[Again] Digital camera

    A couple of years ago I was reading that the Nikon Coolpix 900
was a very good digital camera for taking close up jewelry photos. 

It sure was. I bought one a few years back when they were $999. It
took splendid macro shots until it got knocked off of my coffee
table and broke in half. That was my only problem with it;
mechanically fragile. You aren’t likely to find a CoolPix 900, they
haven’t been made for some time now.

My boss recently got a Sony DSC-P200 for jewelry photos. It sports
7.2 megapixels and Zeiss optics, an unbeatable combination.
Especially for the price range of $399 US (or less, if you search
the Internet). Many other digital cameras do a nice job, too. If
you’re in the US, visit a Best Buy and look them all over…they
don’t mind if you play with them.

James in SoFl

I recently found a nice jewelry photo trick- Wax paper makes a
wonderful sunlight diffuser while keeping the rich warm tone. I had
to shoot some white gold solder for a product shot. Not the easiest
thing to spice up in a picture. High noon was perfect light. I went
on the shoot some white wire and sheet. For “spice” I used an eight
pointed star filter.

The macro feature on my Canon D30 lens worked well. I have also
found “close up” filters to be helpful. They are inexpensive and
come so that you stack them on the lens for up to 7x magnification.
This works well enough to diagnose casting issues better. The only
downside is a shallow depth of field.

If you don’t know much about photography, I recommend the Sony
Cybershot. You can get one that isn’t the latest model for a good
price, it has macro capability, and it does most things automatically
(where with a camera intended for pros, there are a lot of options to
figure out - more control, but more of a learning curve).

Leah
www.michondesign.com
@Leah2

Annette,

I take all the pictures for my website with a Nikon Coolpix 950.
Lighting for large pieces is my main problem.

Steve Brixner
www.brixnerdesign.com

i am currently using the cannon camera, i have to get the #, but i
have used the nikon coolpix 3100 and it is excellent for taking
jewelry pictures.

Matthew

I got a nikon 950 from a camera dealer for 150 bucks, good condition,
short warranty. It was recommended by several orchid members. I am
happy with it. It has manual and auto focus.

Annette,

I would certainly go with a Nikon if you can afford one - their
optics are about the best on the market at the moment and the
quality of the lens is more important than any other aspect of the
camera. I use a Nikon Coolpix 5700 which, although a little larger
than most of the digital cameras, has excellent macro capabilities
and allows me to take pinsharp pictures of tiny watch parts without
needing extra lenses etc. You can also preset various scenarios such
as ‘outdoor general photos’, indoor macro shots using artificial
lighting’ etc. which makes using it a lot easier. My advice would be
to do as I did - look at the available cameras on the web, choose
one or two that seem to give the features you are looking for, go to
a local specialist camera shop and try them out (preferably finding
an assistant who has a vague idea of what they are talking about)
and then buy from the best source on the internet. You can get some
good deals from sellers in tax havens like Jersey (the island that
is not the city) or direct from the far east…

Best Wishes
Ian
Ian W. Wright
Sheffield UK