Thread: Photography - mind giving me a hand?

I bought one of the new superzoom cameras about a year ago. It has many DSLR features, but interchangable lenses is not one of them. The camera really shines outdoors:


But is pretty poor indoors at short distances. I've been relying on my iPhone for SOTD pictures where macro feature would be nice. One thing I've tried lately is setting up in a light box of sorts, but standing across the room and zooming in on it:

It works (this is a higher quality picture than my typical iPhone pics), but there is a practical limit to how much I want to set up while I'm getting ready for work in the morning.

Any tips on my equipment limitations?

You can try using threaded (screw on) "close-up" lenses on your main lens. They often come in a set of three and can be used individually or together for the magnification you desire. Cheaper than buying a new camera too!

What kind of camera is it? Most all of them have a macro or super macro setting for close up stuff.

If that isn't available, you seem to have it dialed in pretty good as your second pic you posted is very nicely composed. I guess you could take a pic at the highest resolution and then crop it to the area you want in your photo editor. By doing that you can maintain the resolution without having a huge picture.

It's just not focusing when you're closer to something? In your manual or somewhere on the lens it should tell you what the "close focus" or minimum macro distance is.

If that number is smaller than the distance "across the room" you have a setting wrong or something is wrong with the camera.

does this "superzoom" involve digital? If so, I would try and not utilize that feature and only rely on mechanical zoom. Reason being the digital zoom aspect causes very grainy looking photos.

edit* - Also, having very bright white (bath tiles) and black (scales, bowl) in the same composition with an weighted/average metering may not yield the best results. Try spot metering if that is a feature you have. Also, if you can choose the correct white balance for your indoor lighting, that might help too.

The camera model would certainly help! I'm working my way up in the photography world and I would love to help! I'm not sure what exactly you are citing as a problem, low image quality or not being able to focus close enough.

Most prosumer superzoom camera's won't have a great macro feature which is inherent in their design. You might actually get your best results zooming all the way out, then moving closer. The most important thing is to experiment and have some fun with it! If you have an Aperture priority setting I would play around with that, set it wide open (smaller numbers) to give you a shallower depth of field and a more macro-feel to the images. If you have any other questions or more specifics shoot me a PM and I'd love to help you out!

Originally Posted by DaveC

You can try using threaded (screw on) "close-up" lenses on your main lens.

This model has something like that, but I think it's just for adding more (than 20x, sheesh) zoom.

Originally Posted by Wullie

What kind of camera is it?

It's a Sony Cybershot DSC-HX1.

Originally Posted by HNSB

It's just not focusing when you're closer to something? In your manual or somewhere on the lens it should tell you what the "close focus" or minimum macro distance is.

The lense is marked 2.8-5.2/5.0-100.0

Originally Posted by TwistedOak

does this "superzoom" involve digital? If so, I would try and not utilize that feature and only rely on mechanical zoom.
Also, having very bright white (bath tiles) and black (scales, bowl) in the same composition with an weighted/average metering may not yield the best results. Try spot metering if that is a feature you have. Also, if you can choose the correct white balance for your indoor lighting, that might help too.

No, that's the strength of the camera is that it has 20X optical zoom with image stabilization. That was all I cared about when I bought it (for kids' sporting events, nature stuff). I need to get a better handle on manual metering adjustments - I know nothing about it right now.

Originally Posted by nalbonen4

Most prosumer superzoom camera's won't have a great macro feature which is inherent in their design. You might actually get your best results zooming all the way out, then moving closer. The most important thing is to experiment and have some fun with it! If you have an Aperture priority setting I would play around with that, set it wide open (smaller numbers) to give you a shallower depth of field and a more macro-feel to the images. If you have any other questions or more specifics shoot me a PM and I'd love to help you out!

Thanks, that's what I was worried about; I thought it might be the wrong setup for what I'm trying to do. I'm using so many auto settings right now, though, and I know there are a ton of manual ones I need to learn.

I should add that the camera has a macro mode in which it detects how close it is and automatically uses it.

I think my problem might be more of an issue with lighting. I'm going to go test an idea and be right back...

Here are three shots. The first is zomed in from across the room 10' away or so. The second was taken inches away. The third was nearly touching the brush with the lense.

My problem is that the first two images don't have enough definition to the bristles, especially on the dark-handled brush. The last image, in which the camera detected macro mode, is decent but still doesn't stand out.

I'm thinking maybe I don't have enough light?