playing with a new camera

Onedollarnohollar

Got a new point and shoot ... Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ35 ... no special lighting, but I like the overall image ... shows the toning and this is encased in a PCI holder MS 64 PL ... comments welcome, I think

customroll

Does it really look like that in hand?

Onedollarnohollar

They are a fairly accurate representation of the in-hand look, although not perfect as I have just begun working with this camera and didn't even bother to do any special lighting. Just wanted to see what
natural lighting and steady hands on the macro (flower) setting would result in.

kenmitch

Panasonic makes some nice cameras....I've been using my DMC-FZ20 for about the last 5yrs or so.

Heres a sample photo from mine. I also like to just use natural light and just play around with the white balance to try and get the closest look to in hand. Your second REV shot looks great!

messydesk

Just looked at the specs on dpreview.com. It says the non-macro close focus is about 1 ft. If that's really true throughout the huge optical zoom range, you should be able to get really nice pics with the camera a couple feet away on a tripod or copy stand using the zoom and not the macro button. Then you can have room for a couple cheap lights easily. If you don't have a tripod, there's a cyber-Monday sale at buy.com for a Sunpak 61" tripod with a tilt-pan head for $15 shipped. Stupid cheap, and it will serve you for more than just coin photos.

Edit: Just looked at another set of specs (the manual) and it looks like the telephoto macro settings are a little strange. Minimum focus is 2 m as soon as you go from 1x to 11x, but it's 1 m from 11x to 18x. Hand-held at 1m and 11x zoom is going to be very difficult, but brace the camera against a door frame or something and see what you get at this distance. You'll need a lot of light.

Onedollarnohollar

Thanks for the compliment Kenmitch, and the research on the effective ranges with different settings, Messydesk. I do have a tripod and will use it next time to see what more this camera can do.

JapanJohn

What messydesk said. Pics looked a little soft. Put the camera on a tripod and set to macro and also I might add use the timer function so that your hands are off the shutter button eliminating shake when the photo is taken.

John

CCC2010

Beautiful coin Onedollarnohollar!