Digital cameras forum: I looking good close up camera

Thank you for responding. I am looking at £200 - £300 I would also like it have the capability of taking video

The right camera depends upon how much you know about photography.

You will be shooting in close focus or Macro mode depending upon the distance you are from the painting.
If you are planning to use the camera in Auto Mode only, then most digital cameras will do.

The Panasonic ZS15 has very good auto white balance and should give you true colors plus excellent picture quality. It sells for a bit over $200 USA.

If you are accustom to using a camera that lets you take charge in manual mode,
I would look at the Canon G12.
It sells for about $450 USA.

For shooting paintings you want to use a focal length that will not distort the image.
About 50mm is ideal. (50mm is neutral - no wide angle and no zoom).
Most newer model cameras have gone to wide angle lenses (about 25mm).
That should not be used at the normal setting.
To compensate, you need to add some optical zoom (about 2X) to set the focal length to approximately 50mm.

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Thank you for this information. How does this compare with the TZ series which I have been looking at?

The TZ Series 3/4/5/50 was introduced in 2007 and 2008.
The TZ3/4 wereentryy level cameras and do not have any HD video capabilities.
The TZ5 & 50 have identical specifications and have only 1280x720 HD video capabilities.
The TZ50 has Wi-Fi capabilities

The ZS15 is a new model that has HD video 1920x1080 capabilities.
It also contains many features that were not available in 2008.
I just noticed that the ZS15 also has the important manual controls.
That gives you growing room if you decide to get further involved with photography.

To me it looks like the ZS cameras are the replacements for the TZ series of cameras.

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TZ

Thank you so much for this information.
I have been looking into this further. Other than on ebay I can only find zs series in $ is this more for the US market and TZ more for UK?

The ZS15 is the USA model.
The TZ25 is the Europe model

They are the same except the European model has a limitation on how long you can do a continuous video shot. This is due to a European tariff on video cameras.
The tariff is on video cameras, but to keep a digital camera from being classified as a video camera (and taxed higher) Panasonic chose to restrict the video recording time. Therefore it gets a different model number in Europe.

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Thats great I know what to go for now. do you think the last edition of the TZ is the best one to buy. I think it is TZ 30

For what you want, look at the Panasonic LX5. It has a larger sensor and brighter, higher quality lens, plus RAW support so you can adjust white balance and colors to be more accurate. It also has full manual controls.

The TZ30 and TZ25 were both released on Jan 31, 2012.
Some differences in features.
The TZ30 has more optical zoom, more megapixels (14 vz 12), a stereo mike and a GPS (global positioning system).

More megapixels is not a good thing. (14MP produces more noise than 12MP).

The camera before the TZ25 was 14MP and for 2012 they reduced it to 12MP so that they could get better low light performance (higher ISO settings), and reduce the need for so much noise reduction firmware, which improves detail.

GPS comes with some warts. When using GPS the camera battery life is cut in half.
Many people leave it turned-off because of that.

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as an after thought do you think it would be worth my while buying an ZS camera from eBay?
are these a better buy?

I would like to thank you for the all Time you have gone to giving me this information It is totally important to me. as a beginner it would have been hard for me to find and understand this anywhere else.
the reason I needed this camera is that I've been recording three lectures on the central nervous system, cranial fluid and the effects of light and breath on these.
There were not any decent pictures for me to show with the lecture so I decided to draw my own. I could never draw before but with this they started coming out quite well and in the end I painted them with water colours which have come out beautifully. So I really needed a decent camera to be able to photograph them and put them on my website. when I tried with other people's cameras they all had different traits and did not betray the images and colour as they were.
When I finish the lecture and pictures I will put a link to them so if you wish you can see them.

Technically, you would be buying a "grey market" camera.

The disadvantage to buying the ZS camera is warranty.
If you have a camera failure and need to use the Panasonic warranty, they could require you to send the camera to a Panasonic USA repair center to get it fixed.
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Good point I need a warranty. even though the TZ25 does not have a stereo mike is the sound quality as good?
It does not have to be stereo as it will just be me talking,
Also I have very good sound recording equipment. Is it possible to use that and put it with the video?

I don't know how good the sound is.
Generally digital camera sound is basic, and consists of AGC (automatic gain control) only.
But since you are recording yourself, you should be able to achieve the necessary adjustment by just speaking softer or louder. Most digital cameras do well with voice recording.
Recording live music is another matter, because the live music is usually too loud and it overdrives the microphone circuits.

If you want to use a separate sound source and blend it with the video, you should be able to do that easily if it is voice-over. You just need the necessary software program.
I can't help you with that.

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I had been looking at this review of the TZ 25. - http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/compact-digital-cameras/panasonic-lumix-dmc-tz25-review-50008170/
and it says that "There's evidence of pin-cushion distortion where the horizontal and vertical lines don't run parallel to their neighbours."

it worries me slightly as the drawings of nerves are all straight lines and with my friends camera there was this distortion as everything seemed to barrel out. I had a feeling this was from the lens and could be tackled by standing further back in using the zoom but I'm unsure.
Is there a way round this or should I look to the TZ 30.
Fundamentally with all the other aspects I preferred the TZ 25.

Pincushioning will be found (to some extent) in most big zoom lenses.
But only at the far end of the zoom.

If you are taking pictures of drawings you had no need to be zoomed past 2X.
You may also see some barrel distortion when using no zoom (wide angle).

That is why I said previously, that you should be shooting at (or near) 50mm focal length.
Which means about 2X with that camera.
You will see no pincushioning or barrel distortion at 2X zoom.

By the way, pincushioning and barrel distortion can be removed by Photoshop and other such programs.

I would not worry about what that review says, especially in light of the fact that what it says is completely wrong. The example show is *not* pin-cushion distortion, but barrel distortion.

All cameras exhibit barrel distortion at wide angle. It is quite easy to avoid it by not using the widest angle where such distortion is undesirable. It can also be corrected for in post-processing; some programs do it automatically.

The LX5 I mentioned previously has less than average lens distortion.

thank you.
this forum is so good, all the people are so informative. I will start looking at TZ 25

Hi I bought the tz 25 it seem really good. But there is no manual on how it all works There was a cd but that only to a photo fun studio and not about using the camera.
I us iA button but I would like to use the flash even if it thinks I should not is there a way of doing this?

There should have been a CD that came with the camera that has the Operating instructions on the CD.

You can download the operating instructions here:

http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_GB/Products/LUMIX+Digital+Cameras/Superzoom+Cameras/DMC-TZ25/Manuals/8616493/index.html?view=angle

Click "view" to the right of the first line that says "Operating Instructions".
Then put a check mark in the box called "I Accept".
Then click the "view" to the right.

I can't find the answer to your question about the flash.
But I doubt that you can, when using the IA button.

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