close up and macro

DigitalThom · Jan 16, 2023

Hello

And good day to all

I am a hobby photographer

My hobby centers around close up and macro.
Currently, I have a very old Sony DSC H9.
I tripod the camera and shoot at ISO 100, 3/10, F5.6
It does a good job for most of my projects
BUT there is a bit of pixelation when I enlarge the image.
I want to improve the quality of the enlargement.
I want to eliminate those pesky pixels.
SOO, my question is,
Should I invest in a new camera,
Or a photo editing product?
OR ???

Strodav · Jan 16, 2023

The DSC H9 is an older 8.1mp fixed lens camera, like 2007. Please post an image showing the issue you are having. My guess is that your camera won't let you get close enough to your subjects for true macro photography. An interchangeable lens camera with a macro lens might be the answer. As far as post processing goes, I use Topaz Gigapixel AI when I have to heavily crop. Do you have a budget?

DigitalThom · Jan 16, 2023

Strodav said:
The DSC H9 is an older 8.1mp fixed lens camera, like 2007. Please post an image showing the issue you are having. My guess is that your camera won't let you get close enough to your subjects for true macro photography. An interchangeable lens camera with a macro lens might be the answer. As far as post processing goes, I use Topaz Gigapixel AI when I have to heavily crop. Do you have a budget?

I do not have a budget.

snowbear · Jan 16, 2023

It may be my eyes, but I see some focus issues; I don't see any pixelation. To what size are you trying to enlarge? Screen only or prints?

Strodav · Jan 16, 2023

I opened the image and it is 1080 x 1920 or 2mp. Did you resize it down or did you crop it from a larger image? Strangely that's the size for the 16 x 9 aspect ratio on that camera according to the specs. Have your tried 3264 x 2448 or 8mp? In any case, I had to blow it up to 200% to see any pixelization. It was fine on my monitor at 1:1 or 100%. When you said you have no budget, does that mean no $$ to spend or $$ is no object? BTW, nice image.

DigitalThom · Jan 17, 2023

snowbear said:
It may be my eyes, but I see some focus issues; I don't see any pixelation. To what size are you trying to enlarge? Screen only or prints?

My mission is to enlarge this to poster size, or something very close.My fear is at that size I might see pixelation.

DigitalThom · Jan 17, 2023

Strodav said:
I opened the image and it is 1080 x 1920 or 2mp. Did you resize it down or did you crop it from a larger image? Strangely that's the size for the 16 x 9 aspect ratio on that camera according to the specs. Have your tried 3264 x 2448 or 8mp? In any case, I had to blow it up to 200% to see any pixelization. It was fine on my monitor at 1:1 or 100%. When you said you have no budget, does that mean no $$ to spend or $$ is no object? BTW, nice image.

DigitalThom · Jan 17, 2023

This image is not resized(yet) and is not cropped.Your right, the aspect ratio is set to 16:9.I haven't tried any other
ratio, but I definitely will.Thanks for the compliment.
I am interested in upgrading from this basic bridge camera ( I bought it new at $ 500.00) to a pro model.I have only recently begun to explore the market.I am interested in what you, and others are using. I am prepared to make an investment in a quality camera and a good lens.The money is already available.

snowbear · Jan 17, 2023

I'd make a test print. You may find that the print will appear darker than the image on your screen, so a test print is useful for adjusting the screen brightness (possibly 50%) so you can better visualize the print.

Strodav · Jan 17, 2023

DigitalThom said:
This image is not resized(yet) and is not cropped.Your right, the aspect ratio is set to 16:9.I haven't tried any other
ratio, but I definitely will.Thanks for the compliment.
I am interested in upgrading from this basic bridge camera ( I bought it new at $ 500.00) to a pro model.I have only recently begun to explore the market.I am interested in what you, and others are using. I am prepared to make an investment in a quality camera and a good lens.The money is already available.

When printing an image, very high quality is 300 pixels / inch, very good quality is about 240 pixels / inch, good quality is at 200 pixels / inch, but I have seen very nice prints at 120 pixels / inch. As far as my gear goes, I have been shooting for a while and have a few bodies including a Z9 and D850, and a couple of dozen lenses. My macro lens is a Siga 105mm f/2.8, but you will want a range of glass. Many start collecting the trinity of 14-24mm f/2.8, 24-70mm f/2.8, 70-200mm f/2.8, a fast 35mm prime, 50mm prime, 85mm portrait lens and a macro lens. I recommend the 105mm range. Don't get locked into a camera brand, but research the major brands before making a choice. I prefer Nikon for image quality and ruggedness, but Sony and Canon make excellent cameras. Others to consider are Fujifilm and Panasonic. As the industry moves to mirrorless there are excellent used dslr cameras and glass out there, which are worth considering. I personally use KEH.com to sell and buy equipment.

wfooshee · Jan 17, 2023

Strodav said:
I opened the image and it is 1080 x 1920 or 2mp. Did you resize it down or did you crop it from a larger image? Strangely that's the size for the 16 x 9 aspect ratio on that camera according to the specs. Have your tried 3264 x 2448 or 8mp? In any case, I had to blow it up to 200% to see any pixelization. It was fine on my monitor at 1:1 or 100%. When you said you have no budget, does that mean no $$ to spend or $$ is no object? BTW, nice image.

Echoing the point made here. I think you need to select a higher shooting resolution in your camera's menus, as 2MP just simply isn't enlargeable to anything approaching poster size. Keep in mind you'll get larger files as a result, so depending on your memory cards, you may find them filling up pretty quickly.

I can remember my Dad complaining about the images from his very first digital camera, which only had VGA resolution available! 640x480! He kept asking me why he couldn't zoom in to the pictures... That was a Sony Mavica, and it actually used 1.44MB floppies for its storage! He was so proud of going digital, though!

DigitalThom · Jan 17, 2023

Here is a new image. ISO 80, 1 second exposure, F8 .
The camera was 3 inches away from the closest point to the subject

RAZKY · Jan 17, 2023

DigitalThom said:
Here is a new image. ISO 80, 1 second exposure, F8 .
The camera was 3 inches away from the closest point to the subject

If the pictures you have posted are representative of your subject matter, I'd say your present camera is more than adequate.

Soocom1 · Jan 17, 2023

There is a point here that I have to contend with.

When printing to poster size (typ. around 48 inches plus) you must also remember that the image wont be looked at from the distance of a screen. It will be viewed from a distance of multiple feet. thus mitigating the pixelization issue.

In fact some of the largest prints I have evr seen always could see grain/pixels regardless.

The 8.1 Mp isnt a bad size at all.

I have seen Nikon DCS 420 1Mp images elnarged to over 24x36 that can run with the best of them.

if you want to upgrade, i would IMO skip over any DSLR or higher level bridge, and just shoot for full on mirrorless.

Fuji X series or similar and then you can use all the fun lenses with adapters.
Just sayn...