Picture Details- Help!

[Aperture]

Hello. Let me start off by saying I'm pretty new to digital photography. I just got a Sony DSC-P200. When I try taking up-close pictures where detail is key, the pictures constantly become extremely blury. I don't know if there are camera settings to change or what but you can clearly see this is a problem. I don't think it is that the camera just can't handle it because it has an effective 7.2Mp and a Zeiss Lense. This is so frustrating. I looked through the manual and can't seem to find anything. I tried taking a picture of a gold coin as a test. By the way, this happens to anything when I want to take a picture of the detail.

Here is an online copy of the manual:

Manual PDF

I will try to reply as fast as I can because I want to get this sorted out.

Any Help Appreciated

Kevin

 

[iGary]

Hello. Let me start off by saying I'm pretty new to digital photography. I just got a Sony DSC-P200. When I try taking up-close pictures where detail is key, the pictures constantly become extremely blury. I don't know if there are camera settings to change or what but you can clearly see this is a problem. I don't think it is that the camera just can't handle it because it has an effective 7.2Mp and a Zeiss Lense. This is so frustrating. I looked through the manual and can't seem to find anything. I tried taking a picture of a gold coin as a test. By the way, this happens to anything when I want to take a picture of the detail.

Here is an online copy of the manual:

Manual PDF

I will try to reply as fast as I can because I want to get this sorted out.

Any Help Appreciated

Kevin

Sounds like you may be trying to focus closer than that lense will allow. If not, are you getting a focus confirmation (beep or on screen confirmation) that the camera is in focus?

I tried to yank the EXIF, but there is none there.

 

[Aperture]

Reply

When I begin to hold down the snap button a green LED flashes and then when I actually take the shot I hear a short beep. I am not that familiar with digital photography terms, what is the EXIF? This isn't the type of camera you just snap on another lense but are there any alternatives as opposed to buying a new camera?

Kevin

 

[iGary]

EXIF stands for Exchangeable Image File - it basically tells what lens you used, shutter speed, ISO etc.

How close is the lens to the coin when you are shooting?

 

[CanadaRAM]

Your camera has a macro/wide angle mode and a telephoto mode. The minimum focus distances are 6cm (2.5 inches) macro mode (Wide), or 30cm (12 inches) (Tele). Step one is to make sure you have switched it to Macro mode.

Step 2 is if you are getting closer than 2.5 inches it will never take an in-focus picture.

One hint is to cut a piece of string and tape it to the camera body, such that you can stretch the string out to your subject, and the distance from the lens to the end of the string will be 6 cm. Then when you are shooting closeup, just measure the distance with the string, and you know not to get any closer than that.

Depending on your particular camera, it may have one beep when it has locked focus, and a different beep if it has failed. If you are watching the LCD, you'll see the focus hunting back and forth before giving up.

If you do a lot of closeup work, it may be worthwhile to set up a copystand or tripod so the camera can be stationary, and you bring the subject and the lighting to the camera.
Flash never works on closeups like this BTW.

 

[Aperture]

Reply

Hello. I ran EXIF through WikiPedia and I tried to get as much info about the shot as I could. This is pretty much what I found:

Dimensions: 3072 x 2304
Device Make: Sony
Device Model: DSC-P200
Color Space: RGB
Focal Length: 7.9000001
Exposure Time: 0.025


Kevin

Edit: I was typing this while you replied

 

[Aperture]

Reply

I looked through the manual and can't find out how to switch to macro. Also, should I have it on Spot, Center, or Multi Mode? On the dial there is P and an M. I'm not sure what these are.

Kevin

EDIT- What AF should it be set to?

 

[ChrisA]

It look to me like you have simply gotten closer then your camera can focus. There is a minimum past which you can't go. Also it is almost impossable to get good macro shots this close without a tripod. The smallest movement will blur the image. What happens is that the camera focuses (if it can) and then you move it a millimeter or so before the shutter trips. For this kind of extream close up sometimes a homemade stand works. Not that the tripos socket will fit a standard hardware store bolt.

If the camera will not focus as close as yu want there are two options. (1) Shoot from fater away and crop. or (2) get a screw-in "diopter". If your camera can mount an accessory tele or wide lens then a dioper close up lens will fit on the same way. This lens works _exactly_ like reading glasses.

So do this. Get a tripod or stand, start from about 18 inches away and then take a closer shot. Crop the best image. If you can't get close enough buy a diopter and the little adaptor tube if you camera allws it.

Next try and improve the lighting. Put a defuser over the coid and shoot through a hole in the dufuser. A white plastic milk jug work fine for this The idea is that the flash hits the white plastic and the plastic lights the coin. The plastic being much larger than the flash makes light comes from all directions and eliminates the specular reflection and hard shadows

 

[tykles]

I looked through your manual, and on page 25 it tells you which scene modes have macro function. The most traditional icon for macro function is a flower - I'd probably start with the portrait scene mode (two silhouettes) and go from there.
They also reference a separate manual called "read this first" that may give you some insight. Let us know what happens.
t

 

[form]

I know someone who has a p200; she likes it very much. The macro is the one with the flower icon, the right-hand button in the circular group on the rear of the camera (may dpreview forgive me for borrowing their image):

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Sonydscp200/images/4-way.jpg

You might also want to take a look at their review of your cam, to understand more about it:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonydscp200/

 

[Aperture]

Reply

Hey. Thanks guys for helping me out. I tried a few of your tips and it helped dramatically already. I will try out the rest a little later and then post after pictures.

Thanks, Kevin