Bought an ACER CE-5330 Camera 5.0 MegaPixel

[JW8725]

I picked one up today for £90. Its my 1st attempt at photography and I think I seriously went wrong. I need shots of close-up electrical things and I bought this because of the Zoom facility. I've tried playing about with the MACRO setting too but pics are blury. Maybe 1 from 10 is actually decent.

What do you guys recommend settings-wise to get that awesomely sharp close up? Do I need to spend some serious cash to achieve a half decent sharp close up? I may take this back and get another model. Recommendations please?

Thank you

 

[Applespider]

I've been in the camera-buying frame lately and couldn't recall seeing any reviews of this; I've been for a bit of a hunt now and there isn't a lot being said about it. This is the only review I can find of it and it's a pretty basic one comparing it against some other 5 megapixel cameras.

They basically say that all it has going for it is its price but that it performed worst of all the cameras they tested. It appears that it's very slow and doesn't perform well at all at lowlight (they suggest that it's pretty much unuasable at ISO 200) so make sure your room is bright. What your eyes consider good light, most cameras don't. If you're zooming in on the item, then you're probably reducing the light getting to your sensor even more. Try shooting it wide-angle but closer to the item with the macro on.

Your blur might just be that you are used to a faster focus/shutter time and you're moving it too quickly. If it's not blurred but just not sharp, you could try using the 'Sharpen' filter in Photoshop/iPhoto. My new Fuji F10 doesn't aggressively sharpen in the camera but does seem to capture the detail so I can use the filter to make the images appear sharper when I want them.

From reading the reviews on dpreview, dcresource etc, there are much better cameras out there for around £150-£200 that you'd probably enjoy using more and get better results from.

If you're looking at taking close-ups of electrical things, then I'd suggest going for those which have a good review of their macro mode rather than their zoom level since you can always get close to the items (and unlike birds/insects they won't fly off).

 

[JW8725]

Thanks for the help Applespider....here's an update:

So I thought I'd troll about the net, lurk in a few other forums, post in some too. Anyway came to the conclusion you only live once (yeah took a long time for me part time Homer Simpson) so decided upon a Canon EOS 350D SLR. Woohoo! Suppose if im gonna take pics might aswell do it right.

 

[Applespider]

Talk about entirely different ends of the barrel!

Enjoy the DSLR; it's an amazing camera but it's only as good as the person behind the lens. If it's your first SLR (film or digital), you might want to pick up a book on the subtleties of digital photography with them so you get the results worth the cash outlay.

 

[JW8725]

So it came to be that I returned back to the store with my whack Acer digital camera and a friend, the events that unfolded left me, well er.....LOLing all day! I'll try and Shakespearise it:

scenario - Rosso walks into the store, up to the returns counter and slaps a box down...

Me: "Hey nice camera mate but i'm returning it"

Him: "Oh well why are you returning it sir?"

Me: "Well its such a nice camera, I love the zoom... <cut>"

Him: "Yeah mate I use the same one, I'm loving it"

Me: "I'm sure you are, I was loving it like the Mc Donalds advert till I plugged it into my Mac and nothing happened!"

Him: "Well thats a shame, what Mac Windows do you use?"

Me: "I'm on Leopord, you know the fancy one with all the lights and stuff?"

Him: "Yeah oh we've had a lot of people have trouble with that, its not the cameras fault there so best I can do is give you a coupon for the value of goods"

Me: "Suppose that should be ok, can you order me a Video Ipod instead then? I can put the coupon towards that"

Him: "Oh those are nice, yeah they take real good snaps, we dont do them but my friend has one and they are nice, I can order you one dont worry"

Me: "Actually can I come back another time with the coupon? I may decide to buy a Christmas tree instead"

Him: "We dont sell trees Sir only electrical Items"

Me: "Oh right thought you might have an electrical Christmas tree, you know with lights and stuff??"

Anyway I took my coupon and left with my friend, we burst out laughing! Now thats a salesman!

Goodbye Acer
Hello Canon!

 

[Abstract]

Haha, great.

"Oh yeah, Leopard. I think I've used a Mac with Leopard. My friend's brother's girlfriend uses Leopard." Oh man, what a gimp.