Photographing miniatures

[Keith]

I want to take some photos of work (in process etc) but can not get any good pictures. Can someone give me the basics ie. distance, using zoom or not etc.

I have a digital camera (Fujifilm 401 i think) which is capable of 4million pixels. Is this good enough? I'm afraid i don't know anything about photography and am not able to buy a new camera (after spending loads at EM and buying an Actulite)

Any help appreciated.

Keith

 

[thegoodsgt]

I know you'll get some feedback from other Planeteers, but check out this forum for discussions. It's an armor forum, but the principles are the same.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/235270

 

[MSzwarc]

Keith,

I believe Quang first posted this link a while ago. It's a site devoted to digital camera photography, and has some info on closeup photography.

Mike

 

[RobH]

Definately worth checking out DP REVIEW

Just found my 4 year old camera on there and discovered features I didn't know it had!!!! Such as full manual control (a "hidden" feature), manual white balance, a grid on the LCD display, TIFF file saving (another hidden feature!)..........Duh!

If I can get it to work again I'll be experimenting........

Rob

 

[michelange]

Hello Keith!

I think that to make good photos 4 million pixels are amply enough.
There are some tricks to be known. At first so possible no flash, is thus needed a quick release plate (un pied photo in French, I'm not sure of the translation ).
It is enough to activate the retarder (generally 10 seconds) to be sure that the device will not move. If the device is well calibrated for the colors, everything is OK, otherwise we correct with a software as photoshop.He allows to re-size the photo, to erase a fund too dark or too clear and ....other things.
I take as example a photo that megroot take at Euro 2004.(Takes it not bad megroot, it is just for illustrating what can make photoshop).
Bruno

 

[vince wai]

Keith,

Your 4 Mega Pixels camera should be more than adequate and no need for a new one ( except you want to enlarge your images to poster size). If you are planning to shoot some in-progress pics here, 400 to 600 pixels ( of the longest length of the images ) is already OK. Thus shooting a 1K image( 1000 pixels ) is about what you need ( and you can scale it down with a photo-editing program. Of course, if you are planning to shoot the picture for printing in magazines, you will need larger images ( eg. if you are planning to print an image in a mag with size of 8 X 10 inches, then you need an image of around 2400pixels X 3000 pixels, and this is the actual resolution and not shooting a smaller image and scale up with photoshop. )

vince

 

[Anders Heintz]

Here is my simple photoset up. I have a 1.6 Mega pixel old Sony Mavica 92FD on Macro Mode. I just get maybe 2-3" from the target and click!

 

[slaj]

Keith , I have the same camera you mention. It took a little experimenting to get to know all the features but I'm taking acceptable pics with it. The reason for them not being better is because I still don't know all it can offer. My basic settings are the following. Setting is on manual with suppressed flash. I shoot under daylight lighting ( the ones I use to work with ) so I use a setting called white balance. This is set on on no.1. I use macro and the setting is on 1M. Use the tripod and self timer. I don't shoot from really that close but then I trim the photo closer to get them sharper. That's about it I think. If you need more help please ask

Stephen Mallia

 

[Keith]

Thanks for all the advice. I'll do some reading and "playing" and see what i come up with.

thanks

Keith

 

[frank h]

Hi Keith,
While reading this thread I just got out
the camera and took this pic I used a 3.2 M/pixel
camera about 4 to 6 inches away using the Actulite
slightly above the subject

Here is the result
Hope it helps
Frank

 

[quang]

Hello Keith,

I did a quick search on the Internet and found what your camera is capable of:

So I think it's definitively much more than you need for posting s-b-s pics.

Many camera users (including myself) forget the obvious: read and thoroughly study the USER'S MANUAL. :lol:

Good luck.

Q.

 

[quang]

More features and tests on the Fuji 401

HERE



Q.

 

[vince wai]

Originally posted by quang@Sep 23 2004, 04:57 PM

Many camera users (including myself) forget the obvious: read and thoroughly study the USER'S MANUAL. :lol:

The problem is that I had lost the manual years ago

v

 

[quang]

No sweat, Vince.

Here it is:

Nikon Coolpix 950 pocket guide

:lol:

Q.

 

[vince wai]

Quang,

You must have a computerized memory Even I am not sure which model I had got if not refering to plate on the camera!

The camera is loaded with functions and features and I think I had used only half of them.

Thanks for the link. Vow, the best thing is that it's free!

Check out this site, though it's mainly for Nikon but there are some information that is equally useful for other camera users. http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam/User-Guide/990/

v

OOps, just got my camera out, actually it's a Nikon 990....:-0

 

[quang]

990 eh? No prob!

Nikon Coolpix 990 pocket guide

What's tragic in the high-tech stuff is that we have to pay for features that we don't have the opportunity, the capabilities or just the time to use . Think digicams or Photoshop.

 

[Keith]

Quang, Wow thats an incredible picture. thanks! for the info. Now i just need to find that manual

Keith

 

[RobH]

The strangest thing for me was finding out about these "hidden" features not in the manual; hold down key "x" and press "flash on" type thing and you get some groovy new feature!

Worth finding out if your camera has anything like this by digging round the net

Rob

 

[quang]

They call them 'easter eggs' in DVD jargon.

Q.

 

[vince wai]

Originally posted by quang@Sep 23 2004, 06:54 PM
990 eh? No prob!

Nikon Coolpix 990 pocket guide

What's tragic in the high-tech stuff is that we have to pay for features that we don't have the opportunity, the capabilities or just the time to use . Think digicams or Photoshop.

Yeah, yeah.:-(............ when comes to all these electronic gadgets ( digicam, mobile phones, computer games....) , my 13 years old daughter can learn to use them much faster than I do. Luckily, she still learning from me with Photoshop;-)