Santa brought me a Canon Eos Rebel DSLR with a 18-55mm lense and a 75-300mm telephoto lense. Good stuff by all accounts, especially if you know how to use it....I hope to be able to take some nice pictures of my layout now that I'm getting closer to the scenery stage.

There are some great photographers here and I am envious of the quality of close up shots on this forum...you guys know who you are...

Question to y'all....what kind of camera do you use for your MRR photos - point and shoot type, DSLR or what????

Also, what settings do you use for the extreme closeups...manual or do you leave it on the "flower' let the camera do the work.

Standard lenses vs wide angle macro?

I know nothing of land photography, I am from the Polaroid Land Camera era, so all info will shorten the learning curve....

Here is my first attempt using all auto modes...

If it's the T3-I, it's the same camera that I use.

Most of the modeling pictures that take I use the AV setting with the F-stop set to around 22, and the 18-55 lense on a tripod. I like to use the timer also to avoid any camera shake from me hitting the shutter.

The one I have is the T5. E-paw, I read an old thread you posted on your photo techniques ....good stuff

Here's a link to some good info for us beginners <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://sscale.org/pdfs/MODELERSGUIDETODIGITALPHOTOGRAPHY.pdf">http://sscale.org/pdfs/MODELERSGUIDETOD ... GRAPHY.pdf</a><!-- m -->

I started out with my daughter's Kodak CX6200, a simple point-and-shoot camera rated at 2 megapixels. When I finally got my own digital camera (as a gift) it was a Kodak C330, rated at 4 megapixels. Another point-and-shoot, it had a few more features and did pretty-much whatever I required. Unfortunately, it suffered some damage when I knocked over the fully-extended tripod and the camera hit the concrete floor. It still works, but the lense needs to be aligned manually. One of this camera's main advantages was that I had an AC adaptor for it, allowing it to be set-up and left on while I did on-layout photo composition. When the adaptor failed, it was no longer worthwhile trying to use the camera.
Both of these cameras are quite small, allowing them to be placed directly on the layout for taking photos not available from normal viewing angles.
I finally replaced that one with a secondhand Kodak Z700, also rated at 4 megapixels. It has a few more features, including some manual settings, but is still a basic point-and-shoot camera. It's been a decent camera until recently when it ceased to work - I kept getting a message about the memory card requiring formatting, which the camera seemingly cannot do. Even a new card doesn't correct the problem.
Recently, my brother gave me a new Fujifilm X10, as thanks for some renovation work which I did for him. He did a fair bit of research on its capabilities as far as model photography is concerned, so it's probably best suited to that rather than railfan-type photos. While it can take decent pictures, I find it overly complicated, especially since the control buttons are multi-functional. The manual is 129 pages long and not, in my opinion, logically arranged. I use the camera, but am not particularly competent with it and don't use it frequently enough to become so.
In many instances, I revert to the CX6200, which my daughter gave to me when she bought a DSLR. I am probably more competent using her DSLR, or my brother's DSLR than the X10, as I used to use a regular (film) 35mm SLR semi-professionally (meaning I did work for others - not train-related - but made little or no money). I did have a lot of fun, though.
For model railroad pictures to post on-line, the little CX6200 is sufficient.
It offers acceptable resolution for normal photos:

[attachment=20979]

...and not bad close-up capabilities:

[attachment=20980]

...and a decent depth-of-field:

[attachment=20978]

My C330 was similar in capabilities, but its extendable lense offered a little inspiration, and one day, on a whim and wanting a closer view, I placed one lense of my Optivisor over that of the camera, and shot this:

[attachment=20977]

...and then subsequently discovered that a loupe fit perfectly into the external portion of the camera's lense. That allowed me to take a close-up of this caboose (seen here in a normal view taken with the CX6200):

[attachment=20975]

...yielding a close-up view of the screen window. It shows detail very nicely, but also shows that what looks acceptable on the layout isn't all that pretty when seen in too much detail. :oops:

[attachment=20976]

These were taken with the Fuji X10. While they're okay, I'm sure that the camera is capable of better, especially for this one, where the car is in-focus but not the immediate background:

[attachment=20974]

This one is through the lense of the Optivisor:

[attachment=20973]

It's okay, too, but no better than that from my now-broken C330. I'm sure that if I could understand the multi-function controls of the X10, I could get better pictures from it, but frankly, it's not all that important to me. If I had the chance, I'd rather have another C330 with an adapter.

I took this using my daughter's Canon EOS Rebel. I'd not used it before and didn't have the manual, but it turned out reasonably well. However, it's more than I require for on-line picture posting, and too big for most camera-on-layout photography:

[attachment=20972]

My brother took this shot with his Pentax Km. A subject he'd not normally shoot, but a decent photo, I think, nevertheless:

[attachment=20970]

I've used it in the past, too, and got decent results fairly easily, but it's too big (and too expensive) for this type of photography. Perhaps for submitting to a magazine, but its capabilities are not necessary for on-line posting.
To close, here's another from my brother. He tweaked a little after the fact. I like the smoke and steam effects, but the mist coming off Lake Erie is exactly the type of scene I wanted this area of the layout to depict:

[attachment=20971]

Wayne

I use my Canon Ixus 300 HS. It is several years old and is fully automatic with a program for in house photos with no sun light. I like that program because photos made with the flash look usually awful.
I am an absolute photography dummy and the full automatic camera is a great help.

Hi gang,

I have 2 cameras I use,

1) Canon 600D - with the stock 18-55 lens, and a 75-300 lens

2) the built-in camera in my samsung galaxy S5.

In conditions with daylight, the camera in the phone is excellent, but as soon as the light is dimming, the canon rules supreme...

I use a Canon S5 IS. It's halfway between a point and shoot and a dslr. The 12X zoom allows me to get close-ups without going on railroad property and the manual controls allow for some decent model photography.

For model photography I use a setting of f8 (how far the shutter opens) and an ISO setting of 80 (how fast the film can record the light). Then I play with the shutter speed to get the best shot for the available light.

Here's a shot from the layout.



It also has some decent night time capabilities. Here's a photo out my back door during a snow storm.



Lately I've been considering upgrading to a dslr but have a number of other challenges to deal with at the moment.

Good luck with what ever you choose.

Tom

I have been very pleased with my Fujifilm cameras. I used up a S9000 with a 10x twist barrel zoom and last year I replaced it with a Finepix HS25EXR with a 30X zoom lens. I like the twist barrel manual zoom. The S9000 took good movies too, as does this camera, however, this camera uses the .MOV format while I prefer the .AVI. format of my other cameras. I take most of the video of our dogs.
The new camera has a super macro setting that I like, and for close up models I use a tri-pod and set the aperture to the smallest setting I can. I let the camera determine the proper shutter speed and it does it very well. I too use the timer to prevent movement in the picture.
I have another Fuji I am using for movies. an S2800HD. It is awkward to use for regular pictures, but works well on the tripod for movies in the .AVI format.
Charlie

For taking model pictures I use a Panasonic LF1 with a 7x optical zoom lens. The lens is equivalent to a 28-200mm lens. I use aperture settings with the lowest F-stop which is F-8 on this camera. The camera is either set on the layout or a tripod is used with the self timer to avoid blurring. For taking close ups photos check your camera manual to see how far the lens has to be away from your subject to focus correctly. Best thing to do is just shoot pictures till you find what works best for you. That's the great thing with digital you can generally see if your photo is OK or has to be reshot.

Bruce

Since I wouldn't know an F stop from the city bus , I buy cameras $100 or less . They self destruct after 5 years but who's complaining !? Right now I have a NikonS31 Coolpix that has a big red arrow on it that says " The Shutter is Here , Dummy "

T

Hello Everyone---my camera is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28 10 mega pixels 18x optimal zoom.When I take pictures of my models I use the Flower setting,a tripod and the self timer---here's some results







When I go railfanning I use the automatic setting and do not use a tripod or timer---usually the pictures turn out fairly well but in my opinion are not as sharp as the other method.Of course natural and indoor lighting have a major impact on the picture quality---even though my camera has the capability to make adjustments for lighting I have not used this function on my camera as I am "technically challenged"

So it is obvious you can get better than good shots with less expensive point and shoot type and really good shots with a DSLR if you know what you're doing...

So as with underwater photography, it's all about light....what do you guys do - use ambient light, modeling lights on tripods???

I have just installed shop lights over my layout and am using the bright daylight fluorescent bulbs...do you use fluorescent lighting with cool white, which seem much yellower...

Lots of questions, but you are the experts!

BTW- The Good Doctor is a genius.....who'd a ever thought to put a simple magnifying glass in front of a camera lense... . I'm off to Harbor Freight to buy a cheap optivisor to tear apart

Thanks for your kind words, Richard, but I think that the proper word is "cheapskate". Unless you're planning to shoot in some really tight places, there's no need to disassemble the Optivisor - simply place one lense of it in front of the camera's lense and take the photo. I've used it with the camera on a tripod or with it sitting on the layout.
The nice thing about taking photos of our models is that we can control what shows in the final picture, either by careful placement of the camera or by editing it after the fact. While I usually post photos as-taken, I'll occasionally crop-out some extraneous stuff, such as the layout fascia or out-of-focus stuff on the periphery of the image. I don't have photoshop, though, (and probably wouldn't be able to use it competently if I did) but do have a free (came with the computer) condensed version of Picture-It, which allows some tinkering with photos.
As for lighting, my layout is under fluorescents, 29 4' double-tube fixtures, all with cool white tubes. I'd like to replace two of those fixtures with double 8'-ers for a more even distribution of light. Pretty-well all digital cameras have a setting called "White Balance", which, either manually or automatically compensates for the type of available lighting, yielding an acceptable version of "daylight". Without that compensation, fluorescent lighting yields a greenish cast to the colours, while incandescent bulbs make everything appear yellowish-orange.
While most people dislike Cool White lighting (probably part of the reason for that is because it's what's used in many workplaces ), it is good for layouts because it yields the most light (lumens) per watt of electricity consumed. The odd thing is, it doesn't really take that long for your eyes to compensate for that quality of light, and to begin to see it as "normal".
Even most simple point-and-shoot cameras can compensate for poor lighting, usually a + or - setting. + allows more light into the camera, while - limits that amount. Since we're not paying for film or development, it's often adviseable to "bracket" your shots, taking several shots of the same subject while adjusting the +/- between shots. You'll soon develop a feel for which setting works best in different situations. Higher end cameras allow adjustment (manually or automatically) of the size of the lense opening (F-stop) and of the duration the lense is open (exposure). The best of them have an option to keep those adjustments independent of one another.
Whatever camera you use for model photography, make sure that the camera doesn't move while making the photo. Use a tripod where applicable, or place the camera on a solid surface. This can be directly on the layout or on something suitable placed on the layout: I have a number of wood and plywood scraps of varying thicknesses to allow camera use even on the irregular surface of scenery or simply to elevate the camera to a suitable height. Keep in mind that the closer the shot, the more pronounced will be the effect of any camera movement. If your camera has a timer, use it for such shots.

Wayne