spec me a camera please

casaubond · 5 Sep 2011 at 11:43

Hello everybody

I am looking for a digital camera for close up pictures, in high detail and with as little artefact /distortion as possible and very good colour reproduction

I am a GP and I am doing minor surgery/surveillance for skin lesions and I will use the camera almost exclusive for this. Subsequent pictures will be stored in patients records to be compared with lesion at a later date that why adequate colour reproductions and lack of artefact is utmost important for me to detect changes.

Also if it has lenses that can magnify the lesion would be a bonus

Budget is around 400£ but lower the better. I am not interested in any other feature and the easiest it is to use the better
Thanks

juno_first · 5 Sep 2011 at 12:43

I guess you'll need a macro lens so as to be able take pics close-up.
At £400 you would be looking at a low end dSLR, so maybe an older crop body & a separate lens for your needs.
Or, I guess a compact would be easier to use for such work as you can see the image on the back of the camera, rather than getting up close with your face on a dSLR, lol.
I'm not that clued up on compacts, but for £400 maybe you could get one with an APS-C sensor & a lens that allows macro (close-up)?

sarge78 · 5 Sep 2011 at 13:08

I don't think casaubond will need to go too hardcore with a dSLR/macro lens/ring flash etc.

(By minor surgery I assume we're talking about removing suspicious moles etc?)

The Canon Powershot G12 will probably be ideal. (Just under £400) http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonG12/
(or maybe the Canon Powershot S95/Panasonic DMC-LX5 at ~£300 for something more compact and cheaper.)

It'll be important having reliable and consistent lighting in the surgery.
Try different areas/lights/camera colour profiles on yourself until your happy the results are accurate and can be reproduced any time.

juno_first · 5 Sep 2011 at 13:43

Yeah, the lighting must be the same for every pic so if its bright enough then use the same place in the surgery to take the pic every time.
Depending on the camera & how close you are to the subject will depend if you can use a flash.
The best image quality will be achieved with a brighter lit subject.

juno_first · 5 Sep 2011 at 14:03

Dont worry about megapixels so long as its over 10mp as a load of pixels on a small sensor would not give as good an image as less pixels on a larger sensor.
Bigger is better, see the pic below:

juno_first · 5 Sep 2011 at 14:30

This Sony is bang on your budget & has an APS-C sensor (even shown on OCUK advert at the top of this page)..
Sony NEX 5 Review

It comes with a standard zoom which focuses down to 14cm, though Sony also have a macro lens for its E mount, it maybe possible just get the camera & macro lens?

For best image quality in post, shoot in RAW & use something like Lightroom to sharpen etc. & save as TIFF else JPEG with fewer colour tones for less work.

I dont like the Sony dSLR but if I had £400 to spend on a compact I'd deffo get this..

[Edit]
added comparison pic
The reason the Canon PowerShot G12 scores low with ISO (taking pics in low light) is because of its small sensor.
Cant link the site as its a competitor though Google is your friend..

casaubond · 9 Sep 2011 at 12:21

Thank you both with the quick and very informative replies.
We will buy sony camera

casaubond · 26 Sep 2011 at 13:50

Some update. Sony nex-5 camera, although a good camera for its purpose, was useless for me as I cannot take close up pictures from a lesion with it (from 3-4 cm distance from objective). So I had to return it.

Good news is that after discussion with my partners we decided to up the budget to arround £ 2000 and after reading on line I note that I might need a special ''ring '' flash. Can anyone please recommend me something with this requirement in this price?
I am not interested in any other features at all. Camera will be almost exclusively used to take up close pictures for skin lesions.
Thanks

bigredshark · 26 Sep 2011 at 14:09

Canon 60D, Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro, Canon MR14 EX Ring flash - it's probably overkill but it'll definitely do the job. Probably pay about £1600 for the lot with a memory card and such.

D.P. · 26 Sep 2011 at 14:23

Given the new requirements and budget, I wiuld suggest a
Nikon D7000 Body for £777.00 which has class leading autofocus, image quality and handles noise at high sensitivities very well.

You will then need a dedicated Macro lense to get your close ups. Macro elsnes will get you a 1:1 reproduction ratio, so something 1cm in real life will be 1cm projected onto the sensor- the sensor on this camera is less than 2.7x1.7cm. Given the subject you will be shooting and the resolution of the camera this should be enough.
However, if you are photographing things at the 1mm scale, then we may need to get some more specialist equipment (although ther are cheap and easy options for this as well).

Here are some appropriate Macro lenses. All of them will be able to get the subject the same siize on the sensor, but the shorter the focal length (e.g. 60mm as opposed to105mm) the closer you must be to the subject. This will come down to purely what you think is best for your patients. The longer focal legnth lenses will allow you to be furher away, howeverm the downside is they are harder to use and keep steady (as well as more expensive). I beleive the Nikon 105mm would be the best option but included a few others for you to compare. I ahve rpovided the mionimum focus distance (MFD) where you would need to be to gain the 1:1 reproduction ratio.

Nikon AF-S 60mm f/2.8 Micro £366.46 (MFD = 0.60ft. 0.185m)
Nikon AF-S 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF VR Micro £600.00 (MFD = 1.0ft. 0.314m )
Sigma 150mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro HSM £589.00, (MFD = 1.25 feet 0.38m)
Nikon AF 200mm f/4D ED-IF Micro £1123.00 (MFD = 1.6ft. 0.5m )

As you suggested, you will need some form of dedicated macro flash for best result. I am not experienced in this but the following should be what you need.
Nikon SB-R1 Wireless Close-Up Speedlight £399.00

There are a few similar options with slightly different cameras or lenses. One option might be the Nikon D5100 camera (£516.00), which has a stilting and swivel screen on the back which may help, it will offer the same image quality but the body ios not so solid and the focussing not as good.

A similar setup would be possible from Canon, but cosnidering your budget the Nikon D7000 stands out as a very good option.

bigredshark · 26 Sep 2011 at 14:39

D.P. said:
A similar setup would be possible from Canon, but cosnidering your budget the Nikon D7000 stands out as a very good option.

Unfortunately, by comparison Canon's flash option is far simpler and also cheaper. By my reckoning the you need the R1C1 kit for the Nikon (which isn't as neat as the Canon ring flash), which is £500+ and the Nikon 105mm Macro is £600 as opposed to £400 for the Canon 100mm so it's substantially more overall.

I agree the D7000 is a better camera but either are easily good enough and the Canon is simpler and cheaper.

Mr Jones · 26 Sep 2011 at 15:08

To be honest, with a ring flash, 100mm micro lens (or 60mm on a cropped sensor), a Canon 40D and even a 450D is enough as the flash will be ready at work.

In these type of cases, go for the lenses and flash and a good enough body will do.

Snapshot · 27 Sep 2011 at 07:51

bigredshark said:
Unfortunately, by comparison Canon's flash option is far simpler and also cheaper. By my reckoning the you need the R1C1 kit for the Nikon (which isn't as neat as the Canon ring flash), which is £500+ and the Nikon 105mm Macro is £600 as opposed to £400 for the Canon 100mm so it's substantially more overall.

I agree the D7000 is a better camera but either are easily good enough and the Canon is simpler and cheaper.

The D7000 will act as a flash commander so only the R1 kit would be needed but it's still pricey.

Given the requirements though, I suspect a Canon outfit using the MP65 lens might be the best option.

casaubond · 8 Oct 2011 at 19:08

Thanks everyone for the advice, in the end I went with nikon d7000 and nikon af-s 105mm with the R1 K1 commander kit which cost us close to £2000. But what a piece of Kit. In 1:1 settings the pictures taken at 30 mm (I use the automatic options of macro in scenic.. we used to point an shoot camera only none of us really understands photography) are absolutely gorgeous.

Ian_Eb · 8 Oct 2011 at 19:30

Gorgeous photos of skin lesions :eek:

Now I am worrying what the subject would be for them to be horrible