syzygy Posted November 12, 2006 Report Share Posted November 12, 2006 Well, I have had it in my mind to buy a new digital camera for quite a while and I finally got around to getting one. This is my third digital camera. The first was a Kodak (240 or something like that - gave it to my sis a while ago) 1.2 meg. It wasn't bad at all and proved to be a great introduction. After a year or two, I was ready for a step up and got an Olympus C-4000 - 4 meg. This is the camera that I have used to take the coin shots I have posted here. It has a ton of features and I am going to continue to use this great little camera. So now it is time for another step up. My plans were to go with a digital SLR. Face it, that is where it's at if you want the best quality. Problem is, the more research I did, the more I learned how complicated the photography using an SLR would be. I had pretty much settled on a Canon digital rebel. With a macro lens (and another lens for telephoto shooting) I would be up over $1000. Well, that was feasible, but I just did not want to spend all that time studying photography. I'm not a professional photographer and I don't want to be. Don't get me wrong, I try to learn all that I can about the cameras I get and, cautiously, think I do a decent job with them. I started looking at point and shoots. Decided on a Canon Powershot A640. Did my research online and had a pretty good notion of what to expect with the camera's strengths and weaknesses. It is a 10 meg cam! Shopped around for the price and got it for $299 plus tax, with free shipping (from Dell using one of their specials). Amazing, a 10 meg camera for 300 bucks! That's a bit less than I paid for my Olympus some three years ago. Here are some test shots. I will embed the first one in the message and leave links to a few more as these reduced pics are 320-380K. I intentionally left them at a large size to show the incredible detail one can get. As I learn the fine points of the relationship between the LCD view screen and the final product and set the white balance (as soon as I can find one of those cards) and all the other details, I am sure I can improve over these shots. Nevertheless, I am fairly pleased with my first attempts. This is an NT SAE (sat in the dealer's sunny window next to the door closest to all the street vehicle exhausts - I watched it tone over about 9 months Here are the links to a few more... Texas half Italian Bee SAE reverse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Stilson Posted November 12, 2006 Report Share Posted November 12, 2006 Whoa, thats some nice shots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brett Posted November 13, 2006 Report Share Posted November 13, 2006 I have a canon digital rebel and I totally love the camera, I still need to buy a macro lense though. The pics you took came out awesome!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Posted November 13, 2006 Report Share Posted November 13, 2006 Great pics. Looks like your research paid off..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akdrv Posted November 13, 2006 Report Share Posted November 13, 2006 Excellent photos. Makes me want to upgrade my Canon S40 soon. What settings did you use for these shots? Just regular macro? Do you use a zoom lens add-on or a tripod? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syzygy Posted November 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2006 Excellent photos. Makes me want to upgrade my Canon S40 soon. What settings did you use for these shots? Just regular macro? Do you use a zoom lens add-on or a tripod? No additional lens. The macro on the A640 will focus to 1 cm in widest angle. No tripod but a copy stand - I'm about 7-8 inches from the coin so there is plenty of room for lighting. Two daylight 15 w temperature matched bulbs and I will usually use a light board sometimes with a sheet cover. Definitely in experimenting mode since these are my first shots with the cam but here is some additional info from the SAE. Original date/time: 2006:11:12 09:47:24 Shutter speed: 202/32 (6.3) F-stop: 2.8 Focal length: 7.3000 Flash: 16 Orientation: 1 Aperture: 2.9688 Exposure time: 1/80 (0.01250) Exposure bias: 2/3 (0.7) Metering mode: 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smk Posted November 13, 2006 Report Share Posted November 13, 2006 I'm planning on buying a Canon S2 IS, its 5MP and 12X zoom and I've heard good reviews on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syzygy Posted November 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 The cam is working out pretty well - here are some more test shots (all pretty large), if you want to take a gander - don't forget to click the little box in IE to see the pic full size. I still need to get better but I remain impressed by this machine's capabilities...coments and pointers welcome. 1976 100 Schilling (a bit too bright, but nice detail) 1976 100 Schilling 1844 Large Cent - turned out pretty nice but I can tell that I need to adjust the white balance - just slightly off, hence the slight green/blue tint. 1844 LC 1883 Chilean Peso - I'm pretty happy with this one, but again some blue/green tint that is not on the coin 1883 Peso 1938-D Buffalo nickel - pretty decent - the droplets/marks *are* on the coin 1938-D Buffalo 2000 Lincoln off center - no complaints 2000 off center cent 1945 Walking Liberty half - just a tad over exposed 1945 WL half 1885-O Morgan - no complaints 1885-O Morgan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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