 Joni M. Romero |
Need camera for beginner macro hobbyist Hi, I'm new to this site and will be starting my first class tomorrow. My husband is interested in macro photography. He likes to take pics of "stuff" in our backyard: flowers, birds, butterflies, bugs. :) I have an Olympus Evolt 500, and we'd like to get him his own camera - something inexpensive that will take great macro pics. Jo
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Stephanie M. Stevens |
I bought a Pentax Optio 555 two years ago for $350, it had Macro & Super Macro settings. It worked out very well for all sorts of things. All of my gallery photos were taken with it. Don't know about Canon or Olympus P&S.
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Ariel Lepor |
Hi, Joni! I'm interested in macro photography, too. Two sites for good camera reviews are: I was about to give you a link about photographing insects (actually the link is http://azone.clubsnap.org/insectguide/page01.htm1) , but it seems that the site is down right now. One camera I'd suggest using for macro photography is the Coolpix 5400. It took these pictures: Another good camera is the Canon S3 IS. It also has a super macro mode. Additionally, it has image stabilization. Note that Canon is a good company. I have the Fuji S5200, and while it doesn't have image stabilization (which isn't usually a problem), it's images are very good as far as color accuracy and sharpness go. The Fuji is also very sturdy, and low priced. Another thing to mention is that Fujifilm is a top-notch company, if you don't mind contributing to outsourcing (to Japan). With a camera like the Fuji S5200, (which you need to be a few inches back in order to focus with macros), it's a good idea to get "close-up filters", or macro lenses. It seems that HOYA makes good quality "close-up filters". I think that the best idea, if you get the Fuji, would be to also get HOYA's +1, +2, and +4 multi-coated close-up filter set. With this combination, you still beat Canon's price by far, you will be able to take great macros without having to get right up to the bugs, and you have more versatility than you would with Olympus's cameras. Note that the macros I have done with the Fuji were mostly taken with Opteka's low quality macro lens. Have fun learning here at BetterPhoto, happy shooting, and I hope I've been helpful. Ariel
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Peter M. Wilcox |
Well, currently the best digital SLR for macro photography is the Olympus E-330. The mode B use of the LCD screen at 10x magnification is unmatched for macro focusing and composition. I.e. you can use the tiltable LCD screen for composition and focus instead of having to sight through the viewfinder. It isn't cheap tho, still a recent introduction from Oly. However, since it will share all of your lenses from the E-500 (and vice versa), the economics might work as well, or better than, buying into a different system. The 35mm macro lens from Olympus is also a good lens at a reasonable price. The old OM 50mm macro with an OM->4/3 adapter would make an excellent macro combination as well, although it would need to be manually focused and stopped down. OM lenses are inexpensively available.
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Joni M. Romero |
Thanks for the replies! Since I asked, we found the Olympus 300 (not 330) on sale at a local store for $379 with the package lens. It was a closeout - last one! We grabbed it, and are very excited about it, since we can share Olympus lens and it's an SLR. Hope it will do a good job on macro! If not - at that price - I will have a second backup camera.
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Peter M. Wilcox |
That's a good camera. You will want to get one of the macro lenses though. I'd suggest the 35mm, a good lens, reasonably priced. The Olympus kit lenses don't focus closely enough to be effective macro lenses. The EX-25 extension tube is another possibility, but it's not that much less than the 35mm macro, and it's harder to use. Very narrow focus range. I would avoid the addon filter type closeup lenses - quality suffers.
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