doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com CAMERAS FOR POSTED GUN PICS

I have a few guns I'd like to sell here at the beginning of hunting season and have no camera to photograph them in order to post the pics. Do any of you have any suggestions as to what might make a good camera for this kind of thing? I'm not in a position to spend a lot of money on this and was considering maybe something between $150 and $300. Also, of course, this would have be a model currently available, either new or possibly via, say, e-bay or something similar.

Incidentally, I have no idea how one would set up such camera shots (i.e., background, lighting, etc) and would welcome suggestions on these sorts of issues also.

My guess is that this question or something similar has been posted here before but I wasn't all that sucessful in my search attempts.

Naturally any help here would be very much appreciated. By the way, I also very much appreciate the collective knowledge on fine guns that's available here at the Doublegun BBS.

Best,
TT

TT, I'm just a camera shooter and from my experience any of the digital cameras will do what you want them to do. They're so friendly and easy to use that a couple nights playing with them will produce good pictures, learning from taking lots of them and erasing. The more experienced will be along shortly.

Taking good photos of guns is not easy, particularly if you want to show detail such as engraving, proof marks or faint names.
Almost any digital camera will do but make sure it can focus up close. A mobile phone camera is unlikely to be able to achieve this.
The lighting is the most important thing. You rarely get a really good picture using flash or in bright sunshine as you get high contrast and reflections. Unless you have a studio the best conditions are probably out door on a bright but overcast day, which gives a nice even light which will pick out those important details. The background is also important – not too light or too dark – something neutral like a wooden table or bench is ideal or a piece of neutral carpet. When photographing detail take several shots from slightly different angles and tilting the gun ever so slightly to get the light just right can make a huge difference to what you can see. The good thing with a digital camera is that you get instant results and you can take lots of pics at virtually no cost.

Fugi Finepix

I've had a 5100, a 5200, and now a 700. The first two have been given away and are still working. These are super reliable, easy to use cameras that are tough as nails. They are lightweight will take macro shots, and are cheap enough you don't have to worry about wading out into the surf or decoy spread with one.

They also take very good photos, I've done a magazine cover shot with my old 5100. I'm an outdoor writer and these are the only cameras I use.

I'm sure there are other cameras in the same price range that are good but these I highly reccomend.

Hello TT,

I have had very good results with an inexpensive Fuji Film Finepix A330 which
you can probably get for peanuts, as it is an old model. Follow the advise above
and I would add the use of a small tripod.

There is one of these cameras for sale on eBay .

Here are a couple of examples:
One in normal mode,

Another using the "macro" feature:


They could be better still if I had taken a little more care with the lighting.

JC
P.S.: remember you can see them in their actual size by right clicking on the
photos and opening them in a new window. jc

Everyone has given you great advice!

Tripod is almost a must, it helps to use the smallest aperture opening you can to increase the depth of field(helps keep stuff in focus) which means longer exposure times which means no wiggling:)

Best,
Mark

I still use a Canon G3, it's about 6 years old but works very well. It's great advantage is that the software allows you to shoot through your computer and direct to your hard drive. Available on eBay for about $75



A tripod and lighting are a must.

Just about all digital cameras will do for what you want. The higher the megapixel, the better. Make sure there's a macro setting for close-ups shots.

I use an el cheapo Kodak Easyshare CD82 (12 megapixel). They cost a whopping $79 at Wally-World.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Kodak-12-MP-CD82blue/12456597

I always shoot photos in the afternoon when the sun goes behind the trees. I set up on my front steps and I don't use a tri-pod.

Here are some shots I've taken. I've been pretty happy with the results....

aside from brands/modles mentioned others that have been good values and include macro focus settings and flexibity in focus/exposure/etc are older/used models of Sony and Nikon as well as most major brands.

Many Sony, and other, digital cameras include a feature that helps steady handheld pictures.

I am using a older Nikon Coolpix 8400 which is about like a digital SLR with a single non-removable lens with all the flexibilty.

The point on using a tripod, or learning how to hold the camera VERY steady (Possibly placed on a pilow/shot-bag/etc) is important. The finer/closer the detail, especially in low light, the more important being able to isolate the camera from vibration. This has an additonal advantage of allowing you to move your reflection, or shadow, from the picture.

One extra way to do that is to use the delay/timer on the camera so that you can set it up on a steady stand, press the button and move away allowing all vibration to stop before the actual shutter is tripped.

It is possible to train yourself to hold and shoot steady pictures without using a tripod or such, but it is roughly equivelant to training yourself to make pinpoint offhand long-distant rifle shots.

One other element of camera selection for closeup fine detail work is that a larger/heavier camera is easier to hold steady and control than a thin pocket size one that might be more useful for easy carry for occasional snapshots and such.

As to Megapixel image size; best to take the initial image in largest resoltion size that your camera will handle and downsize it afterwards (my pictures below were taken as 10mp "RAW" images and downsized to under 100kb with my PC software for web consumption)

Here's one taken with a Canon 20D I bought used from a wedding photog for around $225. It's only an 8 meg camera. As others have said, great lighting and a very stable tripod are almost more important than the camera. This picture blows up pretty good without getting into newer massive megapixel cameras.