Whats the Best Digital camera for taking extremely close up pics?

Here's an article that I wrote for intraoral photography, which should translate almost directly to your purpose. I'll tell you what I use and what you might consider. I got a Nikon D70s for personal use, with the thought that I could also get a macro lens and use it in the office. I got myself a new camera for personal use, as I found that I wanted to leave this setup in the office at all times. I would say that a Nikon D40 or D50 would be perfectly adequate for intraoral use, but you might find a good buy on a D70s, as they are being closed out right now. 6 MP is PLENTY for intraoral use. You would not need a huge memory card for limited use, but I'd still suggest a 1 GB card with accelerated write speed, like a Sandisk Ultra or Extreme or a Lexar 80x card. I am using a Nikon 60 mm Macro lens, which translates into about 90 mm in "35 mm equivalent." This gives plenty of working distance. Nikon also has a (discontinued) 105 Macro and the brand new 105 VR Macro, but you said, "simple and effective." This lens gives you a true macro 1:1 reproduction. The only lens that will autofocus with the D40, though, is the new 105, because it is an AF-S lens, requred by the D40. You can use the 60 mm with manual focus only on the D40. I use the built-in pop-up flash rather than a $400-600 marco lighting set-up. It's free. "Simple and effective." Set the camera in Aperture priority and choose f:11, f:16 or so, depending on personal preference. Set the EV at -0.7 stops. Perhaps you would like a different EV setting, but this is what works for me. After that, in autofocus, it's a point and shoot with wonderful results. These prices are from www.bhphotovideo.com as of March 2007. You can probably price shop and find them cheaper, but B&H is a rock solid dealer and I usually end up buying from them, even after comparison shopping. I am just using their prices as a point of reference. The Nikon D40 is $600 _with_ the 18-55 kit lens AND a 2 GB Sandisk Ultra II card. The D50 sells for $450 for the body or $490 for the body and a 2 GB Sandisk Ultra II card. The D70s seems to be unavailable, but... The D80 sells for $925 for the body or $985 for a body and a 2 GB Sandisk Extreme III card. This is almost $400 more than the D40 kit, but the D80 it will autofocus with the 60mm macro lens and the D40 will not, so you can save over $400 on the lens, making the D80 "macro kit" cost the same as the D40 "macro kit." It's a no-brainer to me to say that you should at least get the D80. The D200 sells for $1,340 for the body or $1,525 for a body and a 4 GB Sandisk Extreme III card. The Macro 60mm f:2.8 lens is available for $400. The Macro 105mm f:2.8 VR is available for $810. SO - pick your price and find a match. If you can find a D50 and 60mm Macro lens, you would have an excellent intraoral camera for less than $900. I have seen kits to modify point and shoots that cost more than that. I would say that the D40 would be perfectly adequate, but it will not autofocus the 60mm lens that I use and the 105mm VR lens, while a wonderful lens that WILL work with the D40, costs more than twice as much. Most people would not really NEED VR with intraoral photography, because you are using the flash. To me, this means there are two real choices: Nikon D40 with the kit lens (can't avoid it) and the 105mm VR macro lens and 2 GB memory card = $1,410. Nikon D80 with 60mm Nikon Macro lens and 2 GB memory card = $1,385. This makes it a no-brainer decision. Get the D80 with the 60mm lens. If you find that you have trouble getting clear images due to shaking, you can add a tripod for about $50. I own and use and love a Nikon D200, but I admit that it is overkill for intraoral views and the comparable kit would cost about $1,700, which is a lot more than you need to spend. Here's a sample shot from my D70s with the 60mm lens. I admit that it is not "presentation quality," but it was just a quick shot to communicate with the lab. It is also a full-sized image, so you can enlarge it to see the detail. Your cursor should be a "+" maginifier as you move it across the image. Just click to get the full size and check the detail. If it is not a magnifier, click on the white space to the right of the picture once and then move it back over the image again. http://www.members.aol.com/swf08302/d70ssample.jpg Here are some more samples using that 60 mm lens on a different camera. Yorkie Pendant - Macro Technique Nikon D200 - 60 mm macro lens - f/13.0 - ISO 200 http://www1.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=57759389/PictureID=2531239699/a=75953750_75953750/t_=75953750 Cardinal Pin - Macro Technique - The pin is about 1¼" long. Nikon D70s - 60 mm macro lens - f/5.0 http://www1.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=57759389/PictureID=2531239718/a=75953750_75953750/t_=75953750 ~~~~~~~~~~ If this is just out of the question for your budget, here's another bit that I wrote about using a point and shoot camera - perhaps even the one you already own. The results will NOT give you the critical definition possible with the SLR, though. It' was written for jewelry, but it is directly applicable to your situation. You won't have some of the problems with flash that you would have with jewelry, so maybe it would be perfectly adequate for your purposes. The best way to take photos of jewelry for a web site is with a digital SLR and a macro lens. If you are not going to go with a DSLR, almost any point and shoot with a macro mode will serve you well. The thing is, I feel that you need to use the flash to force the aperture to close while still having enough light for an exposure. Many here will tell you different, but follow this advice and see what you think. Use your macro setting and experiment. Let's say you have a point and shoot camera with macro and a flash on the camera. You might have to go to a manual mode to do this, but... Put your item on a nice background surface. I like to just put it in a ring box or on some velour. Zoom out at least half-way so that you will be working about a foot away from the ring. Be sure that you get focus confirmation. Shoot a picture USING flash. Check the LCD for the result. If you have overexposed the item, use the EV adjustment to reduce the exposure. For small items, I often find that I need to reduce the exposure by about 1.0 EV. (That's -1.0 EV.) It is better to have the item properly exposed and the background underexposed, so just worry about the jewelry for now. Using a deliberate underexposure will cure the "too shiny" appearance of the stones and metal. If you know how, you can use either full manual exposure or just Aperture Priority and choose a smaller aperture (larger number) to make the ring show up in better focus. If you have a DSLR, post your question again stating the kind of camera that you have and the lens that you are using and we will give more details. If you are doing any image processing at all, such with Photoshop or it's cousins, you can crop the image to 800 pixels by 800 pixels and use Supersize images on eBay. I always use the Picture Pack when I am selling anything of any value. Check out http://www.members.aol.com/swf08302/heartring.jpg which I did a while ago using a Nikon Coolpix 5400 exactly as described above. I do NOT think this is acceptable, but we decided not to sell the ring anyhow, so I didn't bother to do a better job. It's still better than some I've seen. I don't keep old photos of sold items around, so I don't have much to show you, but at least you know that it's possible to get an acceptable result even without spending huge dollars on your equipment. The key things to remember are: -Macro setting -Zoom out to get about a foot away from your subject -Use flash -Try different EV settings and expect that you will end up with a negative EV setting, such as -1.0 EV. I happen to have some photos from old auctions on an FTP site. I think that these were all taken with a 3 MP Nikon Coolpix 885. http://members.aol.com/swf08302/carvina.jpg http://members.aol.com/swf08302/skullfront.jpg http://members.aol.com/swf08302/konkontu.jpg (The patch is about 4 inches long.) Here are a couple of coin photos done exactly as described, but using a D200: http://www1.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=57759389/PictureID=2801041875/a=75953750_75953750/t_=75953750 http://www1.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=57759389/PictureID=2801041874/a=75953750_75953750/t_=75953750 I'll have to post a few Nikon 4600 or 5400 macro photos for future reference... Here are a couple more auction photos done as described, using a 60 mm macro lens on a DSLR: 800 x 800 http://www.members.aol.com/swf08302/yorkie01.jpg 800 x 800 http://www.members.aol.com/swf08302/montblanc05.jpg 800 x 800 http://www.flickr.com/photos/7189769@N04/412244168/ (light box) 800 x 800 http://www.flickr.com/photos/7189769@N04/412244164/ If you are interested in a full description of an SLR set-up, post a new question and ask specifically for that information. I'm gathering from the nature of your question that you might be in the point and shoot market.

It has to be one with a zoom lens and macro (little flower) capability. Then you can cover a size 3" x 3" So anything priced above $130 US will work Kodak 653, 743, Nikon L10, L11, L6, Canon A550, Sony T55 If you want less coverage that than you need to go to an expensive Digital SLR and dedicated Marco Lense, talking $900 there.