Re: OT: cameras for iris close-ups

Thanks for the advice, Bill.  As for changing cameras, that's a clear 
necessity.  Apparently, the one sold to me for this purpose turned 
out to require 3'3" minimum distance from the object.  (Fine type, 
not mentioned.)

All the advice I've gotten on iris-talk will definitely help me not 
to be 'taken' again.

Patricia


--- In iris-talk@y..., Bill Shear <wshear@h...> wrote:
> Bill Wardwell had good sound advice for beginning photographers.  
Let me add
> a few things.
> 
> 1. Definitely give Fuji Velvia film at ISO 50 or 200 a try.  I use 
nothing
> else now.  Definitely superior color in terms of saturation and 
hue.  I buy
> the film with Fuji processing included and this insures that the 
development
> is properly carried out.  Pictures are returned in about 2 weeks.
> 
> 2.  For closeup photography,  a single-lens reflex camera is a 
must.  With
> single-lens reflex, what you see is what you get, including focus.  
Cameras
> with separate viewfinders are not suitable for closeups because at 
that
> distance, the viewfinder does not see what the lens sees.  Try 
looking at
> your computer screen closing first one eye, then the other, and 
you'll see
> what I mean.  The pros call this phenomenon "parallax."  That is 
why you got
> only partial blooms.  Also, the lenses of many viewfinder cameras 
have only
> a fixed focus, which covers most "snapshot" situtations, but not 
closeups.
> All lenses have a minimum focal distance, no matter what their 
purpose.  If
> you get closer than that, autofocus or no, you get an out-of-focus 
picture.
> Again the advantage of the single-lens reflex camera is that you 
can see
> when this happens and pull the camera back until focus is re-
established.
> 
> 3.  Buy a short, paperback book on general photography.  Your local 
camera
> store can guide you.  Or, better still, use the winter to take a 
basic
> photography course at a local community college or university.
> 
> 4.  Find a local, experienced, amateur photographer who can advise 
you about
> your particular camera and situation.  People will try to help over 
the
> internet, but your original message had too little information to 
allow
> others to provide more than generalities.  You need someone on the 
ground
> with you.
> 
> 5. Changing cameras will not help unless you are willing to 
experiment and
> learn about your new camera (or your old one, for that matter).  
You have a
> good five or six months till the bloom season to become proficient 
in using
> whatever equipment you end up with.
> 
> Bill Shear
> Department of Biology
> Hampden-Sydney College
> Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
> (434)223-6172
> FAX (434)223-6374
> email<wshear@e...>
> Moderating e-lists:
> Coleus at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/coleus
> Opiliones at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/opiliones
> Myriapod at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/myriapod
> 
> "I know many children to whom I would fain make a present on some 
one of
> their birthdays, but they are so far gone in the luxury of presents-
-have
> such perfect museums of costly ones--that it would absorb my entire 
earnings
> for a year to buy them something which would not be beneath their 
notice."
> --Henry David Thoreau, Journals, Nov.5, 1855.


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