What camera for photographing flies?

[flyfshr]

There is alot of good info about setups for photographing flies but I only heard mention of a Nikon D50 which is a digital SLR. I hade a really old digital point and shoot that took great macro pictures. I recently bought a more updated camera and I am very disappointed with it's macro mode. When I zoom in or move close enough to frame the fly, I can't get it to focus on the fly. I can move farther out and sometimes get it to focus properly but only about 1 in five photos is good and then I have to crop the photos in photoshop because the fly doesn't fill the photo. I would be interested to hear what digital cameras people like for taking macro photos of flies. Do I have to get into a digital SLR?

[harleybob87]

I use a fujifilm 5500. No problems other then when using it I have to make sure the batteries are fully charged while in Marco mode

[Ron Eagle Elk]

I use a Nikon 4800. Basically a point and shoot with a pretty good macro feature, focussing to less than 1/2 inch.

Here's a size 22 fly my wife tied for a swap for an example.

[Joe Valencic]

A digitaal SLR is a sweet camera to have, but unless you are getting into professional photography, there are much less expensive options just to take casual closeup pictures. I use a Panasonic DMC-FX30 which I'm told is now out of production. Paid about $200 for it about 3 months ago.

Here's a recent macro pic from my trip to the Caribbean.



Here's a macro shot of a stimulator:




Good luck in choosing There are so many good choices to choose from.

Joe

[cholcomb13]

I use the Pentax WP30

Here is a pic a fly I photograph...

[Jayatwork]

Older Nikon Coolpix 3100 point and shoot.


Not all of the macros are equal. Check the minimum focusing distance spec. and try it out in the store if you can.

[Skip48]

Sony Cyber Shot H7. Still don't have a good spot to take the pic though. Just need more of a set up for that now.

[Panman]

flyfshr: I think I am in the same boat as a lot of other people. I have an old HP camera that takes poor pictures most of the time and once in a while I get a presentable shot of a fly. I like all the pictures shown so far and I decided to attempt to do some research on that camera of Joe V's. That is one pretty flower. I went to this site: http://www99.epinions.com/ and entered the info on that specific camera. There were two reviews plus comments and prices, etc. I have not done this with the other cameras but I plan to. This thread will be quite useful to me if I buy another camera.

Thanks everybody for the great pictures.

Tim

[Extremely Low Budget FF]

I am using a Nikon Coolpix P50 point and shoot camera.

In macro mode I only get decent focus when the telephoto is in the widest angle possible.
Is this a quirk of Nikon cameras???

Also I use the single focus setting.

In the specs they give macro focusing ranges for wide and telephoto setting. But for taking pics of flies I've only gotten good results in wide angle.

BTW some of the best images I've taken of flies have not been with a camera but with my HP scanner.

Ed

BTW you guys are taking great pics!!!!

[Flyandtie1]

I use a Fujifilm Finepix A345. It really is an awesome camera. Great macro as well as distance shots.

This is a macro of some fungus on a tree that was about the size of a penny.
And a flower,


And Finally a fly,