Whyizzit, that we should have to read the instructions?
Everything's there right in front of our nose, after all...
This week Janet and M.S. found out they had both used their
cameras for years without realizing its potential.
It began this way, wondering about better close-up cameras:
I would like to take close-up pictures of flowers. Right
now I have a small Coolpix digital camera and I know I need a
bigger one to take better pictures but I don't know what to
buy. I don't want to spend a whole lot of money. Can I get a
fairly good camera for 2-$300? If so, what do you suggest? --
M. S. -
Good question and one we'd like to know how others answer, too!
So we're posting it on our Forum. (If you've created your free
membership there, we'll make the election for you to get a buzz
from our computer every time there's new information posted there
in reply.)
Sure, some cameras with certain lenses might do more for you but
you may want to give your current camera a second chance. Janet had
her Coolpix for two years before realizing she could hold the zoom
button down and go to macro.
She says, "I knew to press that wide (W) and tight (T)
toggle to zoom. But I never in the first years kept my finger on
that button long enough to realize the yellow bar would go past the
vertical white line, into a Macro setting. The day I noticed it I
laughed about being so impatient all that time. It's only a spit
second pause the yellow bar makes, as if to ask, 'Are you sure you
want to gothatclose?' I just never gave the camera the chance. Now
I know it and I can shoot very close."
If the camera won't focus in Macro, move the camera itself
further from your subject, because it operates within a certain
focal distance. Or try angling for a plainer background, since the
camera seems to want to focus on the highest contrast item, too.
Watch for the camera to give you the green light and show you your
subject in focus.
Oh! I see! And now, here's something more to laugh at --
I never noticed the green light before! - M. S. -
More about this right now in the Forum.