Good macro + digital tele-converter compact recommendation?

[fotolub]

To get into a closer range I am looking for affordable (<$150) models of digital compact cameras preferably from Canon, Nikon or Sony, with a short macro focus distance plus digital tele-converter (digital zoom ratio selected in menu and staying fixed on top of optical zoom range).

I particularly liked the economical A800 for its 37mm equivalent lens, but the newer Canon Series A don't have the digital teleconverter anymore. Elph models do but cost too much for my project.

Any recommendation on affordable current models of compacts that do have good macro, digital teleconverter and a lens no shorter than 28mm equivalent?

[Manfred M]

Digital zoom is pure smoke & mirrors. Don't get hung up on that feature. Any photo editing tool will let you do the same thing as all that the camera is doing, i.e. just magnifying an area of the image. It's not real (optical) zoom so the more you zoom in (either using the in-camera feature or a photo editor), the worse the quality will be.

As for the price, you are looking at a low end Point & Shoot, so don't limit yourself to the three brands you are looking at as any of the competition will make something equivilent for a similar price (Samsung, Panasonic, Fuji, etc all make fine products). My 7 year old Panasonic P&S still works well.

I'm not sure why you are hung up on not getting lens a that is shorter than 28mm equiv either. What is your reasoning there? Generally the P&S cameras won't get particularly wide angle anyways and at the other end of the range, the super long zoom is not particulary useful either.

I would personally look at whatever camera is on sale that week and save yourself a few $ or get a few extra features. And whatever you do, don't get hung up on the megapixel ratings; on the tiny sensors on those cameras, it's all marketing hype. Anything around 10 or 12 MP is fine and the extra MP don't buy you anything from a image qualtiy / usablity standpoint.

[fotolub]

GrumpyDiver, thanks for your comments. About the lens no shorter than 28mm, on the A800 it is a 37mm equiv, which is way too long by today´s standards but beautiful for macro, plus focus goes down to 1cm! A joy!

About the brands, those are easier to find for me and quite trustable, but any suggestion on a particular model from other brands is welcome too. The current compact Canon we use my wife and I is many years old without ever giving trouble, the Samsung I previously owned did not make it through a vacation lending to a 20 years old niece, so brands matter. By the way, I am a professional photographers and use a 5d II for that purpose, these compacts are only for messing around in family.

Digital zoom being smoke, you are right again, but I badly need that specific smoke for my application. I adapt the camera to a framing and lighting attachment to shoot eyes' iris. Without the digital zoom, the bigger part of the picture gets filled with useless area and confuses users (iridologists) that really only care about the iris. Explaining them, who mostly don´t know the least about photography, to get into PS to enlarge and crop, imagine their face looking back at me. So, a little smoke solves it all and makes everyone happy...

By the way, do you know about any current compact with such specs, any brand?

Some sample shots.
-------------------------------------------


Shot with a Canon A800, digital teleconverter at 2.4 (I think)



Same as above, at minimum focusing distance 1cm



Crop from the second shot

[Tringa]

Hello Fotolub and welcome to CiC.

I have just looked at the specs of the A800 and I see that it will focus to 1 cm. I think it is very unlikely you will find a P&S camera that will focus closer that 1cm.

Manfred's comments about digital zoom are spot on. Just ignore anything you read about digital zoom, it is a marketing ploy to make the potential customer think a particular camera is better than the competition.

BTW although most of us on here have a username we tend to add our real name and location - if you would like to do that it would be great.

Dave

[Manfred M]

I suggest you have a look at dpreviews. http://www.dpreview.com/

They are probably the best site out there for info. As I said before, I've had good luck with the small Panny's and have been very unimpressed with the Canon and Nikon P&S (the family has also had Sony, Olympus and a few more P&S over the years). The Sony was still going strong and but my wife left is somewhere in Nambia back in December.

[Dave Humphries]

Following are a couple of sample shots.
-------------------------------------------
Sorry, the pictures did not show although they seemed to load-up finely.

Hi "fotolub",

Sorry you had a problem with posting your pictures, I'm not sure which method you tried, but it is a two stage process; "host it and post it" I call it, many new people here do the first bit (upload), but forget to copy the image url into the post.

Here is the thread with step by step instructions for each of the methods, you may find it helpful.
HELP THREAD: How can I post images here?

Welcome to the CiC forums from ....

[fotolub]

OK, I could load up the pictures to give a better idea of what it is all about.

Manfred (sorry, I did not see your name before), I shall take a second look at Panasonic line, but it is all so confusing when not having a model name.

Dave, the A800 is my most beloved little camera for this, but it is now out of market and the 810 has a shorter 28mm lens, and - much worse for me - all A series cameras from Canon no more have the digital teleconverter. I understand very well the point of being all smoke, smoke can happen to be very useful sometimes, in this case I badly need it! About dpreview.com, this is my favorite reference site on equipment, the needed information was not available and I could not get to post this inquiry there. The good point was to find there a reference to this site which looks quite friendly.

Dave, thank you for your welcoming. I have fixed most basic points like putting my name and location, even a presentation in the newcomers thread. This site looks like a nice place I should greatly enjoy.