Hi,
If you go the point and shoot route and want to take good gun photos, make sure the camera:
1. Has a timer mode, so you can place it on a tripod, focus carefully and then push the shutter button and have time to totally be away from the camera when it fires via timer mode. This will cut down/eliminate any camera shake caused by the person that kills a sharp photo.
2. Invest in a tripod. It's like rifle shooting from the bench using a good rifle rest vs. hand holding. My photo instructor in college claimed he could always examine any sharp photo and tell if the photographer used a tripod or not. He is probably right!
3. DO NOT use flash . . . it will make your gun look all scratched up with little scratches . . . and cause terrible glare too. Again, the tripod and timer mode allow slower shutter speeds necessary to shoot in even, non-flash situations which make your guns look great! Shooting curvy, shiny metal objects is always a challenge.
4. The camera needs to be able to focus pretty close.
5. The camera needs to have an Aperture-priority mode (Av) so you can set the Av to a high number (ex: 16 or higher) to give a really deep depth of field. Shooting gun-sized objects up close truly limits the distance from the front to the back of the gun which will be in focus . . . and the high number on the Av will make more of that distance truly in-focus!
Sorry to get technical, but it is necessary so you can get a low-cost point and shoot that will STILL be able to take quality photos that not only will YOU be proud of . . . but that other folks who know photography pitfalls will appreciate too!
MY CAMERA?
A now discontinued Canon t1i digital SLR. It came with a "kit" lens that zoomed (EF-S 18-55mm) and it cost me $899 about three years ago. I've added other lenses that allow me to shoot some stunning photos.
MY RECOMMENDATION . . .
The SAME camera and lens I proudly own! No point and shoot can touch the lens quality and the image quality of a fine digital SLR, and they do so much more for your images than a point and shoot!!!!
THE BEST NEWS . . .
TODAY Canon is selling the same kit, refurbished for ONLY $286.71 at their site, with a warranty. Refurbs are always an excellent purchase and most of the time are simply store returns where someone got their money back or stepped to another model.
HERE'S A LINK FOR THAT SPECIAL PRICE:
Canon Direct Store- EOS Rebel T1i EF-S 18-55mm IS Lens Kit Refurbished
HERE'S A GUN PHOTO I MADE WITH THAT EXACT COMBINATION (my t1i model and the same lens). I'm gonna post an image of a 27-2 I own so you can see the awesome detail this camera gets. I've now shot about 30,000 images with mine with ZERO problems. Awesome camera but, like cars, each year they put out something "new" and thus the models get discontinued. NOTHING wrong with this model at all though!!! Hope this helps . . .
