Best Digital Camera for Circuit Boards?

[Paul S]

I need to get a digital camera. I want one that can take close up shots of boards and other small things. I also have a large vinyl record collection that I want to make CDs of, and I will snap pics of the album covers.

I used to have a 35mm SLR camera, and I see digital versions of them. Price isn't really a problem, but why buy more than I need.

Any recommendations on the specs of a camera needed for this purpose are appreciated. Also any brands/models that you have found to be good.

Thanks,

Paul

[Spacedye69]

Re: Best Digital Camera for Circuit Boards?

Yes please. My camera takes good pics past 3ft, but up close pics suck, unless you have about 10,000 watts of light behind you. I would take a recommendation for a cheap camera that is only good up close also.

[WNG]

Re: Best Digital Camera for Circuit Boards?

Most current digital cameras have Macro mode shooting options.
You don't need a digital SLR for your needs. Even a small point/shoot takes great shots.
I have Canon Powershots... 2.0, 5.1, 7.0, megapixel models over the years. All take great pictures. Macro shots included.

My cousin has a Canon DSLR, nothing but praise from him. So, I would be a Canon fan.

[bgavin]

Re: Best Digital Camera for Circuit Boards?

I've shot professionally since 1968, finally went to digital in 2006. My herd of Mamiya RZ67 are on hiatus for the moment, as even wedding clients want digital these days. IMO a mistake, but it's their call. Digital is certainly less expensive to shoot, and offers instant-replay during the shooting session.

I use a Nikon D200 SLR. After many generations of digital, I think Nikon got this one right. It is metal (not plastic), has O-ring dust seals at the body joints, and the autoexposure and auto fill flash compensation works well. It is professional grade in every way, and does not disappoint.

The 18-200 Nikkor DX-VR zoom is *the* lens to have for this rig. This one lens will cover all your needs except for extreme wide angle. The 18mm setting is the equivalent of a 28mm on a standard Nikon 35mm camera. If you need ultra-wide, the 12~24 zoom is the 2nd must-have lens from Nikon.

For casual close-up work, you can opt for a +1 or +2 closeup filter. These work very well and do not interfere with autoexposure. A tripod is your best friend in all closeup work. The D200 allows full control of the aperture, so you can stop way down for depth of field extension.

[willawake]

Re: Best Digital Camera for Circuit Boards?

Macro work for boards is best done using a timer and long exposures not flash. Its really about technique. The majority of cameras do good macro but i have run across a few reviews which complained about the macro capability.

Good camera brands are Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, Fuji. Personally i am into Canon. I can help if you narrow down to a few models, its really a personal choice.

Some point and shoot do take excellent macros. Indeed it may be hard to tell a point and shoot from a more advanced camera or DSLR when macro shots are taken into consideration. the lens distortions might be an indication however or indeed the darkened corner shadow from the flash proximity to the lens would be.

But I dont consider the small cameras to be as good as the DSLRs. The small sensor may be a factor in this. Basically anything at a decent distance is really pixelated when you zoom in a bit. Again the ISO modes are pretty crap on the small cameras. This may again be the sensor or the manufacturers bastardise the software in the small cameras to make them not compete with the DSLRs with ISO. Basically on my canon A700 even the ISO 200 is not to my liking whilst on my canon 20D dslr even ISO 800 is not bad.

Using a very sharp lens on a DSLR like my preferred Canon 100 2.8 macro i can crop even at 100% a subject at quite a distance and with a little sharpening get a very nice pic for the web. This would be impossible on the a700.

Still the cameras available these days are very good. With even the low end dslrs like the canon 350d, 400d or the nikon d70, d80 there is possibility to achieve professional looking results, even with lesser quality lenses than most camera forum posters would have you believe you needed. I have one friend who takes outstanding artistic shots with the 350d and cheapie 18-55 lens. same with another friend who takes incredibly sharp shots with his d70 and 18-55, again a very cheap lens.

but still i dont carry my 20d on board ships for my job, i use my a700 which is perfectly satisfactory for that. Its small and responsive and the majority of the shots are in focus which didnt happen so often back in the days of the a70. I just get annoyed when i have to wait so long for the flash to charge. The ability to take shots of documents and labels is amazingly good for my job. I wish canon would implement a document mode though, ie 2 colours. I see nikon have implemented similar on the small cameras but it is grayscale.

still if i break this camera i would probably get another a series. the manual options are excellent and i think only also fuji has those features on small cameras. everything else is very limited options.

i doubt if i would get another prosumer camera. i was using an olympus 5050 before. if i want to take good pictures i have no problem to carry a dslr. but then again i have some friends who are happy with their prosumer cameras, i have one friend who takes very good pics with his panasonic with 11x zoom.

another friend purchased a canon 400d dslr. He found it difficult to use and he was taking bad photos. He exchanged for a a710is and was happy. DSLRs are very unforgiving and it takes some knowledge of photography to operate them. They are also quite an expense in the end after a bag full of lenses has been purchased. still they are very rewarding and really teach you photography.

in the end it all comes down to budget, features and size/weight really and there lies the personal choice.

[Paul S]

Re: Best Digital Camera for Circuit Boards?

Thanks for all the suggestions.

My old SLR, back in high school, was a Canon. I liked it, but the only reason I opted for a Canon was because I couldn't afford a Nikon.

I think that maybe I now can afford a Nikon.

But, judging from most posts, a Canon "a" series is a good camera. I'll look into this further and let you know on what my decision is.

Thanks again,

Paul

[davmax]

Re: Best Digital Camera for Circuit Boards?

I do not see anybody mentioning Pentax. They make very good cameras. For component photos my simple x3 zoom and 5 Mpixel does a great job with Macro and Super Macro (getting down to centimetres from the lense). Lighting, time and no movement are keys to success. The Pentax Optio range is good value and high performance and readily available on eBay. Latest models have more pixels and anti shake, even for still photos. Having owned several models I prefer those with Lithium rechargable batteries.

[Paul S]

Re: Best Digital Camera for Circuit Boards?

Newegg.com has a Canon PowerShot A460 on sale for $109.99 USD.

The reviews for this camera are horrible, I guess I'll keep looking.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...CMP=EMC-IGNEFL

[grss1982]

Re: Best Digital Camera for Circuit Boards?

How about Polaroid? Are they any good?

I have one at home dont know the model though but it does 5 Megapixels.

[WNG]

Re: Best Digital Camera for Circuit Boards?

Polaroid the USA film company, no longer exists. They went bankrupt a while ago.
I worked with ex-Polaroid employees here in MA, and the sad stories of mismanagement was sad. Digital photography and cameras were proposed internally. And after demonstrating successful prototypes, the execs killed the idea stating who the hell would want one of these? No film, no prints, no film sales. Dead, dumb idea!
To the shock of the designers.
I believe there was only 1 Polaroid digital camera that was manufactured, a 3.3 Mp kit but was liquidated through clearance houses.

Polaroid, the name has been likely sold off to the Asian companies.
The camera you have is a Taiwanese clone camera probably by Aiptek, with Polaroid slapped on it.

The Kodak, HP Photosmart, even some Japanese named cameras, aren't made by the selling company, but some camera they licensed to be made.

[stretch0069]

Re: Best Digital Camera for Circuit Boards?

I got my A630 (on Will's recommendation) from Newegg. I abso-frickin-lutely love it. takes great pics. the big ass 8GB card i put in it (also from Newegg) lets me take over 2200 pics at max settings. with Will's help, i even got awesome macro shots. right to the point that i can really see my mistakes with painting my models. you can see some of the examples in the Models thread.

[willawake]

Re: Best Digital Camera for Circuit Boards?

Newegg.com has a Canon PowerShot A460 on sale for $109.99 USD.

The reviews for this camera are horrible, I guess I'll keep looking.

the A460 and the A430 are the lowest end of the series.

if we look at the reviews we see

Extremely noisy pictures

Noisy picture or Grainny picture. Poor Picture Quality with ISO 200 and 400.

well i would agree with that for the entire series. the fact is that when these cameras are on full auto or auto iso they tend to bump up the iso too much. so you end up with a picture taken at iso 200 when there is good light and its grainy. If you force the iso to be 80 or 100 when there is enough light then the picture is ok.

i agree also that iso 200 onwards is pretty awful, especially when compared to a large sensor camera like the 400D. I dont know if that is because of the small sensor size and it indeed might be. Or perhaps canon messes with the noise reduction on the cheaper models.

the grainy iso 200 and the fact that the flash leaves a shadow in the right bottom corner when taking close ups are the complaints i have with the a700. everything else is fine.

anyway to take good photos with these or any camera it is necessary to use the functions to control the iso, the flash, the white balance and its not that difficult.

still to have a very nice picture and especially to have no grain up to iso800 it is necessary to get a 400D @ $779.99

[Paul S]

Re: Best Digital Camera for Circuit Boards?

I thought that I read somewhere in these forums, that any Canon "A" series was a good choice. I know you get what you pay for, so that is why I mentioned about the bad reviews on the A460.

If you have to override the camera's auto stuff to get good pictures, I may be better off with a DSLR. I enjoyed doing that with my old SLR.

[stretch0069]

Re: Best Digital Camera for Circuit Boards?

well i would agree with that for the entire series. the fact is that when these cameras are on full auto or auto iso they tend to bump up the iso too much. so you end up with a picture taken at iso 200 when there is good light and its grainy. If you force the iso to be 80 or 100 when there is enough light then the picture is ok.

i agree also that iso 200 onwards is pretty awful, especially when compared to a large sensor camera like the 400D. I dont know if that is because of the small sensor size and it indeed might be. Or perhaps canon messes with the noise reduction on the cheaper models.

the grainy iso 200 and the fact that the flash leaves a shadow in the right bottom corner when taking close ups are the complaints i have with the a700. everything else is fine.

anyway to take good photos with these or any camera it is necessary to use the functions to control the iso, the flash, the white balance and its not that difficult.

still to have a very nice picture and especially to have no grain up to iso800 it is necessary to get a 400D @ $779.99

i don't know wtf Will just said, but i do know he got me shooting awesome pics with my camera, so wtf he just said must be important.....

[Neo2_000]

Re: Best Digital Camera for Circuit Boards?

Thanks Willawake,

You may have just solved the definition problems I have been having with closeup shots.

I also have an A700.

[Paul S]

Re: Best Digital Camera for Circuit Boards?

I think that the ISO is like the "speed" of film. Film that will let you take pictures in low light situations without a flash, have a higher speed, like 800. They are also considered to have a lot of "grain" in the pictures.

Film that has less grain is usually lower in speed, like 200. You usually need extra lighting, unless you are outdoors. Also, because of the slower speed, a tripod is needed. The longer exposure time means it is too hard to hold it completely still during the exposure. You then get blurry pictures.

[Paul S]

Re: Best Digital Camera for Circuit Boards?

Well, I finally got around to buying a digital camera. As you can see by the original dates on this post, I don't like making rash decisions.

I got a Nikon D40X

It looks to be an awesome camera, It cost a pretty penny too. You see, after scrimping and saving my money since I bought a house ten years ago, I just found that I have saved enough to pay off the mortgage. With money left over too, or at least their was money left over.

Here's some pics of the mobo that first lead me to this forum. It's a VIA P4PB 400. As you can also see, I haven't repaired it yet. No rash decisions on this either.

[severach]

Re: Best Digital Camera for Circuit Boards?

The Paul S pictures have some problems. The 1st and 3rd pictures are mostly out of focus because of the short depth of field from a wide aperture. The second looks like camera shake because the shutter speed is too low. The solution is not a better camera or a steady hand, it's more light. With nothing more than a CFL in a clamp lamp you get better focus from the improved depth of field with the smaller aperture and the fast shutter speed eliminates the shakes. The flash is no good here. It only works at an average distance, say 8-12 feet, it changes how the camera operates, and you can't move it around to make the lighting look right.

Once you get more light you'll find that your test subjects are too dim because of the unwanted light from the white background. Put your subjects on a black background and your camera will automatically boost the exposure to make them shine.

I had some capacitors to photograph and the only dark background I could find was my Dell Keyboard.

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showpo...4&postcount=20

[Paul S]

Re: Best Digital Camera for Circuit Boards?

Well excuse me!

Actually I'm still learning the ins and outs of the camera. I am more than familiar with how to take pictures, as I once planned to make it my profession. The pictures that you say are out of focus, well, the subject is in focus. I could care less about the foreground or background. As for the picture of the whole board, I did notice the corners were a bit fuzzy, while most of the board is fairly clear.

Also you have to take into account the fact that I had to make the pictures smaller and of a lower quality so that I could post them. There is a limit not only to the file size, but to the pixel size.

Once I now the camera better I will not use the auto exposure anymore.

Oh, and the white background is a sheet of gypsum wallboard that I had on a set of sawhorses. I am hanging some drywall in part of my house, so it was handy.