×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Macro Photography - Replacement for Coolpix 995

Macro Photography - Replacement for Coolpix 995

Macro Photography - Replacement for Coolpix 995

(OP)
I'm looking for a camera for documenting materials
problems and failure analysis. I used to use a
Nikon 995 for this kind of work. The ability
to do quick macro photography is important.

Are there any currently made digital cameras with
similar versatility? Looking through reviews, it looks
like a Fuji FinePix E510 or Minolta DiMAGE Z10 might
have similar macro capability.

Anyone have first hand experience?



Stephen Powell

RE: Macro Photography - Replacement for Coolpix 995

Macrophotography traditionally has been done with SLR cameras or Polaroid instant film cameras.  These systems can cost thousands of dollars (camera plus lenses).  An SLR camera with a zoom lens and a macro lens provide the most capability and flexibility, but appears to be outside your means.

If you are looking for a US$200 camera for macro work, I think just about anything will work.  Your suggested cameras appear to be capable.

Regards,

Cory

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

RE: Macro Photography - Replacement for Coolpix 995

SLR camera is pretty much a requirement, especially if you're going to be taking close-ups or working out of doors in sunlight (which can wash out the LCD screen on most digital cameras).  For the failure analysis work I've been doing, I've been using an Olympus E-10 for about 5 years now and the results have been quite acceptable (I'd use more glowing praise, but I don't want this to sound like an advertisement).  

To look for (in my order of importance, but all are important):
1.  SLR
2.  Manual focus capability (the E-10 has a selector switch)
3.  Optical Zoom (rather than digital) capability
4.  Batteries:  If the camera can run on AA's that's great - you can always find them, but not always find the weird camera batteries sometimes needed if you find yourself with a dead battery and off in the middle of nowhere.
5.  Option to control aperture - sometimes a depth of feld is more important to you than it is to the computer driving the automatic camera.  A smaller aperture will require a slower shutter speed, but this might make the difference between a decent close-up of a fracture surface and one that has part of the area of interest out of focus.

Hope this helps.

RE: Macro Photography - Replacement for Coolpix 995

I currently use a Nikon 8700 for this.

I would like to try a Proscope for this. http://www.theproscope.com/

Vita sine litteris mors est.

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources