Janine Roubik on thu 8 feb 07
Hey Paul,
The Sony Cyber-shot is what I use, and I like it a lot. You can get a really nice close up with it, but it takes a little time to figure out which functions to use and where you'll get the best results. The function I like the best is the color-correction. I can use regular light bulbs and balance to correct for the tungsten and then the pix don't look all yellow. I am looking into a place where I can get slides made from the digital files - I'll let you know how that turns out if you'd like.
A photographer lady told me that Zeiss was a really good lens.
I don't know anything about your other camera to compare it to. I guess the biggest complaint I have with the Sony is that it's so dang small I'm worried I'm going to drop it and break it. And make sure to write down what settings you have the camera on when you get a shot you like. There's so many settings and combinations that it's easy to forget what the heck you did "that one time..."
Have a good one,
Janine
Paul Borian wrote: Hello,
I have been using an older Olympus Camedia c-2020 Z, 2.1 megapixel
camera for shooting pottery images. I found out that a friend of mine
has a sony 5.1 megapixel camera he doesn't use much and said I could use
any time. All I know is it says "cyber-shot" on it and on the lens is
says "zeiss."
Does anyone know if this kind of camera would be much better than the
one I have been using? I know it has a lot more megapixels but other
than that I don't know much about it. The only problem I have had with
the one I use is it doesn't work for close ups, like if you really want
get a good zoom shot of the details of a pot. I wonder if the sony would
be better - anyone know?
Thanks,
Paul
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Maurice Weitman on thu 8 feb 07
Hello, Paul,
Paul Borian wrote:
>Does anyone know if this kind of camera would be much better than the
>one I have been using?
In a word: yes.
>The only problem I have had with
>the one I use is it doesn't work for close ups, like if you really want
>get a good zoom shot of the details of a pot. I wonder if the sony would
>be better - anyone know?
Only you or your friend would know that since you give no model
number. But I'd bet lunch that the Sony would be better in just
about every way.
Also, I wonder what you mean by "a good zoom shot." If you mean
close-up, most camera have decent macro (close-up) modes, and most
also have some kind of zoom for getting a close-up from further away,
but again, if you have a better lens, you're more likely to get a
better image.
But what do you have to lose by trying it? He said you could use it
whenever you want. Go for it! Test, test, test, remember? Go for
it and let us know what you find.
There are many variables with a camera's ability to make faithful
reproductions, but I believe the most important one is its lens.
With a less well-hung lens (or, heavens forbid, a crappy one, like a
Harbor Freight piece of shit), no matter how good its innards are,
the results will be compromised.
If you decide to purchase a camera, you should check out dpreview.com
for in-depth, objective reviews.
Regards,
Maurice (owner of a Sony DSC-F717 camera and several Harbor Freight tools)
Cheryl Weickert6 on thu 8 feb 07
Paul, We used a sony cybershot with 3.3 megapixels for a few years it did
really well with close up pictures using the zoom, never tried on pottery
but many other subjects. Now we're using a Canon Rebel, the advantage to
the new camera is the lenses can be changed depending on what you want
pictures of.
I'd give the cybershot a chance, unless the friend is charging you big $$$
to use it.
Pinky in MN
On Thu, 8 Feb 2007 22:04:40 -0500, Paul Borian wrote:
>Hello,
>
>I have been using an older Olympus Camedia c-2020 Z, 2.1 megapixel
>camera for shooting pottery images. I found out that a friend of mine
>has a sony 5.1 megapixel camera he doesn't use much and said I could use
>any time. All I know is it says "cyber-shot" on it and on the lens is
>says "zeiss."
Paul Borian on thu 8 feb 07
Hello,
I have been using an older Olympus Camedia c-2020 Z, 2.1 megapixel
camera for shooting pottery images. I found out that a friend of mine
has a sony 5.1 megapixel camera he doesn't use much and said I could use
any time. All I know is it says "cyber-shot" on it and on the lens is
says "zeiss."
Does anyone know if this kind of camera would be much better than the
one I have been using? I know it has a lot more megapixels but other
than that I don't know much about it. The only problem I have had with
the one I use is it doesn't work for close ups, like if you really want
get a good zoom shot of the details of a pot. I wonder if the sony would
be better - anyone know?
Thanks,
Paul
Fred Parker on fri 9 feb 07
Hi Paul:
You didn't say which Cyber-Shot you're considering. Sony makes
many "Cyber-Shot" cameras. The one I have is the DSC-F717. It is 5.1
mpx. Mine has the large lens and works more like a single-lens reflex
camera (allows sighting directly through the lens instead of only through
a separate viewfinder and/or exernal LCD panel.)
If the one you are considering is this (SLR) type, it is perfect for
shooting pottery. It, like most digital cameras, has a "macro" setting
for shooting up close (to a couple of inches or so). It also allows you
to select from a variety of exposure reading configurations, which helps
when shooting in a light tent or under studio lighting. I've had mine for
three years or so, so it definitely is not state of-the-art when it comes
to whatever the new ones have, but it is very good for most purposes. %.1
mpx is more than enough to capture excellent images for the internet, or
for publication.
There is one thing you should be aware of re SOny "Cyber Shot" cameras.
I'm sure others on Clay Art will also be interested, so I'm posting it
separately. See my other posting re "Sony Cameras."
Fred Parker
On Thu, 8 Feb 2007 22:04:40 -0500, Paul Borian wrote:
>Hello,
>
>I have been using an older Olympus Camedia c-2020 Z, 2.1 megapixel
>camera for shooting pottery images. I found out that a friend of mine
>has a sony 5.1 megapixel camera he doesn't use much and said I could use
>any time. All I know is it says "cyber-shot" on it and on the lens is
>says "zeiss."
>
>Does anyone know if this kind of camera would be much better than the
>one I have been using?
Lee Love on fri 9 feb 07
On 2/9/07, Paul Borian wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have been using an older Olympus Camedia c-2020 Z, 2.1 megapixel
> camera for shooting pottery images. I found out that a friend of mine
> has a sony 5.1 megapixel camera he doesn't use much and said I could use
> any time. All I know is it says "cyber-shot" on it and on the lens is
> says "zeiss."
It should be a step up for you. I use a 3.1 megapixel Cybershot.
They have a closeup function.
--
Lee in Mashiko, Japan
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
http://potters.blogspot.com/
"To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts." -
Henry David Thoreau
"Let the beauty we love be what we do." - Rumi
claystevslat on fri 9 feb 07
Paul --
There're at least a half dozen Sony Cyber-shot 5 meg sensor
cameras. They vary in price and functionality, and and
quality. Several have Zeiss lenses. Some are potentially
more useful to you than others; for example, some of the ultra-
thin ones give good results in strong light but don't focus
particularly close.
Most use sony's own memory sticks, which makes storage more
expensive than on some other cameras.
If your friend will let you take it for a day, though, the best
thing to do is to experiment -- take a half-dozen pictures and see
what the results are like. If you aren't printing glossy photos
above 5 x 7 inches in size, 2 megs is actually sufficient.
The dpreview.com site and the popphoto.com site have useful
reviews. There's one other, I can't think of the name of it now,
though, that I've relied on in the past and has beenuseful, it had
even better test photos than dpreview has ... maybe the name'll come
to me.
Best wishes -- Steve S
--- In clayart@yahoogroups.com, Paul Borian wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> I have been using an older Olympus Camedia c-2020 Z, 2.1 megapixel
> camera for shooting pottery images. I found out that a friend of
mine
> has a sony 5.1 megapixel camera he doesn't use much and said I
could use
> any time. All I know is it says "cyber-shot" on it and on the lens
is
> says "zeiss."
Alisha Clarke on fri 9 feb 07
Paul,
I used a 4mp Cybershot dsc-p9 for some time with my Ez-cube setup and
it worked well. Most of the pictures on my web site (
www.alishaclarke.com ) were taken with that camera. The only problem I
noticed was that the color balance wasn't quite right with the Ez-cube
lights, and most of the pictures were later corrected with Photoshop.
Now I have a Sony a100 digital SLR (that I love), and I do see some
improvement in the pottery pictures, but you have to inspect the
picture carefully to see the difference. You can see pictures taken
with the a100 on my Flickr site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/leesh/
.
Leesh
On 2/8/07, Paul Borian wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have been using an older Olympus Camedia c-2020 Z, 2.1 megapixel
> camera for shooting pottery images. I found out that a friend of mine
> has a sony 5.1 megapixel camera he doesn't use much and said I could use
> any time. All I know is it says "cyber-shot" on it and on the lens is
> says "zeiss."
>
> Does anyone know if this kind of camera would be much better than the
> one I have been using? I know it has a lot more megapixels but other
> than that I don't know much about it. The only problem I have had with
> the one I use is it doesn't work for close ups, like if you really want
> get a good zoom shot of the details of a pot. I wonder if the sony would
> be better - anyone know?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Paul
>
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alisha Clarke
www.alishaclarke.com
Lee Love on fri 9 feb 07
On 2/9/07, claystevslat wrote:
>
> Most use sony's own memory sticks, which makes storage more
> expensive than on some other cameras.
You can get them pretty cheap online actually, but this has
nothing to do with Paul borrowing a friend's camera. And Zeiss makes
an excellent lens.
> what the results are like. If you aren't printing glossy photos
> above 5 x 7 inches in size, 2 megs is actually sufficient.
Maybe for snaps of your vacation or your dog for your Mother. But....
I looked the data up when I realized that many of
the things I wanted to enter (from grant to gallery to the Uptown Art
Fair) require an image that will print 5X7 at 300dpi.
3mps is just about the minimum especially if you are going to do
any cropping at all.
Here is some hard data:
Megapixels & Print-Size
"How many megapixels do I really need for my purposes" - a quite
common question. The following table provides an overview of
megapixels in relation to common print sizes. A print resolution of
300dpi corresponds to magazine quality. "Acceptable" prints don't
require 300dpi but e.g. 2MP will not scale to something like 20x30cm
without a severe loss of quality.
Megapixels Resolution common print size (rougly 300dpi)
2 MP 1600x1200 10x13cm / 4x6"
3 MP 2048x1536 13x18cm / 5x7"
4 MP 2400 x 1600 18x23cm / 6x8"
6 MP 3000x2000 20x30cm / 7x10"
8 MP 3600x2400 30x40cm / 10x14"
Steve does give one piece of advice I agree with: Costs nothing
to make some test shots.
--
Lee in Mashiko, Japan
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
http://potters.blogspot.com/
"To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts." -
Henry David Thoreau
"Let the beauty we love be what we do." - Rumi
dalecochoy on fri 9 feb 07
Lee,
I have a 3.1 Cybershot also and use it for all my pottery pictures. In
addition to the flash on the camera I also use two cheap lamp reflectors on
either side. You know, the work-lite type reflectors you can get at any
hardware store forabout $5 each.
I often use the close-up function. Great detail.
I take all pics at highest setting for pixel quality and size, then compress
to size I want.
Dale Cochoy
Wild Things Bonsai Studio
Hartville, Ohio Zone 5
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lee Love"
To:
Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 10:38 PM
Subject: Re: Sony Cyber-Shot digital camera for pottery pics?
> On 2/9/07, Paul Borian wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I have been using an older Olympus Camedia c-2020 Z, 2.1 megapixel
>> camera for shooting pottery images. I found out that a friend of mine
>> has a sony 5.1 megapixel camera he doesn't use much and said I could use
>> any time. All I know is it says "cyber-shot" on it and on the lens is
>> says "zeiss."
>
>
> It should be a step up for you. I use a 3.1 megapixel Cybershot.
> They have a closeup function.
>
> --
> Lee in Mashiko, Japan
> Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
> http://potters.blogspot.com/
>
> "To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts." -
> Henry David Thoreau
>
> "Let the beauty we love be what we do." - Rumi
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
> melpots@pclink.com.
>
Wes Rolley on fri 9 feb 07
I have a Cybeshot Model DSC-P93A that I got steeply discounted by Sony
when I purchased a Sony desktop computer.
I find that I have one problem and that is the lack of good white
balance controls. In particular, I have a very difficult time achieving
color fidelity on any photo where it is important to capture both green
and white or green and red. To get good color fidelity of the greens,
the whites are grey.
You also have to pay attention to the settings so that you control when
and if the built in flash flashes.
--
I have been impressed with the urgency of doing.
Knowing is not enough; we must apply.
Being willing is not enough;
We must do. –Leonardo DaVinci
Wesley C. Rolley
17211 Quail Court
Morgan Hill, CA 95037
(408)778-3024 - http://cagreening.blogspot.com
Colleen Riley on fri 9 feb 07
Paul
We have 2 sony cameras, one of which is a cybershot. They both have Zeiss
lenses and are great for pottery images-- in my opinion as good as you can
get with this type of camera. You'll see a huge improvement over the 2.1
Olympus.
You'll want to check to see if there's a macro feature...you need it to get
shots up close. (Look for a little flower icon on the dial.) Also, with 5.1
megapixels you'll be able to crop images in tight and still keep a fairly
high resolution.
Colleen
Lee Love on sat 10 feb 07
Hi Dale,
Mine is a DSC-P5 . I mispoke, it is 3.2 mps. I bought
this used for peanuts about 3 years ago online from a list called
Tokyo TellandSell. Have bought new batteries for it. You can get
them online for about $10.00
They have photo grade florescent ring lights here in Japan.
I put them in an aluminum foil lined carboard box and it hangs in the
photo booth I made in the studio.
If you could control the F-stops on this camera, I probably
wouldn't buy a new one for some time. I understand with the new
models you can.
--
Lee in Mashiko, Japan
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
http://potters.blogspot.com/
"To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts." -
Henry David Thoreau
"Let the beauty we love be what we do." - Rumi
lena buch on tue 13 feb 07
I bought a sony Cyber-shot in June. it is a 5 mps. I
can turn the flash off and set up lighting for pottery
shots, or chamge the speed and the f stops. It takes
really great shots. I love mine
--- Lee Love wrote:
> Hi Dale,
>
> Mine is a DSC-P5 . I mispoke, it is 3.2
> mps. I bought
> this used for peanuts about 3 years ago online from
> a list called
> Tokyo TellandSell. Have bought new batteries for
> it. You can get
> them online for about $10.00
> If you could control the F-stops on this
> camera, I probably
> wouldn't buy a new one for some time. I understand
> with the new
> models you can.
>
> --
> Lee in Mashiko, Japan
> Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
> http://potters.blogspot.com/
>
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