MACRO pix: Do I need megapixels or Optical Zoom? Or something else? This is what I need/want...?

Question

I want to be able to put my camera like... an inch away from something and be able to get crystal clear quality. whats that called?? or if i zoom in on something super far away i want it to look like i took the pic close up with crystal clear quality. say for example, i got a new wedding band, and i want to get a pic of it from an inch away so that you can see all of the details, very large, etc. or i see a cool bug and i wanna get a pic of it from an inch away and have it show up huge with lots of clear perfect detail... now what camera do i use for that?! lol. THANKS (digital i mean) i have a 6 yo crappy digi cam... so i want a new one. thanks so much!! OH duh, i wanna do crystal clear MACROS. so what cam is best? haha. thanks!

Answer 1

Hi Mabs.  :),      I think I can answer your question as we take the same types of photos you mention here.   The type of photography you are asking about is Macro-photography which is doing exactly what you are explaining.   You must get the lens right up on the subject as well as get the image in focus.  (The closer you get,  the more you have to be perfectly still to get  "crystal clear" image quality...  You breathe... and your picture is out of focus!!).    We currently have the Sony Cyber-Shot  DSC W-5, an older model, but they offer something new and comparable every 6 months and change the model numbers.  I just found the Sony site and the DSC W130 most resembles ours.   One thing you should understand,  it is not really possible to use the zoom feature to capture a close up image...   we have not been able to get anything good by zooming in so far.  Zooming is for bringing subjects which are far away closer to you...  but not right up close.   My daughter takes pictures of clothing and especially the tiny labels on the back.   With our Sony, she can get the tiny letters and words completely in focus.  We have taken pictures of insects... dead ones... because the live ones don't let you get that close...  the insides of flowers and  fruit with this camera and have even made nice 8X10 size prints.    I cannot recommend other well known brands, since I have no experience using them on the Macro setting..  but do check out the Sony.  I think you will be pleased.  Thanks for reading and hope I  gave you something to consider.

Answer 2

First .... enough with megapixels!  The sensor size is what counts.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/mpmyth.h...

Second ... the more optical zoom range you have, the more you can "reach" out to distant objects.  (18x is better than 10x for instance)

Third ... To get crystal clear images a camera with some kind of IS is important, especially when using a long lens.

Fourth ... unfortunately, no P&S camera really has a macro mode per se.  Macro is measured as a ratio of the subject to the image size, like 1:1 and 1:2, not how close the lens is to the subject.   All the specs I have seen just list the distance from the subject to the lens ... so maybe if the lens can be focused to 1 cm, it will provide some sort of "macro" capacity.  You will have to actually test the cameras in one of the popular electronics stores ...