What Camera to get? Plant Photos

[Joel_W]

Can anyone recommend a camera under $500 that can do good macro photos? Ive owned Canon Nikon and Kodak point and shoots and have to say I like the Kodak picture colors better.. The Canon and Nikon the colors just seemed dull and flat.

Steve, yes I can, The Nikon Coolpix P500 is one of, if not the best Bridge camera currently available. It has a macro setting that lets you get as close as 4 inches, and a 36x Optical zoom that get you the equivalent of a 540mm lens. It also has a digital zoom that pushes it to past 800mm. It has auto everything to manual everything, and most stops in between.

Is it as easy to use as a pure P & S? Yes and no. All depends on what you want it to do, and how much time you want to invest in learning what it's capable of. And yes, it takes great pictures, comes with Nikon's View NX2 editor for post production work. It only shoots in JPEG, so that will keep things easier for you to learn the basics of editing.

It's lists for $499 but you can get it just about anywhere right now for under $400. And there are plenty used around for way less then that.

 

[Steve22]

I think Ill save up for the Pentax k5.... Nicest pictures Ive seen from any of the cameras mentioned...

Fun with the Pentax K5 - The GetDPI Photography Forums

 

[LightSpeed]

I think Ill save up for the Pentax k5.... Nicest pictures Ive seen from any of the cameras mentioned...

Fun with the Pentax K5 - The GetDPI Photography Forums

Good choice if I do say so myself.

 

[Destin]

I think Ill save up for the Pentax k5.... Nicest pictures Ive seen from any of the cameras mentioned...

Fun with the Pentax K5 - The GetDPI Photography Forums

The lens is what's giving those images the nice look they have. It's not the camera body. ANY dslr could have taken those shots with a 100mm macro lens on it. Literally any of them.

The pentax is a great camera for the money. It really is. But you need to consider that when you purchase a dslr, you are buying into a system. You're going to have to live with their flashes, and lenses. There aren't a ton of third party lenses for pentax, and pentax doesn't make that many either. The biggest reason to go canon or nikon compared to pentax/sigma/sony/olympus is that EVERY third party lens maker makes lenses to fit canon and nikon cameras. There are probably over 1,000 different lenses that you could mount on any nikon or canon camera. Pentax... maybe 50, or 60. And thats being generous, I bet there aren't even that many. As far as flash... Nikon is the king. Canon is #2. Pentax... well... you don't get many options for flash unless you want to adjust the flash power manually.

 

[gsgary]

Forget about point and shoot.
If you're gonna get a camera, spend your money once and get a dslr.
You'll be happy with it for a long time. A point and shoot.........not so much.
If you get into photography, you'll wish you had ditched the point and shoot idea, and listened to me.

My recommendation...........Pentax K5. Best camera out there. Hands down.
Doesn't cost a fortune like gsgary's crappy canon 5d.


ducking
lmao

Hey it is a 5Dmk1 and less of the crappy

 

[gsgary]

I think Ill save up for the Pentax k5.... Nicest pictures Ive seen from any of the cameras mentioned...

Fun with the Pentax K5 - The GetDPI Photography Forums

Good choice if I do say so myself.

I would get the Sony A77 point and shoot

 

[gsgary]

I think Ill save up for the Pentax k5.... Nicest pictures Ive seen from any of the cameras mentioned...

Fun with the Pentax K5 - The GetDPI Photography Forums

The lens is what's giving those images the nice look they have. It's not the camera body. ANY dslr could have taken those shots with a 100mm macro lens on it. Literally any of them.

The pentax is a great camera for the money. It really is. But you need to consider that when you purchase a dslr, you are buying into a system. You're going to have to live with their flashes, and lenses. There aren't a ton of third party lenses for pentax, and pentax doesn't make that many either. The biggest reason to go canon or nikon compared to pentax/sigma/sony/olympus is that EVERY third party lens maker makes lenses to fit canon and nikon cameras. There are probably over 1,000 different lenses that you could mount on any nikon or canon camera. Pentax... maybe 50, or 60. And thats being generous, I bet there aren't even that many. As far as flash... Nikon is the king. Canon is #2. Pentax... well... you don't get many options for flash unless you want to adjust the flash power manually.

If you get the Pentax you should look at one of the best lenses made, the Pentax SMC 85F1.4
Canon 85mm f1.2 L v Pentax SMC 85mm f1.4

 

[greybeard]

Start here.
Macro Photography, a how-to from Photo.net

 

[LightSpeed]

I think Ill save up for the Pentax k5.... Nicest pictures Ive seen from any of the cameras mentioned...

Fun with the Pentax K5 - The GetDPI Photography Forums

Good choice if I do say so myself.

I would get the Sony A77 point and shoot

lol