Little camera, big results

[Crablezworth]

So just after x-mas I decided to pick up a little point and shoot.


Now one thing these little bastards can do better than DSLR's is take macro (close up) shots. DSLR's have big sensors, which is generally a good thing when it comes to image quality and low light performance. The downside of big sensors is that they require large optics and as such the range of what's in focus is generally lower. That can be a really good thing most of the time as it give a sharp subject focus and a nice out of focus background. The downside however is when you want to photograph something very small, the range of what's in focus is razor thin and the only way around that is having a crapload of light and/or a tripod. Enter the point and shoot.

Now the nice thing about this little guy (canon 300hs) is it has a decently wide lens at 24mm. Which means you can put it right down on the table and get pictures that are more immersive. I've tried doing that with my slr and even at F/11-F/16 I can't get results that my point and shoot can get. I also picked up one these:



The main reason being that most pictures end up having some blur because they could take 1/30th of a second or slower.

Anyway, here's some shots from my last 3 games. I played against berzerker's necrons, b-dizzle's ultramarines and sallieman's salamanders.

[Orbital]

You're so right. That is noticeably better!

[QuietiManes]

Those came out really cool.

[natesnation]

That is too cool, mang. I love the pics, especially the ones with lots of greenery.

[Henshini]

How much does that camera cost? I'm personally still having difficulty finding the "suck" button on my cameras to turn them off. I've acquired a Nikon Coolpix 4600 and an Olympus FE-47 and I somehow can manage better pictures with my iPad 2. Do I just suck at cameras or are these just really low end ones?

[Crablezworth]

How much does that camera cost? I'm personally still having difficulty finding the "suck" button on my cameras to turn them off. I've acquired a Nikon Coolpix 4600 and an Olympus FE-47 and I somehow can manage better pictures with my iPad 2. Do I just suck at cameras or are these just really low end ones?

Well I'm a little biased towards canon myself. This particular model retails from about 145-160$. Most brick and mortars are clearing them out to make way for new stuff so you can probably grab one for about 140ish.

The trick is doing the following: turn the flash off, turn macro mode on (it's the little picture of a flower), leave the lens zoomed out (a big mistake people make is trying to zoom in which f**ks everything up), set the camera to delayed shot(usually looks like a stop watch with a number), most cams will have either 2 or 10 seconds delay, brace the camera against terrain or models or place on the table enough so that it's balanced and won't move at all, half press the shutter button to lock in the exposure/focus, press all the way down and wait for the magic. The camera will be so-so at getting the exposure down so you may want to add a bias like +1 or -1 EV or if you have a point and shoot with a manual setting you can just use that. Also, it's worth pointing out that if you have control of your ISO keep it at the lowest possible setting, which is usually iso100 or 200. This ensures the best quality when it comes to noise.

The biggest mistake everyone makes is zooming in. What happens when you zoom is you take your nice f/2.8-3.7 apertures (the bigger holes that let in the more light) and quickly reduces them to f/5.6 or f/8 (smaller holes, less light). So basically you take an already slow exposure (think blurry) of less than 1/30th of second into a death spiral to the point where unless you're on a tripod you'll get a lot of blur. The other problem with zooming in is the minimum focus (the closest you can get the subject to the lens) goes way up. Most point and shoots can be a couple of inches away and still get focus when they're zoomed out but the second you zoom in all that math changes and the minimum focus can now be couple feet.

[Steel Paladin]

You know what? If this board had an upvote feature, I would totally give you like twenty for that post you just made, Crablezworth. I'd literally sign up twenty new accounts to do just that.

[Crablezworth]

You know what? If this board had an upvote feature, I would totally give you like twenty for that post you just made, Crablezworth. I'd literally sign up twenty new accounts to do just that.

If you have a dakka dakka account I could use a bump over there

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/439793.page

[Refyougee]

Canon makes great point and shoots. The DoF you have going in a lot of these pics really helps convey motion and I am a big fan. I wish I had a camera like this for my WM/H games

[BlaineThPain]

Nice shots!

Another thing you can look for is a plunger-style add-on (there's probably a better term for that) for the camera that lets you snap the pictures without actually having to touch the camera body.