General > General Technical Chat
Budget Camera Recomendation
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olkipukki:
If your area of interest is flat and no much difference between component heights, whatever been suggested already  ^-^

<out of OP's budget>

Otherwise, if you after crisp and clear picture overall, something like DSLR + macro lens + lighting + software to cook a magic (aka search "focus stacking" )  >:D
Well, if you can manage to change a focus on a (i)phone gradually, might works too w/software only, but recon is a pain in ass todo it manually.

olkipukki:

--- Quote from: tooki on April 19, 2020, 07:55:59 am ---Consider buying a used DSLR camera with a proper macro lens. A 10 year old DSLR is still pretty good, and you can get a great used lens for one.


--- End quote ---
A proper macro (used) lens will cost easy OPs budget multiply on 10  >:D
jfiresto:
Here is an image I took with the A580 of a 1.8 x 1.3 inch board, first the full frame:



This was the smallest area I could capture with macro mode. I am not sure how the A580 reviewer managed 2 x 1.5 inches.

And here is a 1024 x 1024 pixel, full size crop:



This was a quick shot taken with the harsh, built-in flash. I could do better with side lights and a tripod.

The A640 reviewer managed a 0.87 x 0.65 inches minimum area with that camera. I would expect its macro mode could make the board fill the frame and produce sharper images. I would get an A630/A640 or something newer for photographing 2 x 1 inch boards.
magic:
I don't like wide angle macro. Perspective is weird and depth of field razor thin, which becomes noticeable if the board is populated with components. To top it off, zoom lenses tend to suffer barrel distortion, soft corners and/or some level of chromatic aberration under such conditions. Some cameras may focus even closer than the A580, but it won't result in filling the frame with good image.

Attached pic is an even lower end Powershot A420 on the longest zoom, from about 30cm, on a tripod though with little attention to lighting ::) Board dimensions are roughly 1.75×1". Note perfectly straight lines, reasonable focus except for the tips of pin headers and almost no chromatic aberration. And some blown highlights here and there, those old sensors have low dynamic range.

If you are to use Imaging Resource, look for cameras with good geometric/chromatic performance and short focusing distance at telephoto. Fight the ant's view macro menace ;)


--- Quote from: admiralk on April 19, 2020, 04:37:30 pm ---@engrguy42 My phone takes lower quality pictures than my Dimage did. Here is an example:
--- End quote ---
This is clearly shaken. There is no escaping physics. You need a larger sensor or a tripod. Optical image stabilization may help if you are lucky.
engrguy42:
Chromatic aberration??? Optical image stabilization?? 

What are you guys taking photos for, some international tech journal ??  :-DD

Does everything in this forum always have to be taken into the femto-amp pico-second hyper perfectly accurate?? He wants to take one closeup of a board, and then not again for another 15 years. Geez guys...

Borrow a phone from someone who has a newer model and take the photo.

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