Digital Cameras

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I know pretty much nothing about this subject, hence the thread. I own a very cheap digital camera, a Vivicam F128 to be precise, and it's the only one I've ever had. It's rated at 14.1 megapixels, which appears on paper to be a fairly decent specification, and its performance when taking shots at middle or long distance is quite impressive, but it's pretty useless at doing close range stuff, as the pictures are usually somewhat blurred. This is relevant because I want to sell some stuff on Ebay, and having decent photos which show good detail is important here.

In short, there seems to be no way of getting things in focus, either manually or automatically. Is this a feature in general of digital cameras, or only of the cheaper ones? I've got my eye on a Panasonic Lumix TZ7, which appears to have a very good reputation, and can still be acquired fairly cheaply secondhand (£20-£40), but I'm wondering if it would have the same short range focusing issue as I've had with my present model. The Panasonic is only 10.1 megapixels, by the way. What might be the best solution here? Any views?

^ Here are a few illustrations of what I'm talking about. A couple of shots of my front garden, no problems:







Then a couple of close-range shots:




(That's a snail in my garden, btw. )

Those first two photo's were taken years back , I've already seen them

I would defiantly advise an upgrade dude.

I would also invest in a photo tent and lights if you have the budget as they make a hell of difference for eBay.

I had almost trouble free use with a Fujifilm Finepix S ( took 10,000+ shots before it went funny and got it upgraded to the next model by my insurance plan ) , I was also given a Panasonic Lumix which is a great camera ( not cheap though ). I bought cheap macro lenses to attach for ultra close detail ( like hallmarks on jewellery ). If you want to know the exact models I'll have to dig them out.

The focusing issue is I believe an older camera issue.

LOL, I've just bagged a Fujifilm Finepix JX530, which I sniped in the last 15 seconds of an Ebay auction for £8.59 (plus postage). Probably not up to the standard of the model you were referring to (in fact it looks alarmingly like my Vivicam), but we'll see.....

Looked at the reviews on Amazon and seems positive , the negative ones were for damaged cameras , or complaining about audio quality.

It came out about 10 years ago so should be fit for purpose , well sniped

^ Thanks for the Amazon review, by the way. All sounds depressingly familiar. I discovered the 'macro on' feature earlier today, but the results when I tried it were too horrendous for words - I actually deleted the pics, so I can't post them here. I still can't hate my Vivicam though.....

I still have my first digital camera that I used for eBay , it was some 1.2mp webcam

As I was running a business my camera's and it's insurance were tax deductible otherwise I doubt I would of forked out much for a camera.

Kudos for getting a payout from an insurance company. It's probably something most people won't manage in their lifetime. I think Ronnie and Reggie ran a more honest version of the insurance racket in the East End during the 1960s....

The focus in your camera is called contrast detection. Basically, as the camera focuses, it is evaluating the image for the highest contrast to determine focus. You probably notice the lens moving in and out as it finds focus. You will also notice it does not focus on blank walls very well, especially under low light. The other strange thing about contrast is that the highest contrast can sometimes not be at the point of focus.

I suspect it simply had a difficult time with the snail image simply because there was not much light and the contrast was low. Newer cameras can do better.

I hope you enjoy your new camera.

I'm quite pleased with the new Finepix camera. To illustrate, here's a picture of my tea/coffee mug with the old camera:





And with the new camera:





Couple of laptop shots as well: