What do I NEED?

[--Deb]

Okay, maybe it's a stupid question. RIght this minute, I have a point-and-shoot camera and I take a lot (lot!) of close-up pictures of yarn and knitting and spinning for my knit-blog. I use the macro feature at least every other day.

I'm planning on buying a DSLR, though, and money's tight. I can just about barely afford the camera with a kit lens and maybe, if I'm particularly convincing to myself at the time, maybe a zoom lens to go with it.

What I need to know is, what am I going to need to be able to take close-up pictures of my knitting with the DSLR?

Bare minimum, as inexpensive as possible, must-have equipment?

You know. Other than the actual camera....

Thanks, folks!

--Deb

[photohound]

The Olympus E510 is an excellent camera. I think it is going for $500 at Amazon right now with 1 kit lens. This may be good enough.Depends on how close you want to get. The 35mm macro lens goes for $200. I have this lens and am very satisfied. So for $700 you would be set.

[PhotoNewt]

You can either buy a lens with Macro capability as suggested above - this usually yields the best quality. Or you can get an extension tube designed to work with the camera body you want - this allows you to convert almost any lens you buy into a close focusing lens - significant versatility, good quality somewhat more economical.

You can also get close focusing filter attachment for a lot less money, this may introduce some image degradation and so is a less desirable alternative, but overall results can be very acceptable.

[clockdoc]

Hi Deb. Why the rush to go with a dSLR. What is your current camera? Can you hare your blog URL so we can see the kinds of photos you are taking? Perhaps by punching the lighting up a notch and using some props, your current camera will be fine. With money being tight, I wouldn't jump in the dSLR pool right at the moment. I am happy to help where I can.

[inkista]

If you go the DSLR route (and I agree with clockdoc, this may not be your optimal choice--P&Ses are brilliant at macro vs. dSLRs), you'll need something that gives you close-focus capability.

The cheapest, high-quality way I can think of doing this would be a set of extension tubes ($25-$100, depending on whether the rings allow the lens to communicate with the body) and a 50mm f/1.8 prime lens (~$100 if you got Canon/Nikon). Or a macro reversal ring to mount the 50mm f/1.8 backwards onto the kit lens.

The problem with this particular route is that focus will be strictly set by camera-to-subject distance, so you won't have much freedom on framing, and may have to rely on cropping the photo to get the framing you want. That's what a good macro lens buys you: the ability to choose your framing.

[--Deb]

My blog is here, and I post "Eye-candy" pictures every Friday, which are clustered here (though they're not knitting pictures--it's part of the fun. A chance to photograph OTHER things!).

I currently have a 3-year old Canon Elph SD400 which I absolutely love and which comes with me everywhere, and a 3-year old Canon S2 IS which I used to love but which has issues . . . features that don't work any more. (Like, for example, the Macro feature only works when it's on the "P" setting, yet the lighting in anything other than Auto never looks quite right, no matter what settings I use.) It's well beyond its warranty and I'd rather get something with more flexibility.

I HAVE had SLRs in the past--the film kind. There was an Olympus something-or-other I bought in 1989, and a Canon Rebel that I got for my birthday 11 years ago. I just haven't been able to justify the cost of a digital SLR, but they've gotten a lot more reasonable (the entry-level, anyway), and now I'm ready. It's just that, pre-1999 when I got my first digital camera, I wasn't taking quite so many pictures of knitting (grin).

Anyway, there are pictures of knitting to take:


And pictures of newly-handspun yarn:


Gotta get close for the fiber detail!
--Deb

[wulf]

I have managed to get some very satisfactory results with my D40 (about as cheap as you'll find a starter DSLR) and a Raynox DCR-250 macro adaptor. The other thing that is very useful for indoor macro work is a tripod - low light (and smallish apertures to get usable depth of field) means that you will often need shutter speeds that are too slow to handhold.

Wulf

[inkista]

On the Canon side, if you really wanna squeeze the pennies, try and get an XT. It's two generation back from the XSi, but you can find the body new on Adorama for $395 (and if you can get it on Adorama, you can probably find it through them on Amazon, too). Your old Canon Rebel's kit lens will work on it. Then you just have to add the EF 50mm f/1.8 II, and some extension tubes (if you don't care about auto exposure/focus/EXIF reporting, you can probably get a $25 set on eBay).

Everybody here is sick to death of seeing this pic, but here's what my XT and the 50mm f/1.8 can do with all three of the Kenko extension tubes (12mm, 20mm, 36mm) stacked:

[clockdoc]

Deb,
Thanks for sharing your blog link. You have some very nice photos posted there. You obviously have a good eye for what can make an interesting picture. As much as you would like to move on to the next level, I would still advise making do with what you have until the funding issue is not as great as it appears to be right now. Others have given some excellent advice and I hope you will find what you need in the near future. Keep shooting!

[--Deb]

Well, no matter what, I need a new camera anyway because my Canon S2 IS just isn't acting the way it should. It just seems the right time to get a DSLR because I can get one for more like $400-500 rather than $800+ ... that makes a big difference!