Digital camera; whats new?

Jewelry Discussion
1

Its been a few months now since the discussion on digitals. Anyone
buy a new camera lately? Looking for recomendations. My guru tells
me to get the biggest diameter lens, a 10x zoom and a 3+ pixel.
Anyone have any w isdom on the subject?

Richard

2 
   ( Its been a few months now since the discussion on digitals. 
Anyone buy a new camera lately? )

Richard, Not that it is new, but I have a Nikon coolpix 950, that
really does produce very good, very detailed close-up shots of my
jewelry.The only real drawback is when loaded into computer, they
come on screen HUGE. And I have to send them through a ‘photo
program’ to reduce them to viewable or ‘sendable’ size. And the
batteries drain in a heartbeat! Enclosed is a pic of recent
commission, sapp&dia ring Thomas Blair Island Gold Works

3 
    Its been a few months now since the discussion on digitals. 
Anyone buy a new camera lately?  Looking for recomendations.  My
guru tells me to get the biggest diameter lens, a 10x zoom and a 3+
pixel. Anyone have any w isdom on the subject?

G’day; Can’t tell you about the very new cameras. BUT; I bought a
Canon S20 5 months ago and I have been delighted with the results it
provides. Out of the many dozens (hundreds?) of photos I have taken, I
don’t think more than one was unacceptable from a technical viewpoint

  • Don’t ask about the artistic viewpoint! I have used it in some very
    tricky lighting conditions and particularly in one dark place;
    mountain always hiding the sun, thick overhead leafy canopy, and a
    little cave from which the crystal water pours out of the
    mountainside. I’ve tried many times with my Canon ftb SLR with little
    success, but the digital gave me excellent exposures.

Here’s a few suggestions.

  1. When you buy a camera, forget about the digital zoom; you will
    find that the pictures with digital zoom are grainy. Optical zoom is
    excellent. If you want to go ‘closer’ to a distant scene than the
    optical zoom allows, then shoot at the highest resolution the camera
    provides, and then crop and resize the picture on the computer;
    you’ll find this gives better results than the digital zoom.

  2. When you buy the camera get a spare battery; digitals EAT power!
    You’ll say nasty rude Anglo Saxon sinful words if your battery status
    symbol flashes when you need more shots and can’t return.

  3. The camera should have a very good Macro to give excellent ultra
    close ups of say, jewellery.

  4. When you get your new camera, just sit down quietly whilst the
    adverts are on and read each page of the manual carefully, using the
    camera itself to help reinforce the Over several nights!
    Remember that the camera is a little computer in it’s own right, and
    you will find that you can do things with the thing that you hadn’t
    thought of. After all, having paid out heaps for the new toy, you
    might as well squeeze all the juice out of it!

Like I said, I am very happy with the Canon S20, but I would have
preferred to get the Nikon 990 Coolpix - only I couldn’t afford it -
another $500NZ. Retail digital cameras in NZ have a 150% markup on
American retailers. It wouldn’t have been much cheaper to have bought
through the net, by the time the poor NZ dollar and tax and packing
and freight and insurance… etc ad nauseum were all added in. Happy
Snaps! And Cheers –

John Burgess; @John_Burgess2 of Mapua Nelson NZ

4

I regaurds to your inquiring of lenses for ypu digital camers. You
may want to try a macro lense for those get it in close shots that
show all the nooks and cranys. i found that ths lense really pops out
the texture of what you may be shooting… Just a thought from one who
has done a lot of shooting… Many regards from an old photo maniact
of 30 + years. Yours senserly: Ricard W, Blahnik III
Lufkin, Texas USA

5

You can get the Olympus 450 for fairly cheap now. It doesn’t have
the all the bells and whistles that are in the newer cameras, and it
probably won’t focus on the nose hairs of ants, but it does a decent
job at a good price. At one point, my SmartCard got fried and the
lens wouldn’t retract. The Olympus support was very fast and
effecient.

Karen Christians
M E T A L W E R X
http://www.metalwerx.com/
Accredited Jewelry Instruction

6 
       ( Its been a few months now since the discussion on
digitals. Anyone buy a new camera lately? )

For anyone interested, John Vandermeulen wrote an article called
“Digital Imagery & Digicams” which was published in the most recent
issue of Glass on Metal. It is very well written and describes what
to look for in a digital camera (and what each of these features
means) if one is interested in photographing work such as jewelry. You
can check into reprints by writing The Enamelist Society at: P.O. Box
310, Newport KY 41072 or calling 859-291-3800.

Laura Wiesler
@LWiesler

7

Hi there - first message ever, probably first of many…

The Nikon 990 has about the best macro capability of any consumer
digital camera available, with about 2cm filling whole field…
However you need to be very close to the subject (not much more than
an inch), which can cause problems with lighting etc. Reversing a
lens onto the 990 can increase the working distance a little and give
more magnification (if you feel it is needed - have shots with 5mm
filling entire shot). Need to have the teleconverter also though. 990
also has all manual controls of a typical SLR

ACDSEE is good for viewing. Images are big when you view them
initially, but it is very easy to resize with a few different
programmes eg Photoshop.

Joseph