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Camera for photographing miniatures.

Discussion in 'Tools of the Trade/Accessories' started by Banjer, Aug 3, 2021.

  1. Banjer A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    Not sure where to post this, mods please move if necessary.

    I am looking to purchase a reasonably priced camera to use for photographing miniatures and not much else. Obviously with so little use I don't want to spend a fortune so if anyone can suggest a suitable piece of kit I would be very grateful. Some shots of figures taken with the recommended camera would also be very useful.

    I am definitely not a photographer so please nothing that requires much more than point and shoot.

    Thanks in anticipation.

    Bill
  2. DaddyO A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Hi Bill

    I was in the same position a couple of years ago and bought myself a Fuji Finepix 14MP camera second hand (You can spend a lot of money, as you might appreciate) Think it was about £60 in its box with manual and cords to connect to the PC. This is a bridge camera so not quite point and shoot with no options, but not all singing and dancing.

    There are lots of options settings wise, but I've found one that works okay and generally leave it at that. I needed to get a SD card for it since the internal memory is quite small and quickly fills up with hi-res pics, and it gets through batteries regularly,but other than that it's fine for me.
    I've attached a couple of images which were just cropped with no further post image alterations so you can see the quality

    Hope that helps
    Paul

    Attached Files:

    Jed, Nap and Mike - The Kiwi like this.
  3. Banjer A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    Thanks Paul,
    I looked at this camera on Amazon. Used for £100 which is fine but £40 delivery which is not.
    Based on reviews and recommendations on photographic forums I opted for a Panasonic Lumix fz45, for a similar price but £4 delivery. Have to wait and see if I've made the right decision.

    Cheers
    Bill
    Mike - The Kiwi likes this.
  4. Tecumsea PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    England
    To be honest Bill you can't go far wrong with a Lumix, I'm sure it will do a good job.

    Keith
  5. Banjer A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    I hope so Keith, trouble is if it's that good it will show up my painting skills (lack of) even more.

    Cheers

    Bill
  6. Tecumsea PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    England
    Nothing wrong with your painting mate.
    Nap likes this.
  7. Nap Moderator

    Country:
    England
    Nice thread Bill

    Good info from folk ...another is certainly on the horizon ...currently use a Nikon

    Nap
  8. Tecumsea PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    England
    The Lumix has a. Leica lens they don't come much better.
    Nap likes this.
  9. Nap Moderator

    Country:
    England

    Going to have a look at the LUMIX ...cheers for the info

    Nap
  10. Airkid A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    I've got a Lumix DMC-FS45 (16MP) which I've had for years. It is a point and shoot camera but has a high quality lens (Leica) I find it slightly limited in terms of field depth but the picture quality is first rate. I daresay if I had spent some time looking at its functionality (by reading the manual:rolleyes:) I'd get better results. It is a good all rounder.

    Phil
    Banjer likes this.
  11. Banjer A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    Good luck with reading the manual Phil, 223 pages:eek:

    Bill
    Airkid likes this.
  12. Malcolm££ New Member

    I have been a competing photographer for some time and you will get the bst results with a macro lense and on camera lights second hand will give you the best price
    In my opinion cannon are the best
    Jed and Banjer like this.
  13. Banjer A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    Thank you Malcolm, I appreciate what you are saying but I don't have the knowledge or inclination to go for any thing more than the basics. As you say, you are a competing photographer, I just want to be able to take a reasonable series of shots of models to post here. I don't have enough interest in photography to want to get really into it.
    The Lumix seems to fit the bill, I will post some images here and perhaps you can give a critique.

    Cheers
    Bill
    DaddyO likes this.
  14. Malcolm££ New Member

    I am sure the lumex will suffice
    If you need any help please ask
  15. Banjer A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    Hi folks,
    While the Lumix takes really nice photos I am now struggling with lighting the subject artificially and ask what method you guys use. Any pointers in the right direction would be great. No blinding with science please.

    Cheers

    Bill
  16. Malcolm££ New Member

    Try 2 torches of not deducted macro light attachment macro photography does not depend on ambient light (indoors) so put up light tent to reflect light all round
    Nap likes this.
  17. Jed Active Member

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    I use a Fuji Finepix HS30 which give. Good results although I rely on my iPhone for a lot of my pics. I also sometimes use a rather cheep collapsible photo box made from a white material and works like a pop up tent,it came with some different coloured clothes for back drops. A coup,e of cheep table lamps with led bulbs for any required lighting. Good luck. The Fuji cameras can be picked up relatively cheep on FB market place or similar places.
    Banjer likes this.
  18. Banjer A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    I finally settled for a Lumix FZ45 camera with a Puluz lightbox and two clip on LED lamps.

    These pics of a wip of Pilipili's Kyoto Belle were taken with this set up. Still require some tweaking but I am happy with the
    results.
    geisha.JPG
    P1010368.JPG

    Bill
    Jed likes this.
  19. Mirofsoft A Fixture

    Country:
    Belgium
    Something very simple Sony DSC T77, flat, light, macro at 8cm from the lens, small but big screen at the back

    pictures without flash, lights .... straight from the camera

    54mm
    DSC01071.JPG

    25mm
    DSC00914.JPG

    90mm
    DSC00890.JPG

    flat 30mm
    DSC01191 (2).JPG
    Jed and Banjer like this.
  20. Henk A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    As an enthusiastic amateur photographer, I have two Canon cameras (EOS 350D and my workhorse EOS 1200D) which take decent pictures, and can be printed up to about 20×30. I use the 1200 occasionally for model pictures, but the faving about getting them on the 'puter and edited for uploading, is a bit of a pain.

    Most modern phones have a camera that is perfectly capable of taking quality photos for display on a monitor. The biggest problem that most people dont address, is lighting. No camera, no matter how good/expensive, is going to take a good picture with bad lighting.

    Get a plain background. This is important. Just a piece of card, a large book, a t-shirt, anything to give a neutral and plain background. Clutter in the background will draw attention away from your model, it will upset the light balance, it will upset the focus of the camera, and looks really shoddy.

    Light. Use one source of light (daylight, led bulbs, halogeen bulbs, old incandescent bulbs...) because the camera uses white balance, and different light sources have different "temperatures", and need different settings.

    Use more than one light of the same source. One above, one or two to the side or front, to eliminate shadows and dark spots.

    Bright light equals fast shutter speed and fast shutter speed equals sharp pictures/ detail.

    Steady the phone/camera when taking pictures. Pressing the shutter button, even on a phone camera, creates movement.


    The skeleton was taken on my phone. The birds less so..


    20190915_151406.jpg

    20210914_193413.jpg

    20200303_080549.jpg
    Banjer and Nap like this.

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