Recommend a good compact for close-up photography

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DrMoriarty

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Can anyone recommend a good, reasonably-priced compact for close-up (dental) photography, something that will autofocus without searching madly at distances of maybe 6" or so? I've been looking at a few of the available models in the €150-€200 range — Canon, Lumix, Fuji, etc — but in the short form of the specifications none of them says "Macro" or gives a minimum focussing distance, and tracking down the full manual for each individual model is a bit of a chore.

Anybody out there using or have experience of something that fits the bill?
 
Most compacts will have a 'macro' function, although nowhere near as good as a macro lens for an slr, obviously. I use a lumix and it has a macro function, and it's pretty good.
 
Cheers, myate, which Lumix model do you have?

I don't really need 'true macro' capabilities (1:1 magnification), but the problem with most of the compacts I've looked at is that in close-up mode, while they allow you to get within a few cm of the subject, that's only at the extreme of the wide-angle focal length. As soon as you try to zoom in a little, the closest focussing point jumps back out to 40 or 50cm away - rather defeating the purpose.

I have discovered that a fairly basic Canon Powershot model, the A480, has a 'super macro' scene setting that allows you to focus (with 3x digital zoom) at distances of 1-10cm — a feature absent from the A800 which replaced it. Anyone got any other suggestions?
 
If I was you I'd hunt around on the camera forum's for info this specific.


http://www.dpreview.com/

I'd guess a proper DSLR with a Macro lense is what you want. Even 2nd hand it would be better than a compact.
 
I have the TZ7. It has both macro & macro zoom function, which lets you pretty close using the zoom.
 
I have a Nikon Coolpix and use the macro quiet often. If I really want to get close up I just take the photo is Auto mode and then crop the photo using Picasa (free from Google) to touch up the photo. Picasa is by far the easiest editing software to use and gives good results.
 
Thanks for the comments, all. In the end I picked up a refurbished A480 for beer money on Ebay and, while it certainly ain't the prettiest out of the Canon stable, it does this particular job quite well.
 
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