My father wants to get me a camera for my birthday, and since he can’t go to the store to discuss it with the camera salesman he’s asking me to do the research.
I like taking pictures of interesting macro compositions. In theory. In actuality, neither my point-and-shoot nor my phone has any decent resolution that close up. I’m always coming across some interesting leaf or fungus or snakeskin and wanting to do something with it, and then getting frustrated because it’s blurry.
The other thing I’m interested in that have problems with is taking pictures of animals. I still don’t have a sharp picture of my cat Pie. Animals just have this annoying habit of moving when you’re trying to photograph them. Animals have the annoying habit of being in their most interesting poses while moving, for that matter.
The two overlap when it comes to insect photography, which I (try to) do a lot of because there’s a lot of them and they’re readily accessible.
Also, another potential problem is that I don’t, generally speaking, declare “I am going to take pictures of such-and-such today,” and stride out the door with my camera. I pass by something interesting while I’m at work or taking a walk or waiting for my Uber, and I say, “Wow, that would make a cool picture.” So if the camera isn’t small and light enough to be carried around everywhere I go, it won’t be very helpful for me. I guess if the Cool Thing just happened to be at my house it would help? That’s better than nothing, I guess.
So, to sum it up, I don’t actually know if there is a single type of camera that would cover my interests. I don’t even know if this makes sense, because I’m tired and hungry and not at my sharpest right now. I hope it does. Anyway, I’ll be back tomorrow night and hopefully I’ll be better rested then.
FWIW, what you are describing isn’t a resolution problem, it is a focus distance problem (and possibly a software problem.)
Here is a list of some point-and-shoot cameras with good macro functions.
Unfortunately I don’t have a stand-alone digital right now (my old favorite died) and take all my photos with a phone. You won’t mistake them for coming from a pro camera, but get pretty decent photos considering that it is a rock-bottom phone model. Here are some (mostly macro, but some cat) photos and videos made with my phone (which can be bought at the moment for 40 bucks.)
Given you already have a PhD (Push here, Dummy) camera, aka a point-&-shoot & that doesn’t do what you want I think you’re talking a DSLR or a mirrorless. DSLRs have been around for decades & they work. They are what the pros use. Mirrorless are the new kids on the block & will, slowly but surely, replace the DSLRs. They’re smaller & lighter & therefore better for the random carry around but tend to be more expensive for comparable cameras as they are newer tech.
The good thing is that both come either with a camera body only or a kit, a camera body & one to three lenses. Kit lenses are okay, not the greatest things but for someone starting out they are probably more than enough. You stated you’d like to do macro photography. You can sometimes do that with a zoom lens, but depending upon the budget, you may want to get a macro lens, either now or later (because you can swap out lenses). I have more lenses than bodies.
It’s best to not swap lenses in the field because airborne particles like dust & pollen can get inside the camera when the lens is off but it absolutely can be done. I try to set bodies/lenses for what I’m shooting in a given day but if I change in the field I just make sure that my back is upwind.
You are right, retail is closed but I know the big online stores like B&H & Adorama are open for sales (& pickup only). Presumably they have the same knowledgeable sales staff answering the phones as before. Maybe your local store also has some limited hours. Call a store & look at what they’re recommending online before buying anything.
You’re probably best off getting a recent iPhone or Galaxy and learn how to use all the features of the phone’s camera. Honestly, it’s the only camera you’re going to have with you 99% of the time.
And you can take great photos with those phones, but it’s nothing like the flexibility and power of a DSLR or mirrorless with the right lens. Fortunately, in the hands of good photographer those phones can create amazing images.
Good macro photos is an area where skimping will leave you disappointed. Your phone camera should be able to take a clear photo of Cat Pie, but as impressed as I am with what my iPhone X’s camera can do, I know macro isn’t one of them.
I have a serious full-frame DSLR with a serious macro lens. If I take, say, a close-up of a lovely dish the Mrs. just concocted, I need either a LOT of light to get a reasonable depth-of-field (because food isn’t “flat”, and while we want nice bokeh, we still want some depth that is in-focus), or I need to resort to software-assisted focus stacking - and at that point I’m just hungry to eat whatever it is. My experiments with flowers and bugs is similar: you think you want a very narrow in-focus plane, but for most objects you want something more than just the eyes or stamen in focus.
There may be - and it would be cool if there is - a point-and-shoot sized camera that has superb macro capabilities, but I haven’t heard of it. The new mirrorless cameras are great, but while smaller than DSLRs they still aren’t “pocketable” for most people.
I shoot real estate and classic cars professionally, for which I use a full-frame Nikon D700 and occasionally a D7000 if I need a slightly lighter kit and/or the ability to record video. I have a proper Nikkor macro lens, which can’t be beat for really close macro photography like bugs.
But the best “trip camera” I’ve ever used is a Fuji X100. It has a macro mode which can get surprisingly close. No, it is not going to be equal to a Nikkor macro lens on a full-frame camera, however it’s still pretty damn good for how small and convenient the camera is.
Here is a gallery of shots I’ve shot on the Fuji X100 - all but a handful of them from the same trip (Montreal, then Nova Scotia.) That link should show thumbnails of all the pictures. As you can see: it still looks great in low light. It has probably the best color rendition I’ve seen on any camera, actually. It can do deep depth of field; it can do shallow depth of field. (Has manual aperture and shutter adjustment.) It can get close up pictures of food. It can get great portraits of people. It can get up close in macro mode (that bat is a tiny, tiny, TINY bat - it was at the Field Museum in Chicago, I think.) It is by far the best “do it all” camera I’ve ever used, and it’s TINY.
The built-in apps tend to “dumb down” the settings. 3rd party apps can give you more control and more options. There are many apps, Open Camera is my favorite. You could also try Camera FV-5 (and it’s companion Cenema FV-5) or A Better Camera. (For panoramas I use this.)
Also, you might be still in the mindset of the bad old days of limited film when you had to decide if every photo is sponge-worthy. Don’t take one photo of your subject–take 10 or 20 or 50 in quick succession, miving the camera around a bit. It gives you a better chance of at least one being in good focus.
Open Camera lets you easily take photos like that–it has settings to take a range including (but more choices than I’m listing) 2, 5, 10, 20, or 50 photos every time you “press” the “button”. It also has the option of continuing to take photos until you press the button again to stop it. You can set it to have a delay between those burst shots ranging from a half second up to two hours, or no delay at all (my phone takes up to 7 full-resolution photos per second with no delay–yours could be better or worse.) You can set it to stay with a fixed focus after starting the burst or refocus with each shot.
(Open Camera also records video, ranging from the fastest frame rate your specific phone supports on the fast end to a 240x time-lapse on the slow end.)