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Photographing Jewelry-Need Help

I need help choosing a camera that can take pictures of very tiny makers marks, along with clear pics of the jewelry.  Can anyone reccomend specific cameras and model numbers.  Do I want high optical zoom or high digital zoom.  I should also say, it needs to be point and shoot.  Any help would be much appreciated.  I am lost choosing the right mid price camera.

Pam

Message 1 of 24
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Photographing Jewelry-Need Help

I think the key is choosing a camera with a macro setting (very close up) that is short, meaning the distance from the camera lens to the object being photographed. Super-high pixel count/ability is not nearly as important as macro distance for your purposes. The macro setting is what you want to use when getting very, very close-in shots. You physically don't have to be right on top of your subject as the macro setting will bring it in. The macro setting is built into the camera, you don't need to buy a special lens.

 

Google is your friend; go online and do some research on the big-name camera brands...Nikon, Sony, Canon, Olympus, even Fuji and Samsung.

 

There will lots to choose from in your price range, I'm sure.

 

If you're in a store that has affordable cameras for the non-professional photographer, just look at the specifications for any specific camera and it should show the macro focal distance. Compare them from camera to camera.

 

Happy shopping!

Message 2 of 24
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Photographing Jewelry-Need Help

I am currently looking for a new camera too.

I think a short macro distance is important but, do to ebay rules for picture size, having a good size megapixel size is important as well. Having a large megapixel will allow cropping to create better close-up images. Much better than resizing (shrinking) the picture.
Message 3 of 24
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Photographing Jewelry-Need Help

Thanks for replying.  There are just so many to pick from.  It seems mind boggling.

Thanks Again

Pam

Message 4 of 24
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Photographing Jewelry-Need Help

I take photos at a high(er) resolution (any good camera should have a decent choice of resolutions) and then resize for Ebay or sharing online. There is not noticable loss of image quality/detail when doing that. Even my old Sony Mavica from the 1990s - the kind with the floppy disk in it -  could do pretty darned well at close-ups on jewelry and it was not a high-pixel camera by any means, like today's are. Huge amounts of pixels are over-rated, in my opinion.

 

Here is one of my Sony Mavica's close-ups:

 

 

 

Message 5 of 24
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Photographing Jewelry-Need Help

I understand your point. I am not a newb and have been using Cameras for almost 40 years starting with 35mm SLRs.

My advice is equally relevant especially as eBay is now insisting on extra large size images.
Message 7 of 24
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Photographing Jewelry-Need Help

Wow..Those are good close ups. Thanks for sharing.

I really do appreciate your taking the time to show me you pics.

Thanks

Pam

Message 8 of 24
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Photographing Jewelry-Need Help

That old Mavica was great, and it only had 1.2 megapixels. Not very "mega" compared to today's cameras.

 

Here's a good article on megapixels:

 

http://photonaturalist.net/dispelling-the-megapixel-myth/

 

 

Dispelling the megapixel myth

 

(excerpt) There seems to be an overwhelming obsession with megapixels these days.

It’s always the first number reported when a new camera is released, and many people still think it indicates the quality of the camera’s photographs.

 

Well, unfortunately that’s not the case. There is no direct correlation between number of megapixels and image quality. We all have a natural desire to sum up a product with one number, but with a camera that’s impossible.

 

 

 

 

Message 9 of 24
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Photographing Jewelry-Need Help

Know that! Ever try to take a pic with a iPad or iPhone? They suck! Because the lenses suck. That said, to me pixels are only a reference for dimensions. Megapixels being used in the long ago ancient past ( 😉 ) when converting images to paper. In those cases the more pixels the finer the quality /less grainy the printed image. The term still being used in conjunction with quality is just a throwback to that earlier time.
Message 10 of 24
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Photographing Jewelry-Need Help

Amen to all you said. 

 

I hate photos on Ebay taken with a cell phone. It gives me the impression the seller(s) didn't care enough about the item, or maybe the listing, to bother with some decent photos. Not saying that is true 100% of the time - some items being sold, everyone knows what they look like anyway.

 

Digital cameras are so afforable now, and I think most of the top brands probably have good macro capability, some more than others. Heck, I'd probably still be using my Sony Mavica FD87 if the floppy disk hadn't died. Beside the floppy disk not having much storage capability for raw photos (uncropped, un-resized) its other only downfall was that it was slow to write the data to the disk. Which didn't realy matter anyway when photographing still items up close.

 

Internet research (due diligence) is a wonderful thing. I don't know how I lived without it. Smiley Happy

Message 11 of 24
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Photographing Jewelry-Need Help

Yup! Love the Internet. In looking for a new camera I was surprised at how little information is now being provided on some etailer Sites. I had to actually go in search of online Manuals to find detailed information on if a Camera I was looking at even had a Macro. Point and Shot seem to be focusing on Video and Image Effects moreso now 😞
Message 12 of 24
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Photographing Jewelry-Need Help

Hey, when I saw the title of this I thought someone is calling me out, lol! 😉
By the way I have come to hate taking my pictures for eBay with my phone. They do suck! It's all I know to do right now. My PC died. The power supply I think. One thing my son who went to college for computer but not experienced with changing out that. It could be dangerous dealing with that if you don't have any electrical wiring harness experience to speak of. I do have a digital camera, I think 10 or 12 megapixel, but it is a little old and I have no idea if there is a way to transfer photos from it to my phone or tablet. I'd been doing ok without a desktop but not with my photos of jewelry for eBay.

And capturing the marks is really hard.

I have to do photos during the day to get halfway decent light.

😔
Nothing is impossible for God.
Message 13 of 24
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Photographing Jewelry-Need Help

I always type in "specifications" along with a model name & number if I already have one, when researching a particular electronic device. That way I can almost always get the info I'm looking for.

Message 14 of 24
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Photographing Jewelry-Need Help

Here are two other photos of jewelry pieces I took many years ago with my wimpy Sony Mavica FD87 1.3 mega-pixel camera. Sorry about them being a links. But it's to Photobucket so it's as safe as you can get on the Internet.

 

 

http://s45.photobucket.com/user/justactnormal/media/Ebay%20Jewelry/Cell1.jpg.html?sort=3&o=4

 

 

http://s45.photobucket.com/user/justactnormal/media/Ebay%20Jewelry/DSC00022.jpg.html?sort=3&o=37

Message 15 of 24
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