Camera options

chesslo · Post by **chesslo** » April 23rd, 2008, 4:52 am

Moderator: Moved these posts from this topic into a separate one, since they have nothing to do with Lang's rose.

klnothincomin wrote:Thanks Chesslo! Why don't you make a flickr account?

ya, i would love to, but what's the point of making one if i don't have a camera to take pictures of it

eric_son · Post by **eric_son** » April 23rd, 2008, 7:31 am

Get a webcam. They don't take great pictures... adequate at best. But they're much cheaper than a dedicated camera.

If you're lighting is good, you may even get decent pictures.

Jonnycakes · Post by **Jonnycakes** » April 23rd, 2008, 2:44 pm

Depending on just how cheap a webcam is, I would not recommend that even if a digital camera is too expensive for you. It is impossible to get good pics of origami due to the lack of a macro function. This does depend on the size of what you fold, but I had big problems getting decent pictures (and 'decent' is still pretty blurry). Perhaps investigating into a used or low-end digital camera would be worth a shot.

Ondrej.Cibulka · Post by **Ondrej.Cibulka** » April 23rd, 2008, 3:06 pm

Or you can use camera inside mobile-phone. They are pretty good today.

mrsriggins · Post by **mrsriggins** » April 23rd, 2008, 6:55 pm

Most of my origami pics are taken with my cell camera. So if you're in the market for a new phone try to get one with a camera they're not too expensive and the quality is better than that of my digital camera! This helps because I like to fold small models. Most of my models are from post it notes so they end up pretty small

HankSimon · Post by **HankSimon** » April 24th, 2008, 12:31 am

FWIW - Cheap camera options:

1. Persuade your family that they need a family camera.
2. Go to the local garage sale/thrift store and get an old 3 Mp camera.
3. Ditto for an old cell phone, people discard them when they get new ones.
4. Ditto for Webcam, but as stated, some have poor quality.

Caveat Emptor

- Hank Simon

chesslo · Post by **chesslo** » April 24th, 2008, 1:01 am

umm thanks guys i might try that, and how do i use the camera on a laptop?

eric_son · Post by **eric_son** » April 24th, 2008, 3:48 am

Depends on what camera you get.
If you get a WEBCAM, all you need to do is to follow the instructions included in the packaging. Usually, this would mean installing the drivers, then plugging in the WEBCAM. Once you've done that, then you should be able to activate the WEBCAM and take those pictures. Pictures you've taken with the webcam will usually be stored as JPG files on your notebook's hard drive.

If you get a DIGICAM, then you have two options:
a. If your notebook comes with a flash memory card slot, take note of what kind of memory cards are supported. Then buy a digicam that uses the same memory card. Take your pictures using the digicam. Then remove the memory card of the digicam and insert it to your notebook's slot. You'll then be able to grab the pictures form the memory card and copy them to your hard drive...and be able to post them to the forum.
b. Get any digicam. It should come with a CD with drivers. Install the drivers on your notebook. Take pictures. Plug in your camera using the supplied cable. Download photos. Upload to the forum.

If you get a CELLCAM, you have three options:
a. follow procedure "a" of the DIGICAM.
b. follow procedure "b" of the DIGICAM.
c. No notebook needed. Take your pictures. Connect your cellphone to the web using GPRS or 3G. Upload the photos to the web.

Hope it helps...

chesslo · Post by **chesslo** » April 24th, 2008, 3:54 am

umm, but the camera is in the laptop already

Jonnycakes · Post by **Jonnycakes** » April 24th, 2008, 4:17 am

I also have a built in web cam (I think that kind tends to be pretty crappy for taking pics-mine is at least

) on my HP laptop. I use my webcam through QuickPlay, a pre-installed software. I wouldn't know how to use it otherwise, but perhaps you could search on the web and find a tutorial?

eric_son · Post by **eric_son** » April 24th, 2008, 6:39 am

chesslo wrote:umm, but the camera is in the laptop already

Dang! I forgot about that possibility.

If that's the case, you should be able to 'play' around with your laptop's built-in camera via the windows control panel. (I assume you're using windows...)

The software drivers for that camera should have some kind of a "take picture" function. It should be easy taking that picture since your view finder will also be your monitor. But again... the picture will be crappy or mediocre at best.

chesslo · Post by **chesslo** » April 24th, 2008, 10:09 pm

ya, but i will try right away

gordigami · Post by **gordigami** » February 17th, 2010, 6:24 am

Would appreciate fairly well thought-out recommendation toward buying an superlative digital camera , especially for photographing origami models .
DSLRs are too heavy, unwieldy for travel & spontaneity .
Cost is not a factor.
Pocketability is not a factor.
Quality of image is paramount .
Please explain your suggestion .
Finally, please include 2010 new cameras in your evalulation.
Thanks for your input , I hope that this is not too much trouble !

nonkelgans · Post by **nonkelgans** » February 17th, 2010, 9:18 am

My suggestion is to stay away from webcams or cellphones, both have lesser quality then any point and shoot camera on the market. What you need is a camera with good macro function and if possible manual control.

People often forget that Megapixels aren't everything, you have to look at the size of the sensor too, for instance a 5MP cellphone camera will never perform better then a 3MP camera, simply because the sensor area on a cellphone camera is much smaller then a real camera, no matter if this camera has a lower MP count (I'm not going into details why, there is enough reading stuff on the net for technical explanations of this). Cellphones also have a lesser dynamic range because they lack certain processors a digital camera has.

I myself am a film user so I only have a very old 3.2MP camera (Nikon Coolpix 995) but it works and that's good enough.

And a DSLR too heavy for travel?? Try lugging a Medium Format camera around like I do, I have a Bronica ETRSi with a motordrive attached, it's about 3 kg. That will put a DSLR in perspective

.

Post by **origami_8** » February 17th, 2010, 5:25 pm

Take three of your Origami models, a small, a big and a medium sized that represent the majority of your Origami models (material, number and size of details,...) and go with them to the next bigger shop where they sell digital cameras. Usually you can try the cameras there and compare the pictures on the Computer monitor. Beforehand compare the optical zoom of the cameras and take those with the highest. The super macro zoom of my Olympus camera is perfect to take Origami pictures but this one is five or six years old, so there should be better cameras available now.

Good luck!