Problems taking close up photo...

[Mag99004]

I have a Olympus Stylus 300 Digital camera(3.2 megapixel) and even when I put it on macro I can't get a good image of a coin or nugget(I nugget shoot as well). Is my camera good enough to take the pics so many people post on here of thier finds? Anything I'm missing?

Thanks ahead of time,

Eric

 

[silvernail]

The macro autofocus on that one is supposedly good down to 8 inches. Should be satisfactory images if the camera is well braced to avoid shake and the light is good. You will probably want to crop the image and size for 4 x 6 prints or so. Most basic photo programs should do that and prepare a JPG for the internet. You will probably want to make the exposure with the viewing screen rather than the view finder.

 

[silvernail]

The macro autofocus is supposedly good down to 8 inches on that one. Should be satisfactory images if the camera is well braced to avoid shake and the light is good. You will probably want to crop the image and size for 4 x 6 prints or so. Most basic photo programs should do that and prepare a JPG for the internet. You will probably want to make the exposure with the viewing screen rather than the view finder.

 

[funkyoldude]

This might help:

1. Shoot at the maximum resolution to get really BIG images, in your case 2048 x 1536, SHQ.
2. Shoot in bright indirect light so the camera selects the fastest speed with the smallest aperture.
3. Shoot in the Macro mode (see p. 30 in your manual).
4. To eliminate jitter, use a tripod and the self timer or remote unit.
5. Center the object in the monitor so you can crop it later in your photo editor to a size suitable for posting.
6. You'll probably find that you will also need a 128 MB XD (or larger) memory card.

The Olympus Stylus 300 is a good choice for snapshots of friends, vacation photos, etc., but falls short in the macro department (coins, rings, etc.). For that you will probably need a lens that will get to within about 1" (2cm).
My wife Jane complains that the lens cover on her Oly 300 drives her crazy because it turns off the camera and retracts the lens at the most inopportune times. Too "hair trigger" she says. But she likes the size and the fact that it is somewhat "Beach" safe.
Here is an example of a photo that is a 640 x 480 crop from the full sized image 2048 x 1536. the second image is the full sized image reduced to 640 x 480.

Hope this helps.

fod