Which Camera?

[scott123456]

Can anyone tell me the specifications of a camera best suited to take and post pics of flies on the forum? Got a pretty good digi one but not getting very good colour or detail, focus doesent seem right. What cameras do you guys use?

Cheers, S

[arkle]

It sounds like technique rather than the camera.

Do you use a tripod ? Have you set the white balance correctly for the type of light you're working with at the time ? ++++++ What camera are you using ?

[seanie]

You could buy a cheap didital 14mp for less than £70 in Argos. I bought one of these and it has an unbelieveable array of functions for that price, Its an Olympus X-43.Simple to use and great pix.

Check this out........

Buy Olympus X43 14MP Camera - Silver. at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for .

[weight_forward]

Have a read of Cap'n Fishy and Scratch's guide to photography. I think the key is lighting.

[splashtestdummy]

With a cheaper camera you can still get good results, mine was £200 about 5 years ago so has been surpassed by cheaper cameras now.

Yep, all down to lighting and taking a few pics at slightly different focal lengths to allow the macro to do it's thing, as it will focus on various parts differently ... i.e. take a few in order to select one out of the set that has the best definition (delete the dud ones or your hard drive will fill quite quickly).

Some flies are trickier than others, simply lining up good natural light (even with some reflectors as well if you want to get technical) can get great results.

When inside you can use normal desk lamps but buying some daylight bulbs for a few quid is a good move, then colour correction on the camera is less important. Experimenting with a number of light sources i.e a stronger top right source from a desk lamp at say 1 - 2 feet, weaker light from the left to the side (lower angle to infill detail at say 3 - 5 feet) and a general back light.

Electric desk light shot - a bit over lit, might have moved the lights a bit furher away?:


Afternoon sunlight - could have done with a white board to reflect some light in from the left (but a pain on windy days)?:


http://www.dpreview.com/news/0309/03...ympusc5060.asp - from this camera (ignore price I got it cheap from Pixmania).

[jindra]

Lightning seems to be more important than the make of the camera, a good guide is Fly Art Studio.
About the only important feature the camera really should have is ability to save white balance settings, so that you don't have to select it each time you make a photo (its a real pain in the butt)

Cheers!

[dyl]

Lighting is a major factor as mentioned before, but what is also very handy is having a 'macro' facility on the camera, and a tripod or something steady to rest the camera upon. (you can get small flexi tripods suitable for compact digitals).

The other thing to do is to either use the timer function or to have a remote switch to prevent any camera shake as you take the photo.

Try also to disable the camera flash and use a lightings set up as previously mentioned. This will give you a more natural feel to the colours and a better photograph.

I have an old Nikon Coolpix 4600 at 4 megapixel with a 'macro' function which allows you to get very close in to the subject, and this function is on many compact cameras under £200.

However, I also have a semi Pro Canon SLR, and I would use one of my specific macro lens to do the job

It all comes down to how much you want to spend, but it is possible to do this on the cheap as I can do with my very old Nikon.

Dyl.

[wotucatchthaton]

sony cybershot has it all and more,picked myne up for 20 on fleabay ,perfect

[scott123456]

cheers for the replies folks.

my camera is a samsung L100, 8.2 mega pixel, it has a macro function and this is giving me the best results. Havent used a tripod, dont think thats the problem because the photo itself is fine Im just not getting the detail that you guys seem to be getting. Ill try and post a pic tomorrow to show yous what the quality is that Im getting and see what suggestions you have.

Should I always use the macro function when shooting flies?

would a box painted white on the inside work as a picture studio? I dont have room for a fixed studio in my wee corner of the bedroom.

thanks for the advice.

[A. Fluker]

The Pentax W90 seems to have a lot of features for the fly fisherman. Waterproof to some extent, shockproof to some extent, 12 MP, HD movie, super duper macro facility.

Google for more.