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 Replies: 7 / Views: 2,175 |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19943 Posts |
Due to dropping my SD700 so many times, I was forced into buying a new camera.....an SD880IS. While the SD880 is clearly superior in many ways, it is NOT for macro photography. I am able to take some nice macro pictures, but not nearly as easy as with my old SD700. Why..... For some reason Canon decided to remove an important feature! You are now unable to zoom while in macro mode with the SD880. This forced me to hold the camera very close to the coin, this blocks light and made me do some odd lighting arrangements in order to get a decent coin shot. With the SD700 is could keep the camera further from the coin and allow more light to the surface. My question to Canon! {b]Why in the heck would you remove a simple feature like that?[/b] After a good bit of frustration, I decided to have my "lens error" repaired on my SD700. It was looking like the repair was estimated at about $129 from the commercial places. ARRRGGGGGGGGG I decided to try to buy a used SD700 on ebay and in the process I came across a guy that offered Canon lens repair for a flat $39. WHAT A DEAL! I sent him my camera and he had it back to me within 5 days in perfect working order! Moral of the story: Just because a camera is new, that doesn't necessarily mean it's better. Sometimes an old camera will do a better job for your specific needs.  |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
2830 Posts |
G'day, the part of your story that really surprises me is that someone offers a repair service for a digital camera.
I have a Canon too: Ixus 70.
I have juggled it a few times;
and I'm glad I keep it in a pouch, so that I got immersed once, but it didn't.
I'm still trying to get consitently good macro shots. Great for general photography, but.
The really great feature of digital is that my mistakes cost nothing: in the days of wet film, developing & printing were a killer. But now, I can experiment until I get it right.
I'm told that often, a new model will sacrifice one feature, in order to keep the price at a particular point.
Peter in Oz
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10045 Posts |
Quote:
Just because a camera is new, that doesn't necessarily mean it's better.  When my Nikon broke, I fell back on a cheap refurb Canon SD790IS. Discontinued, but faster than the newer model. I cannot imagine waiting for "film" coin shots to get back from a lab--I don't have the patience anymore.  Edited by DVCollector
09/30/2009 11:53 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12437 Posts |
I do not own a Canon so I am not fully versed in it but you might want to check out the CHDK firmware hack.
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
19943 Posts |
Hummm....got a link biokemist? I wasn't aware of the hack, sounds promising if it enables features like zoom in macro AND in video mode.
Lincoln Cent Lover!VERDI-CARE™ INVENTOR https://verdi.care/
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19943 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2254 Posts |
BadThad, Just curious, but what is the resolution of the new SD880? I would think you could put it in "normal" mode, or "light macro" if available, and then just zoom in on the target area using software? I think Macro photography is almost starting to be a thing of the past per se with the base capabilities of some of the new cameras. Know what I mean? My older Olympus has a macro mode and super macro mode, and I run into the same problem as you when trying to get close. No zoom in super macro mode, so lighting is almost impossible. So I just put the camera on a tripod about 5 or 6 inches away and zoomed in until regular mode couldn't focus anymore. While not the sharpest photos since I didn't play with ANY settings, they still came out pretty good I think:  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19943 Posts |
3,648 x 2,736 resolution (10MP). I've experimented with your technique but I don't like the results. The images are just not well focused or defined IMO. Your method certainly works fine for shots like you posted. But most of the pictures I take a whole coin and I definately prefer the flexibility of the optical zoom with my lighting. It's really impossible for me to understand why Canon would remove such a simple software feature when the hardware capability is present! The bottomline is it doesn't matter anymore since I have SD700 back and working. |
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Replies: 7 / Views: 2,175 |
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Posted 09/30/2009 11:52 pm
