com/markgrant/image/2475192

http://www.pbase.com/markgrant/image/2475192.jpg
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[smurfbrain]

If you decide to go for a brand new canon ixus 105 you can get it for under £90 via quidco from here
http://www.dixons.co.uk/gbuk/canon-digital-cameras/161_1250_10299_5_xx/xx-criteria.html?sSortInfo=topsellers-desc.

[Techno Commander]

We use a Canon G7 at work for photographing PCBs and other electronic related bits and pieces.

[HighFidelityGuy]

Thanks for all the recommendations, there's some really good stuff for me to look into here. :cheers:

I'm really amazed at the quality you got from that 2MP camera Mark. It just goes to show it's the quality of the optics that matter, not just the number of pixels.

Special thanks to Martin for the Quidco deal. I rarely remember to use Quidco when I buy online and I really should. I got £100 cash back from O2 though them last year when I swapped my broadband. :cool:

[Techno Commander]

I think a lot of newer cameras are hung up in the "pixel wars". More is not nessescarily better. Especially if the image needs "processing" to remove all the noise created by an over crowded sensor.

I am un a similar position. I am trying to find a camera for use in low light (gigs etc) for actually photographing the lights. For me, fewer pixels is better as the low light capability is increased. Unfortunately, there doesnt semm to be anything under 10MP these days.

[HighFidelityGuy]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

In the end I ordered a Canon Ixus 105 from Best Buy through Quidco. I'm getting the camera, a 4GB SD card and a carry case for £99.99 but I'll get 15% cashback from Quidco. I think £85 is a pretty good deal even though it's a bit more than I was planning on spending. I think my original £50 budget was a bit wishful thinking tbh.

I'm looking forward to getting it so I can take some photo's of my LDR attenuator project. :eyebrows:

Cheers. :cool:

[Haselsh1]

Fuji s9600 secondhand via ebay. Absolutely stormin camera and huge pictures if you shoot RAW and convert to TIFF.

[Techno Commander]

Heres a picture I took today using the G7. :)

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg116/sillystuff99/electronics/IMG_3499.jpg